The autobiographical narrative is based on Hemingway's experiences during a big game hunt he participated in in 1933. Here, he exuberantly elaborates on the stalking through the thorny thickets of the African savanna, the hunt for kudus and antelopes, lions and rhinos, the wild beauty and grace of the animal kingdom. Hemingway portrays the 'primitive,' archaic dimension of big game hunting as a masculine primal experience that brings man and beast together in the focus of violent death: "One of the greatest joys in killing is the feeling of rebellion against death that one experiences when one causes it.".