Set on an African Safari in the early 1900s, Ernest Hemingway’s “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” tells the story of a young man and wife, Francis and Margot Macomber, and their English guide, Robert Wilson, on a hunting trip gone awry. This essay will show how Hemingway’s character tied into the story itself.
Francis Macomber is described as “very tall, very well built... and considered handsome” (Hemingway). He and his wife, Margot, clearly do not have a very healthy relationship, and on various occasions she flirts heavily with Wilson. This story is quite ironic, as in the title it says Francis Macomber’s life was “happy,” though throughout the story you can see that it very much isn’t. He seems to be miserable in his relationship with his wife but as later on stated, “Margot was too beautiful for Macomber to divorce, and Macomber had too much money for Margot to ever leave him” (Hemingway). On the topic of irony, it can also be seen as ironic when he is
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Macomber felt utter disgust for Wilson. Every time Wilson spoke, Macomber threw back daggers for words. It annoyed Wilson, for he was unphased by the fact that Macomber knew Wilson had been with his wife. He ignored Macomber’s harsh words so they could go hunting for the buffalo. As they drove out, Macomber spotted three large buffalo. Wilson told him, “We’ll cut them off before they get to the swamp.” They both got their guns ready, where Macomber almost began to shoot from his position in the car before being shouted at by Wilson. They jumped out of the vehicle as it came to a bolting stop, aimed, and began shooting. Macomber struck the first one down, and with the help of Wilson, eventually the other two. Margot was awe-struck, telling Macomber how “marvelous” he had done. “Macomber felt a wild unreasonable happiness that he had never known before” (Hemingway). Meaning, Macomber felt as though he had restored his
Margot Macomber as the Hemingway Code Hero in “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”
(18) Francis is talking about the hunting experience, but ironically, the next thing that is going to happen is Francis’ death. After hunting and wounding a buffalo, Francis and Wilson search for it in the tall grass. Thinking it is dead, the buffalo comes charging at Francis and Wilson. When she sees the buffalo charging at Macomber and Wilson, “Mrs. Macomber, in the car, had shot at the buffalo with the 6.5 Mannlicher as it seemed about to gore Macomber and had hit her husband about two inches up and a little to one side of the base of his skull.” (19) It is never declared whether Margot killed her husband by accident or on purpose, but his death is ultimately caused by his spouse, very much like Louise’s death in “Story of an Hour”, although, it was caused
Women in Hemingway’s stories are portrayed to be heavily sensitive and emotional, and unable to deal with the realities of life. They do not seem to understand how life is not necessarily always going to be a picture perfect world. In “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”, Margot Macomber is shown as a very emotional women in many circumstances, as if she is not able to deal with obstacles that life will throw at her. One instance of this is when the two men are having a discussion about killing the lion. At one point, she is making jokes and seeming perfectly fine, then the next thing she starts to cry. Her husband, Francis, and Wilson even acknowledge this as well. They describe how they “both saw
Finally, the conflict and the rising action of Hemingway’s story leads to the climax. This occurs when Wilson, Macomber, and his wife take their final journey into the wild. As a result of the sheer anger Macomber has for Wilson and his wife, his fear is drowned by adrenaline. Macomber instantly takes on the characteristics of Wilson as he takes out two buffalo on the journey. At this point, Wilson respects this
Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” chronicles a rich American couple’s safari hunting trip. Francis Macomber, a seemingly perfect man- handsome, wealthy, and athletic- and his wife, Margot Macomber travel to Africa for a hunting trip. The story opens on an afternoon cocktail hour, after a morning of hunting. Quickly, Margot’s frustration towards her husband emerges. She is embarrassed of his cowardness, and torments him. Richard Wilson, their safari guide, listens to the argument. Wilson is brave and athletic, essentially the qualities Macomber lacks. Earlier that morning, Macomber ran away from a lion, leaving Wilson to mercy kill it. Later, in an effort to win back Margot’s admiration, Macomber successfully gunned down three buffalo. However, an injured one charges, leaving Margot to shoot the buffalo, and Macomber. Hemingway’s use of literary elements enhance and deepen the reader’s understanding of the characters. He develops their actions and motivations through a code hero, symbolism, and allusion.
In Ernest Hemingway’s short story “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” Hemingway uses the author’s craft of perspective, along with dialogue and internal dialogue to create a multi-part claim that develops an overall negative characterization of the three main characters. Hemingway develops the characterization of Wilson, Margaret, and Francis by using multiple perspectives as he threads a negative tone throughout the story.
3The final way a character attempts to retain is by forcing their will, this attempt almost always backfires. In the Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber he ends up getting shot by Margot:”Mrs. Macomber, in the car, had shot the buffalo with the 6.5 Mannlicher as it seemed to gore Macomber and had hit her husband about two inches up a a little to one side of the base of his skull” (28). Both Margot and Wilson know that Francis would have
Earnest Hemingway is one of Americas foremost authors. His many works, their style, themes and parallels to his actual life have been the focus of millions of people as his writing style set him apart from all other authors. Many conclusions and parallels can be derived from Earnest Hemingway's works. In the three stories I review, ?Hills Like White Elephants?, ?Indian Camp? and ?A Clean, Well-lighted Place? we will be covering how Hemingway uses foreigners, the service industry and females as the backbones of these stories. These techniques play such a critical role in the following stories that Hemingway would be unable to move the plot or character development forward without them.
In “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”, Hemingway uses the lion to represent the death of cowardice. Choosing to indulge their freetime on a safari, Francis Macomber and his wife Margot take a trip to Africa, but when faced with the task of ending the lion’s life on the safari, Macomber’s mind seems to be getting the better of him: “[H]e pulled until he thought his finger would break. Then he knew he had the safety on” (14). Even though he is successful in shooting the lion, Francis still cannot let go of his cowardly behavior. His
Ernest Hemingway's "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" provides a glimpse into the end of Francis Macomber's life. The title of the story is ironic because Macomber did not experience happiness for much of his life. He and his wife did not have a loving, supportive relationship. His wife even goes as far as to belittle him after he embarrasses himself, and she cheats on him with their guide. They often got in disagreements but could not leave each other because they had no better alternatives to their current situation.
The final reason I believe the Macomber marriage to be unhappy is because Margot shoots and kills Francis while out on a Safari hunt. This only occurred after Francis proved to be a coward, Margot loses all respect and sleeps with Wilson, and when Francis begins to find a new sense of courage. “You’ve gotten awfully brave, awfully suddenly,” his wife said contemptuously, but her contempt was not secure. She was very afraid of something. Macomber laughed, a very
Francis Macomber displays cowardice by being afraid of the wild beast in the safari. When faced with his first lion and instead of killing it he fled away from it. The natives of his village and his wife witnessed this happen, although the natives acted as if nothing occurred this did not sit well with Margret. Also when Macomber wounds a lion, he discovered that he would have to face the lion again and offers all types of excuses to Wilson (the safari guide) as to why they
Francis reveals his lack of self-confidence and control over the situation. ?If he had been better with women she would probably have started to worry about him getting another new, beautiful wife but she knew too much about him to worry? (Hemingway). His lack of self-confidence has given her all the power in the relationship and it was a major contributing factor in her infidelity. Later on in the story, the growth of Francis?s confidence during the buffalo hunt and Margot?s displeasure with it is the final clue in determination of the death of Francis Macomber. The buffalo hunt gives Francis a new found sense of ?happiness?. This ?new wealth? of confidence is powerful for Francis and devastating for Margot . ?Fear gone like an operation. Something else grew in its place. Main thing a man had. Made him into man. Women knew it too. No bloody fear? (Hemingway). Margot knew at this point that if Francis survives the trip, he might possess enough personal strength and finally leave her, and that is what encourages her decision to kill him. At the end of the story Wilson confirms the reader?s suspicion when he reacts to the shooting by saying to Margot, ?That was a pretty thing to do? (Hemindway). That statement reinforces the belief that Margot was indeed taking advantage of the opportunity to ensure her long-term wealth and eliminate the possibility of being
When analysing Ernest Hemingway 's work in both “The Killers” and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” you come across many forms of literary devices that hemingway used throughout both novelas and how his application of the elements used in both stories. In both stories we see him use the themes of violence and grace when faced with violence as well as demonstrating the power relations between the characters of both tales along with his use of ‘the hemingway hero”.
At the end of “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” author Ernest Hemingway abruptly eliminates the main character, Francis Macomber. There are no evident signs or warnings that would have lead us to believe Margaret murdered Francis. Although some argue his death was merely accidental, there are underlying hints and analytical claims that reveal and divulge otherwise.