Essay On The Green Light In The Great Gatsby

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.

There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory.” (283) Much like Louise in “Story of an Hour,” Francis in “Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” faces a similar epiphany within himself. He lacks self confidence and views himself as a coward and a failure. In the beginning, Francis Macomber and his wife, Margot, are on a safari trip to hunt lion and buffalo. On his first trial of hunting

In Chapter 12 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster discusses how symbols can possess multiple meanings due to the different ways that humans interpret literature. In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, many symbols can be up for interpretation by the reader. For example, a recurring symbol in this novel is the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. At the beginning of the novel, this light resembles Gatsby’s dream of having Daisy to himself. As Fitzgerald describes this light as “far away,” he reveals that this dream may be unattainable. However, the green light does not simply symbolize Gatsby’s yearning for Daisy. As Foster states, “in general a symbol can't be reduced to standing for only one thing” (105). The green light also can serve as a symbol of the American Dream of the 1920’s—climbing the social ladder and acquiring vast wealth. Although Gatsby has achieved much of this dream, he often appears dissatisfied with life—despite the fact that he possesses a significant amount of money and power—and always strives for more. As Gatsby keeps looking toward the green light in hope, this symbol reveals that Gatsby never believes that he has fully achieved the American Dream. Other readers may think of more possible meanings for the green light. As Foster also reveals in How to Read Literature Like a Professor, The Great Gatsby displays that symbols can possess multiple layers of meaning due to the imaginations of readers.

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

In addition to the conflict in the story, there are scenes of rising action. One example of rising action occurs when Wilson and Macomber return to the wild to hunt for a lion once again. Macomber is able to get a shot off but only able to wound the lion before it runs away. As Wilson and Macomber search for the wounded lion to finish it off, he inevitably runs away frightened for a second time. Hemingway writes Macomber, “was running; running wildly, in panic in the open, running toward the stream.” As a result of this instance, Macomber’s wife takes a thriving interest in Wilson. Hemingway writes, “Once he had reached over to take his wife’s hand . . . she had removed her hand from his . . . his wife had reached forward and put her hand on Wilson’s shoulder . . . and kissed him on the mouth.” Later, Macomber’s wife sleeps with Wilson, which will completely change Macomber’s persona for the rest of the story. Macomber is so overcome with anger, his character quickly changes from cowardly to courageous.

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.

This scene starts out with MacGregor is sitting in a chair by the fireplace in the middle of the night. His wife, Mary notices him and calls his name, as she didn’t know he would be home. As Mary sees his face she asks what the Montrose men have done, since he sits bruised and beaten in pain, with a look of sorrow on his face. Mary starts to become overwhelmed with love and sorrow for her husband and herself. Even though, MacGregor looks torn and beaten and he knows Mary is distraught, they both have been through a lot.

Further examination of the Macomber marriage shows the relationship between Francis and Margot was filled with animosity and disrespect. In conversation with Wilson, Francis went on to say “We all take a beating every day, you know, one way or another.” (Hemingway, 1938, p. 20). I believe Francis was indirectly referring to his relationship with Margot as being something he must deal with and endure on a daily basis. It is as if his marriage to Margot is somewhat of a punishment.

Ernest Hemingway’s Portrayal of Margot Macomber In the short story “The Short Life of Francis Macomber," Hemingway portrays many emotions and motivating forces behind his characters’ intentions. Ernest Hemingway endured humiliation and disappointment at many points in his life; he wanted to join the military, but was rejected due to a health condition (Young). Hemingway also underwent four failed marriages (Young).

This also demonstrates that this hinted Margot’s affair with Wilson, and it is understood that Margot did this against Macomber and to get his reaction. This significance is that Macomber wouldn’t leave his wife even after he found out about the scandal. In addition, “‘he’s a good lion, isn’t he?’ Macomber said. His wife looked at both at these men as though she had never seen them before” (Hemingway's 1).

Margret Margot memsahib Macomber … the wife of Frances Macomber. A very beautiful and elegant woman. However, she is kind of a femme fatale type. she is a philander of sorts, she has cheated on Macomber not once, but several times to be exact. Margot doesn’t love her husband, she loves her husband’s

Death did not stop him, because no matter what anyone did or said about him, he had won; he beat his stereotype. Life is the lion to Francis Macomber, the “worst one can do is kill you” and in a way it did (Hemmingway 1587). He was the only one to be physically depraved because of his early death. He, ultimately, was desperate to be a man and desperate to have “no bloody fear” in leaving Margaret (Hemmingway 1587).

Even after the miserable start to the trip, Macomber still is dealing with the restlessness and the shame from the lion. Hemingway describes "but more than shame he felt cold, hollow fear in him" (11). Hemingway uses metaphor to compare fear to the coldness of a "hollow." Ironically the name Francis is known to be a weak and cowardly name, which seems to be a perfect fit for Macomber. In Short Story Criticism, they comment sarcastically about the manner Margot is perceiving her husband: "As we all know, good wives admire nothing in a husband except his capacity to deal with lions, so we can sympathize with the poor women in her trouble." Francis knows with certainty that as long as he possesses this fear his wife possesses a controlling power over him.

In Hemingway’s short story, The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, we begin with the married couple, Franics and Margaret Macomber, on a safari in Africa with a man named Robert Wilson. Francis is shown to be a coward when he shoots his first lion twice, but is too afraid to finish it off even though it may be suffering. Margaret is very displeased with her husband’s cowardice and shows her contempt by berating him profusely. Francis is awoken from his sleep late at night after a bad dream to find his wife, Margaret, is gone. When she returns to the tent she claims she was out getting “a breath of air” but Francis knew she had just slept with Robert Wilson. Francis

Francis Macomber is a man of great wealth as well as a beautifully unfaithful wife, on a hunting expedition in Africa. On this trip, he and his partner, Wilson, are on the hunt for many different kinds of game, such as buffalo and lion. The lion in this story causes Francis to become panicked and doubtful as he nears the time to shoot his cat, he does everything in his power to avoid chasing after it. However, Francis does manage to overcome his fear after shooting it twice. During his frenzy, the lion becomes the center of attention feeling, “ [T]he little openings the solid bullets had made in his tawny hide and his big yellow eyes,