Francis Macomber Quotes

1. Explanation: She was talking to John calmly until he begins to mention Elizabeth, she then became angry.

him to kill her. Tom also knew that Wilson would take drastic measures to rid himself of

Wilson was a very shady person; who only cared about his well being. He killed his first wife, because he knew that she would screw up his relationship with Jessie. The only thing that he needed was for Polly to talk to Jessie about the kind of guy he really was. He lied to Jessie many of times. When he first met her, he told Jessie that his first wife had died, then changed the story to they just got a divorce. He made it look like it was Polly’s fault in the relationship by saying, “… she was a woman who had no morals whatsoever who had tricked him into marrying her” (33). Two days after killing his wife, he married Jessie. He lied to Jessie about his whole life; never saying he had kids, never implied that Polly was in Canada with him, and

Her childhood was rife with abuse, particularly at the hands of her mother, Delores. The tough exterior Margot exhibits is a parallel of her mother's own personality, so it is a learned behavior. This all connects back to her use of sex work as a means of survival as it was Delores who forced Margot into having sex with men as appeasement and monetary gain. First it was her stepfather, then it was a random man for cash. Margot's use of sex as a means of upward mobility is a learned behavior, it's what she was taught.

In “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” the omniscient narrator focuses mainly on the thoughts and feelings of the two male characters, Wilson and Francis, and even allows the reader to feel what the wounded male lion senses. Margot the female antagonist of the story is mostly experienced through her words and actions, rather than her feelings and thoughts. By doing this,

Margot Macomber, the wife of Francis Macomber, is portrayed in several different lights throughout the short story. She is often belittled for simply being a woman by Wilson and is known for her good looks and status. A good example of Margot’s high status is when she was called memsahib by one of the employees. By calling her this, he is demonstrating his respect for her stance in a high class. This was followed be an explanation of her by Hemingway stating, “She had a very perfect oval face, so perfect that you expected her to be stupid.” To others outside her class, she is widely respected and treated as a person of authority, and those in her class and people in close relationship to her, showed less respect for her. Wilson, for example, was highly demeaning toward Margot and had little to no regard for her mental well-being. Hemingway utilizes a degrading tone at the end of the story for Wilson’s character when he disrespects Margot after she “accidentally” killed her husband. He was

(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

Macomber the wife of Francis. One character trait that can be signed for Mrs. Macomber is flirtatious. She is flirtatious toward Mr. Wilson and the way she describes Mr. Wilson and her dialogue. When Mrs. Macomber makes flirtatious comments toward Mr. Wilson, as for an example, when Mrs. Macomber tells Mr. Wilson’s face is red and does not say the same thing toward her own husband you are able to see the fllrt that she is. One specific example of Mrs. Macomber being flirtatious is when she tells Mr. WIlson, “ You know you have a very red face, Mr. WIlson,” she told him and smiled again’. When she tells Mr. Wilson that her husband’s face is never red, Francis jokes that his face is red. But Margaret responds, “ No,” said Margaret, “It’s mine that’s red today. But Mr. Wilson’s is always red.” Readers see that she is flirting with Mr. Wilson and that she does not bother to think twice before she begins to flirt with him. Also, Mr. Wilson describes Mrs. Macomber as “... extremely handsome and well kept woman of the beauty and social position”. Mrs. Macomber know’s she’s beautiful, so she can get her way to flirt with Mr. Wilson. Hemingway uses dialogue from Mrs. Macomber as well as Mr. Wilson’s internal dialogue to help build Mrs. Macomber’s character trait of being flirtatious. In page 14, the action that Mrs. Macomber did, it adds a negative characteristic trait for her. Readers are able to see that her characteristic trait is going to be negative. In the short story, the actions of Mrs. Macomber present her as flirtatious, cruel, and later fearful. For instance, on page 14, Mrs. Macomber creates this flirtatious image by kissing Mr. Wilson on the lips. It’s Margaret who kisses Mr. Wilson. This clearly is flirtatious and is disrespecting her marriage to Francis. In this part, it’s very evil of Mrs. Macomber to kiss Mr. Wilson. Not only does she ruin the mood for Francis and try to intimidate

Let him keep her where she belongs. It’s his own fault.” (page 16). These are basically Wilson’s reasons for why having an affair with Margot is acceptable. He tries to avoid the fact that having an affair is wrong by saying that it is Macomber’s fault for failing to keep up with Margot, and it was really all Macomber’s fault.

Margot is someone you wouldn’t like no matter how many times you had to associate with her. She is as a predator, vicious, even villainous, and a murderer, and we can see why. One of the first things we learn about her in Earnest Hemingway’s short story “A Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” is that “she was an extremely handsome and well-kept woman of the beauty and social position which had, five years before, commanded five thousand dollars as the price of endorsing, with photographs, a beauty product which she had never used” (Hemingway, Page 1). When her husband isn't able to finish off the lion, which instead he decides to run away from the lion in a public display of cowardice. She then cheats on him with their guide, Robert Wilson

“We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.” Known by many, this common phrase has few words, but a intense meaning. In Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” the overcoming of fear is shown throughout the story. Francis Macomber and his wife Margaret Macomber are on an African safari with a man name Robert Wilson. Hemingway portrays Francis Macomber as wealthy and beautiful, yet cowardly. Macomber's wife Margaret also young and beautiful, but seemingly dissatisfied with her husband of eleven years. Robert Wilson is portrayed as a fearless man that has little regard for anyone but himself. The story is focused around Francis Macomber’s cowardly actions and his attempt to become

While reading the story, Mrs. Macomber is to be seen as a beautiful woman but also a woman that truly only cares about herself and not Francis who is the person that is helping them hunt in Africa. Mrs. Macomber is also a woman who feels like everyone has to obey and not disrespect her. Due to all of the choices that Mrs. Macomber decided to take, she is characterized as bossy, cruel and also a character that breaks stereotypes. According to The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, it states, “She looked at both these men as though she had never seen them before.” This specific quote shows that Margaret knows Mr. Macomber but acts as if she had never seen him in her life even though they have been married for the past eleven years. If someone is married to a person for that long, usually they would be happy and comfortable with their partner. That is not the case with Margaret and Mr. Macomber and it was unjust of

He wants Margot for her beauty and the social status that it brings. She wants Francis for his money and the social status that wealthy people enjoy. Because this marriage

Wilson then decides he must find out who is at fault and put justice into his

     The name, Margot, will now because of this character, will mean uncaring. Every aspect of her life had been by evil and hate for herself, which she then deposited onto her husband. She is the type of person that in order to make herself feel worthy has to taunt, tease and slander someone; she is “simply enameled in American female cruelty” (Hemmingway 1569). She is desperate to stay young and beautiful; she was desperate to make sure she was not left behind. She had Francis’s ticket in her hot little hand but kept in close to her because without it he would have left her. For “Margot was too beautiful for Macomber to divorce her and Macomber had too much money for Margot ever to leave him” (Hemmingway 1579). This is a marital “check” to keep each other in a position where they might not be able to leave. This is clear connection to Judy Jones and the way she loves to play with a man’s mind. Margot does it not like Judy