Heingway : The Killing Of The Macomber By William Hemingway

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

Smith, Paul. A Reader’s Guide to the Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co. 1989. Print.

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

Hemingway was with a woman even while he was injured and in the hospital from World War I. That is where he met his first attempt at marriage and a wife. Her name was Agnes von Kurowsky and she was a nurse at the hospital where he stayed in Milan. He proposed to her and she eventually accepted his proposal, but not very long later she left because she found a new man. This was devastating to Hemingway, but providing a great vision for some of his other renowned works. These stories include A Very Short Story and A Farewell to Arms. He met someone who was going to be his first actual wife in Chicago after returning home from the war. He was working at the Toronto Star at the time. Her name was Hadley Richardson. Once they were married they went to Paris for a while and continued working for the Toronto Star. Hemingway’s first child was born in 1923 to Hadley and Ernest. His name was John Hadley Nicanor Hemingway. Hemingway’s second wife Pauline Pfeiffer would be closely following Hadley because Hemingway and Pauline had an affair. This is why Hadley and Hemingway divorced, but Hemingway didn’t take long to marry again. Once his first divorce was finalized he was already married. He was working on a book of short stories at this time called, Men Without Women. Pauline became pregnant and they moved back to America. Their first son together was named Patrick Hemingway. In 1928, they settled in Key West, Florida. This was when Hemingway finally finished his World War I novel

But he ends up having a shift towards the end. The readers can view Mr. Wilson and Macomber beside each other and can tell Macomber is very inexperienced by saying “He was dressed in the same sort of safari clothes that Wilson wore except that his were new” (pg. 2). The readers perspective of Macomber is that he is very inexperience with hunting. He’s clothes he has on shows how he is new to this and how he wants to be more like WIlson with his clothes and have his perspective of the hunting stage. Macomber is very inexperience with hunting and being out in the woods learning new things. But he also has a fear of WIlson telling his secret with the lion. The readers see how much of a coward Macomber is because he keeps asking Wilson, “I’m awfully sorry about that lion business. It doesn’t have to go any further, does it? I mean no one will hear about it, will they?” (pg. 3). Macomber is new to all of the things that Wilson is teaching him with the hunting. The reader's perspective of him is that he has a fear of someone telling on him to his wife, because he wants to feel like a man, and what happens doesn't make him look like a man through the reader's perspective. Mrs. Macomber thinks he is a coward already since they wouldn't let her go on the hunt with them.Macomber was very fearful and new to things in the beginning of the story. But after the intercourse with his wife and Wilson, he suddenly changes

On page two, Francis is open to his wife’s ridicule and manipulation by letting her flirt with Mr. Wilson. Francis’ cowardice allows this negative treatment and disrespect from his wife to become a normal recurrence. If Francis did not act as a coward toward Margaret, her bad demeanor could halt; however, he lets her control over him strengthen while his cowardice also keeps growing. Through Macomber’s dialogue, Hemingway uses his ingenious craft to deepen the trait of cowardice in the character of Francis. Through Hemingway’s craft, readers can see a varied amount of pervasiveness through the actions and perspective of Francis. Additionally, the trait of cowardice in Macomber is broadened more to show how he is scared of facing his fears. Francis verbally spoke how he was scared by saying “I don’t want to go in there” (pg.13). Initially, both Mr. Wilson and Francis were supposed to go after and kill the lion; however, Francis has second thoughts because he became scared and frightened. The dialogue between Francis and those he is in relation to help to provide readers with another trait of scaredness to the character of Francis. The craft of perspective provided by Hemingway lets readers see into Macomber’s internal thoughts which provide more examples to how he is very scared and afraid. Near the end of the story, a shift from being a scared coward to a courageous man, occurred within Francis as he discovered his self-worth and dignity. Macomber finds pride in himself and his actions later on in the short story when “instead of fear, he had a feeling of definite elation” (pg.22). After Macomber and Wilson kill the buffalo they hunt, Francis feels more proud of himself than he has ever before. Although his wife tries to be condescending toward Francis, he finally receives courage to ignore all of the negative

Ernest Hemingway created a masterpiece of mystery in his story "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber". The mystery does not reveal itself to the reader until the end of the story, yet it leaves a lot to the imagination. At the end of the story Margaret Macomber kills her husband by accident, in order to save him from being mauled by a large Buffalo while on a safari in Africa. The mystery is whether or not this killing was truly accidental, or intentional. If it was to be considered intentional, there would certainly have to be evidence in the story suggesting such, with a clear motive as well. What makes this mystery unique is that Hemingway gives the reader numerous

Macomber is very fearful of his first hunting experience, although Wilson does not realize this, he still gets frustrated with him. When Wilson took shots at the lion, the lion went to hide in the tall grass. Macomber doesn’t understand the hunters respect for life and the danger of leaving the animal for others to come across. The attempt that Wilson makes for Macomber to understand is short and is not very mindful of how Macomber felt.

The period between World War I and World War II was a very turbulent time in America. Ernest Hemingway most represented this period with his unrestrained lifestyle. This lifestyle brought him many successes, but it eventually destroyed him in the end. His stories are read in classrooms across America, but his semi-autobiographical writings are horrible role models for the students who read them. Hemingway’s lifestyle greatly influenced his writings in many ways.

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

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.

“The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber” also contains the theme of arduous moral situations for the characters. Margot, the wife of Francis, is challenged by the temptation to have relations with their tour guide. Eventually, she commits the crime of adultery, and her husband finds out about her crime and is deeply shaken. “‘Well, why doesn’t he keep his wife where she belongs? What does he think I am, a bloody plaster saint? Let him keep her where she belongs. It’s his own fault’” (Hemingway 13). By the tone of Wilson thoughts, it is inferred that he is not able to find fault in himself and decides to blame it on the most vulnerable person, Francis. In spite of Wilson being the only man to blame for this whole incident, Margot can also take part of the blame. She appears to be a faithful and caring wife, but her actions do not justify this statement.

Moreover, these complications even stem over to Henry’s guilt about the war. After arriving in Switzerland, Henry states, “The war seemed as far away as the football games of some one else’s college. But I knew from the papers that they were still fighting in the mountains because the snow would not come” (FTA, 291). Even in Switzerland, Henry cannot escape hearing about the war. While when he escapes the war, Henry cannot escape the guilt of deserting his friends, showing that his inner truth is not that simple. Even his inner meaning from existentialism has complications. With this idea, Friedrich Nietzsche states, “‘All truth is simple.’ Is that not doubly a lie?” This dichotomy between the simple and the complicated demonstrates nihilism’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).

credibility of the safari guide, Robert Wilson. He gives the reader an outside perspective of the relationship between Francis and Margot, but it is whether or not his presumptions are accurate that deems him credible or not. When Margot tries to downplay the killing of the buffalos by saying, "You're both talking rot...Just because you've chased some helpless animals in a motor car, you talk like heroes, " Wilson thinks to himself, "She's worried about it already." It is obvious that Wilson accurately interprets the state of the relationship between Francis and Margot because he sees the way that Margot controls her husband. The clear understanding of the relationship that Wilson shows throughout the story proves that he is indeed credible.