Margot's Intentional Killing in Hemingway's The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

The events of the night before still manage to creep their way into my mind. I remember Daisy and Tom’s passive conversation the next morning with all of its blatant stares and uncomfortable pauses. Tom had revealed so many secrets of Gatsby to Daisy without so much as a second thought. The aura of love and warmth that always followed Daisy began to fade and I could feel her love for Gatsby quickly begin to diminish. Daisy had looked over at me with a cold look in her eyes and told me to inform Gatsby of her absence. In her eyes the Great Gatsby was nothing more than the criminal and murderer everyone said. The hypocrisy baffled me as she didn’t know I was aware that she was the driver of the car. I couldn’t loathe Daisy and her innocent persona but I loathed her ability to hide behind her money without thinking of the repercussions on even the people she loved most.

Without Hemingway 's use of Wilson’s inner dialogue readers wouldn’t know what his thoughts on the affair are, neither would they know about his biased and role giving ways. Despite his prior judgments of Francis, near the end of the story Wilson shows a shift in his judgment when Francis, filled with anger, chases down and kills some buffalo. He says that Francis would “Be a damn fire eater now” and that Francis had his “Fear gone like an operation.” Because Francis gains the courage to hunt the buffalo without falter, Wilson believes that he is a “real man” now. This shows the shift in Wilson’s judgment of Francis, as well as how he perceives the role that Francis should fill. He views Francis as a coward who had never truly came of age before the buffalo hunt, which shows that Wilson believes that men should be fearless and able to hunt. Without Wilson’s perspective readers wouldn’t realize the amount of shift Wilson had in his judgment, nor would they have as much insight on Wilson’s ideals and standards. By allowing the readers to view multiple perspectives, the author allows the readers to see the judgmental, self biased, and role giving side of Wilson. He shows the growth of Wilson

Margot Macomber as the Hemingway Code Hero in “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”

The reader might question as to why Mrs. Mallard’s feelings towards her husband’s death change so quickly. Was she previously unaware of the “subtle and elusive” (227) thoughts that made her believe that this death might be a blessing in disguise? Mrs. Mallard, before her husband’s death, had a romanticized view of her marriage. While she believed she loved Brently and was happy, after his death she became aware of the freedom she would now experience without a controlling husband. The “powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence” (228) would no longer be present. Mrs. Mallard was aware of her yearnings of independence and joy, but would never voice them while locked into her marriage with Brantley. While at first, it may seem as Mrs. Mallard was unaware of these feelings, the death of her husband was just the catalyst that allowed her deepest feelings to be revealed and her dreams of independence to finally

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

You can tell by her reaction to his courage in this quote: “You’ve gotten awfully brave, awfully suddenly” (34). Clearly at this point, she had realized that Macomber would soon leave her because he had the confidence to go out and get another woman, and she was reacting more and more harshly to his actions. Margot’s want for the money

Benson, Jackson, J. The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway Critical Essays. Durham: Duke University Press, 1975. Print.

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

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.

Margot seemed distraught in the story and said “I wish it hadn’t happened. Oh, I wish it hadn’t happened” (2). She went to her tent and appeared to be crying because her shoulders were shaking. Francis’ cowardice makes him less of a man in Margaret’s eyes than he already was, putting an even bigger strain on their marriage and opening the door to infidelity with Wilson who is painted as a strong male character throughout the story. Wilson thinks to himself in the story “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” (12). Hemingway uses this line to display the idea that a man can’t control his own urges and he has to keep his wife in check with his own actions. Wilson takes no responsibility for the infidelity and blames it all on Francis’ cowardice. If Francis had shown courage in this moment it could have reignited the passion in Francis and Margaret’s marriage rather than put an unnecessary strain on it further complicating their dichotomy. He should have been the brave man his wife needed to see providing for her so she could feel some sense of passion with him.

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 phrase ‘well-kept’ is particularly revealing in its multiple meanings. On one hand, Margot is fashionable and presents herself well. Furthermore, she is ‘kept’ by her husband in a state of luxurious affluence. Ironically, she is not ‘well-kept’ by her husband at all, as she freely and unapologetically commits adultery. Her marriage to Francis Macomber is obviously not a happy one. (“‘Short Happy’” 214)

“Macomber, looking back, saw his wife, with the rifle by her side, looking at him. He waved to her and she did not wave back” (Hemingway, 1938, p. 36). I think this scene was important because Hemingway describes it as a cold moment between husband and wife in an instance when Francis began feeling better about himself. It is also important because shortly after the cold shoulder was displayed. Margot shot Francis in the back of his head killing him. I believe Margot intentionally killed Francis because of all the hate she had towards him and new fear of being becoming something of his past. So in a final act of control Margot killed Francis and acted as though it was accidental. She was controlling to the point where she will still get what she wanted in his death, inheritance of his

It can be noticed that Anderson’s cinematic choices has enabled the underlying reality of his storyline to be masked, providing the characters an avenue to explore his infamous recurring theme choices such as the loss of innocence, grief, dysfunctional families and the harsh but simple realities of entering adulthood (MacDowell, 2012). For example, Anderson masked the Tenenbaum’s true dysfunctional situation with his cinematic choices; mainly, the synergy of the stillness of the camera and acting of the characters, to portray an incongruous image of the film. One example where this was evident in would be the scene in which Margot’s series of shocking experiences were shown— from smoking at the age of 12 to being secretly being married. Anderson portrayed these series of events in Margot’s life more lightly than it should have been through Margot’s monotonous expressions while carrying out these experiences as well as her ex-husband, Raleigh St Clair’s neutral expressions when he found out about the extent of how secretive Margot was. One would expect a bigger reaction from Raleigh, however, the way the severity of Margot’s experiences were being covered contributed to portraying an incongruous image of the film as it ignored the reality of the way he must have felt while finding out about this hidden side of Margot. Instead, Anderson focused on highlighting on some

excitement." If Francis is no longer afraid of anything, then it is possible that he could walk away from Margot. It is also possible that he could find another wife with his loss of cowardice. When Margot says, in regard to Francis' performance with the buffalo, "I hated it....I loathed it," it is apparent that Margot now realizes that the control she had over her husband is gone. Francis' newly discovered independance destroys the equilibrium in their relationship and leaves Margot on the loosing side of a marriage that she knows is coming to an end.