Comments on The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

ENG 113

Instructor Risch

Donna Stevens

Comments on “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” by Ernest Hemingway

February 8, 2011

My initial response to the reading was that the wife killed the husband by accident because she felt like he was not man enough to kill the buffalo and it was going to kill him. He was more of a meal ticket than a husband but she could not watch the buffalo kill him. She wanted him to be alive even though she really did not love him. She accidentally killed her meal ticket and then the implications of his murder began to surface in her mind. Wilson said she would be fine because the witnesses would say it was an accident even though it was obvious they were not a couple in love.

The marriage of Margot and Francis was one of opportunity. Francis had the opportunity to marry a beautiful woman and Margot had the opportunity to marry a rich man. After Margot had an affair with Wilson, she tried to get her husband to brush it off. She basically told him that she needed a real man and he knew he could never be one. Therefore, if he wanted to be married to a beautiful woman, then he would need to let her have a chance at a real man once in a while.

Robert Wilson fit into the Hemingway code as a man who was strong, fearless, insightful, courageous, honest and a good hunter. The lion was even more of a man than Francis was. Francis lived in complete contrast to Wilson and the lion. Wilson even commented that it was a good lion because it had put up such a manly fight. The only time Wilson ever bragged on Francis was when he landed that buffalo. This was a turning point for Francis and for the Hemingway code as it pertains to Francis. Suddenly, Francis was coming very close to fitting into that manly mold. Margot could see her husband was a changed man after the buffalo shooting.

In response to Francis’ death, Wilson just says lets take some pictures for proof that it was an accident. He also remarks to Margot that there are enough witnesses that she should be okay and not implicated in his murder. Wilson takes a simple approach to Francis’ death, like it was just another kill.

The conflict of the story is inside Macomber. He realizes that he has never really proved himself as a man. That is that he has never really lived without fear. When approached with the opportunity to destroy fear he fleas and acts cowardly as usual. He feels the burning desire to defeat his fear as he gets ready to hunt the buffalo. When he does shoot the buffalo somewhat successfully, even Wilson agrees that he is shooting well. His wife now obviously sees that he is showing more signs of manhood and she really does not know how to handle that seeing that she just slept with Wilson the night before as an emotional slap in the face to her openly cowardly husband. Macomber is finally happy for about thirty minutes until his wife kills him. He remarks that he has never been so happy. He has finally defeated the inner conflict that haunted him most of his adult life only to have it last for about thirty minutes.

The setting of the story is in Africa probably in the fifties. High society at that time was engrossed in international travel and killing exotic animals on safari. The protagonist in the story is Macomber and the antagonist is his wife. The inner conflict that Macomber feels is exacerbated by his wife’s belittled opinion of him. In the exposition, the background information presented tells about the couple’s marriage problems and how others had forecasted their demise multiple times but they always made up. Their marriage stayed together because he wanted her for her beauty and she wanted him for his money. She was too old now for her beauty to give her another husband and so she would stay married to him for lack of a better offer and also for his money. The plot is arranged so that the climax is at the beginning of the story. The conflict of the story which is Macomber’s inner conflict of manhood presence or absence is intertwined throughout the story. The action rises after the first kill. The reader wants Macomber to kill the buffalo and prove that he is a man. When everyone believes he landed the buffalo, Macomber felt finally free of his inner conflict. He had broken through his fear and was now seen as a complete man because he could kill a large animal. His wife was unsure that he had what it took to kill the buffalo, but it surely would kill him instantly if she did not react. Macomber’s elation was short lived and so the story is called “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”.

If Francis had not died, his wife would have continued to live with him and sleep with anyone else she pleased. Francis would never be able to be a man in her eyes because she would have to treat him with respect and stop using him for his money. Their relationship would continue to be that of opportunity and not of love, unless of course, she found someone richer.