“The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” seems to be a very short happy life. It is about a man, Francis and his wife whom he calls Margot. They go on a safari to kill animals. While there Francis feels like lees than a man, and his wife doesn’t help matters. He feels like a coward because he winds up running from a lion which he was supposed to finish killing. Later he gets a chance to redeem himself. His wife, the tour guide Wilson, and Francis go on another adventure to kill buffalo. While there he gets over his feeling over fear, which I believe, has something to do with the fact that his wife cheated on him the night before with Wilson. He shots the buffalo but doesn’t kill one of them. Then his wife Margot draws her gun and winds up killing her husband! It seems to me this is done on purpose, and there may have even been a plan between her and Wilson because of the way they act afterward.
The title of this story sums up Francis Macomber’s life. For most of it he was miserable. He was constantly ridiculed by his wife and he had little confidence. Towards the end of the story he gets to experience a short moment of Happiness before he is killed.
Had Francis life not ended prematurely by his wife shortly after gaining his new found confidence, I believe his life would have been a lot different than before. He probably would have left his wife, which I believe she knew and that was one of the reasons she killed him. He also would have been able to put the buffalo to its final death, which he was not able to do with the lion. But mainly he would have been a true man something he had not been before.
No comments:
Post a Comment