Ernest Hemingway's The Short Happy Life Of Francis Macomber

In Ernest Hemingway’s “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” impossible expectations are placed on men to be masculine and they are enforced and perpetuated by both men and women. At first glance, the only victims of these unattainable expectations seem to be men, but the character that suffers the most from these stereotypes of masculinity is Margot. While Francis is shamed for not fulfilling his role as a man, he has a solution to his predicament. Margot, on the other hand, is caught in a paradox. If her husband does not live up to masculine expectations, she loses her own status and respect because she is married to him. But if he succeeds in becoming a man, she loses any power she has in the relationship.
Throughout the story, Francis is expected to complete the impossible task of being a man, and he is shamed by Wilson and his wife when he fails to achieve that responsibility. The unattainable nature of the task to become a man is highlighted after Francis has killed the lion. While his wife is staring at him and clearly very ashamed of him, the narrator describes all the traditionally masculine traits Macomber has attained such as keeping himself “very fit,” being “good at court games” and holding “a number of big-game fishing
But the criticism extends beyond the damaging affect these expectations have on men and focuses on the even more impossible position it puts women in. Hemingway allows Macomber to fulfill the expectations and as a result attains power and status but Margot is never able to attain both of these of being a man but Margot is never able to fully attain power or status. When Macomber fulfills his role as a man he attains power and status, but his wife is unable to attain both of these. While Macomber does die, he dies a happy man, his wife is left crying and without an