How Does Hemingway Show Courage

The theme of courage stands strong throughout the story. Hemingway wanted masculinity and courage to be the over-arching message or theme and they must be kept together. Men needed to be courageous in order to prove themselves to women. To do this, they must do masculine things like hunt, fight, and endure harsh things. Men like Francis needs to prove to himself that he is a man. Running away from the fight not only shames him, but humiliates him. However, later on, Francis proves to Margot that he is courageous and she commends him by saying, “you were marvelous, darling” (Hemingway 23).

• Francis and Margot Macomber go on a safari with their safari guide, Wilson.
• While on the tour, Francis shows that he is a coward towards a lion.
• The atmosphere is
Francis is now very confident and kills a buffalo with his first shot. He now feels like a true man and Margot admires that.
• They spot another buffalo, so Wilson and Francis go to track it down. Suddenly, the buffalo charges at them. Wilson and Francis hear shots fired. As it turns out, it is Margot who shot the gun. Instead of killing the buffalo, she kills Francis.

Mrs. Macomber is not vey impressed by Francis’ masculinity. His hunting dialogue mentioned before was embarrassing. Margot is surprised that Wilson can pretend that Francis being a coward was not a failure.
The author, Hemingway, sets up the audience by giving us a detailed description of a capable and good-looking man. Then, he diminishes the description by saying Francis is a coward. Hemingway’s sentence structure is carefully crafted so that it sends the message of: no matter how masculine or good-looking he his, he can never make up for being a coward.
Hemingway creates a “mask” for Francis. This mask shows that Francis is masculine, however, on the inside, he is really not. His wife, Margot, looks at his husband like a stranger—not because he physically is, but because his ways are so foreign to