How Is The Short Happy Life Of Francis Macomber

Cynthia Ramirez
Anneliese White
American Literature
04 November 2014
The short happy life of Francis Macomber
In “The short happy life of Francis Macomber” written by Ernest Hemmingway, Hemmingway writes about a man, Francis Macomber, who is a macho of sorts often tries to impress people with big feats which is something that is important to him, although his support network is often lacking in this story hunting a lion was something that was supposed to add to one of his many accomplishments. Francis is someone who throughout the story evolves from a man who often tries to impress people to hide his own fears to someone that eventually learns to face his fears even though it’s a brief moment before his untimely death.
In the beginning of
Even though they had been shooting from the vehicle, Macomber felt he had finally faced his fears and in the moment of shooting the animal he felt courageous. It appeared that way, although short, he had come a long way from not only running away from the lion and not being able to be the man he was trying to be to finally being able to make his wife proud by shooting the animal without asking for assistance from the guide. Macomber constantly took on challenges to feed his ego and have others praise him although what finally gave him motivation was his wife being ashamed of him and instead going with the guide. After an intense hunt the smiling man who had once “bolted like a rabbit” from a lion finally faced up to a challenge only to meet his demise at the hands of his wife who had, out of panic perhaps, shot at the charging buffalo only to strike her husband on the skull thus ending the short but happy life of Francis Macomber. In the end Francis had felt accomplished and heroic even if it did not last long he went down heroically shooting at the coming buffalo before being struck