The Short Happy Life Of Francis Macomber Analysis

A girl and a gun, two deaths – they’re done. In Fitzgerald’s Gatsby, the main character is a rich man who longs to be with a girl named daisy. His conquest for her undivided affection eventually led to his death following the discovery of their extramarital affair. In Hemingway’s short story, “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”, Francis Macomber is a cowardly man who wants to keep his wife but is having her drift away from him and into an affair with a more masculine, confident hunter. Once Macomber becomes brave, just like once Gatsby becomes brave, he dies – just as Gatsby dies. It’s from this parallel that it’s quite clear Gatsby’s romantic pessimism and portrayal of adultery and murder among the very rich also had a powerful and
Scott Fitzgerald. Like Daisy, Margot is described as a beautiful woman who is with Francis for his money. Based off the story, their relationship is not a happy one, as Francis’s wife “had been a great beauty in Africa but she was not a great enough beauty anymore at home to be able to leave him and better herself, and she knew it and he knew it” (Hemingway 21). Margot was once beautiful, but as she ages, her beauty begins to deteriorate, leaving her no choice but to stay with Francis. This also describes Francis’s status as being wealthy, such as Tom Buchanan being wealthy as well. However, like the characters in the Great Gatsby, wealth does not bring happiness, making the characters look for satisfaction in other ways, such as Tom’s affair with Myrtle. In the short story, Margot has an affair with Wilson, a hired hunter in the safari of Africa. Both affairs demonstrate that a person with high status had to look for satisfaction with someone below them, such as Tom with Myrtle, and Margot with