Summary:
The short happy life of Francis Macomber by Ernest Hemingway is a written manifestation of
Hemingway's own life philosophy, which says that as a true man one should face the difficulties of
life with grace and steadfastness.
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber
The short happy life of Francis Macomber by Ernest Hemingway is a written manifestation of
Hemingway's own life philosophy, which says that as a true man one should face the difficulties of
life with grace and steadfastness. For good reason he believes that nothing in life comes for free and that first one has to endure in order to achieve. In the quest for the code failure has gruesome consequences. The man will live in anxiety without being able to prove himself and this narrowing of his manhood is bound to have some serious effect on his self-esteem. "It isn't done," says Wilson "why not"" Asks Macomber. These words sounds like a tutor to his apprentice. The words are a part of the learning process and they are normally a result of one persons wondering. They are also the words, which best describe the interaction between Robert Wilson and Francis Macomber and which describe one of the essential themes of the story. Like a master of etiquette and self-righteous behavior Hemingway tells us what is done and what isn't done, as he pulls us through his catching story of the acquiring and obtaining of the true code of a man. A code that Hemingway himself followed and which may seem old-fashioned, male chauvinistic and pointless now a day, but which has a profound resemblance to the knightly virtues that were maintained during the Middle Ages. In The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber we meet Francis Macomber who is our protagonist and the rich American boy-man who has to pass a rite of initiation (in this case killing an animal) in order to become a man. His wife, the unscrupulous, cynical Margot, has brought him on yet another safari in a hopeless attempt to make a man out of poor Francis. Along with them they have the stoic hunter Robert Wilson, who is the wise code hero and the tutor of Francis. Francis´ and Margot's marriage has been deadlocked for a long time and they are slowly wearing each other out. Their marriage is described more thoroughly below. The tutor/apprentice relationship between Wilson and Francis is cemented already at the beginning of the story. To start with Wilson is shocked by Francis´ lack of honor, "I bolted like a rabbit Macomber said. Now what the hell were you going to do with a man who talks like that"" Wilson can't quite believe that Francis degrades himself by saying something like that; because a real man doesn't talk about his failures. A real man doesn't talk much at all. It isn't done. Later on as the story progresses and Francis shoots the buffalos, thereby achieving his manhood, we see that now he and Wilson can talk like real men and equals. In this story Hemingway chooses to leave the ever-questionable difference between courage and stupidity open, because in order to be a true man one has to be courageous, but where's the line between doing something courageous and doing something stupid? Francis Macomber acquires his manhood and therefore courage in the end of the story, but this makes him reckless and he acts stupidly when faced with the wounded buffalo and he dies. So does this mean that our main protagonist dies because he can't control his newly acquired manhood, and he overestimates himself in such a way that his recklessness becomes his nemesis? To answer this question unambiguously we would have to know whether or not he could have killed the buffalo if he had had a shot at it. If he couldn't, his stupidity would indeed have become his nemesis, as the buffalo would have impaled him. If he could then it's his wife who becomes his nemesis. Furthermore, an interesting fact is that Margot kills Francis with his own Springfield rifle, the very rifle that secures him his manhood in the first place. He is killed by his newly acquired manhood so to speak.
The open ending to the story can be discussed endlessly. Margot could either have killed him on purpose because she fears that she has now lost control over him (which she has) or she could have been trying to save him by aiming at the buffalo and missing to Francis´ misfortune. These are two theories, which vary very much from each other. If she killed him intentionally then the abovementioned theory about his manhood causing his destruction holds water, and she is a true femme fatal, who must destroy the man she cannot control. If she didn't, she was merely trying to stand by her husband as a true woman stands by her man. It could help us to understand the incident with Francis´ death better if we dug a little deeper into Hemingway's relationship with the American women as such. His animosity towards them, or fear as it appears to be, must be seated in his own bad experiences with women during his many marriages and in The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber he make no effort to conceal his general view on women and I also believe that some of his ex wives form the basis of the traits and behaviors of the female characters in his stories. Our protagonist's wife, Margot, comes out like a cynical and bitter succubus. She resembles a stunning innocent beauty on the outside but she governs Francis completely and to start with he is no challenge to her in their marriage.
A very obvious question to consider is whether Hemingway thinks that the American women are born like this or if they become cynical and frustrated as a result of their cowardly and incompetent men, who can't satisfy them sexually and who can't seem to put their feet down. Is Hemingway's picture of the American woman a result of the incompetent American man? A thing worth noticing in the story is that our code hero (Wilson) is perceptive and quick-witted and has seen through Margot Macomber's masquerade and he knows how women like her are. "He was grateful he had gone through his education on American women before now, because this was a very attractive one." This sentence shows that our British code hero is educated on American women, he knows how to handle them and through him, Hemingway makes it clear to us that he sees American women, as the most dangerous predator around. Wilson knows how to avoid being controlled by the woman and only use her to have sex with, because he considers it to be Francis´ own fault if he can't control his wife.
An interesting perspective to see this story and its main theme "the code" in would be to try and compare it to Galsworthy's "The man who kept his form" and find out exactly where the difference in their views upon the code lies. In The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, Hemingway never questions the code and during the whole story Francis Macomber never even considers the fact that it's not necessary for him to live in accordance to the code to be a man. In The Man Who Kept His Form, Galsworthy seriously questions the benefits of the code for your survival in a society that's growing increasingly modern and cynical. Since Galsworthy is Hemingway's predecessor it would be reasonable to call Hemingway old-fashioned and conservative. When interpreting the story it's very easy to jump to the conclusion that Hemingway sees Francis as a poor chap, who's been dragged from one dangerous expedition to another, by his bitchy wife Margot. "How should a woman react when she discovers her husband is a bloody coward"" This line makes it clear to us that Hemingway empathizes with Margot and not Francis. She has spent the flower of her youth trapped in a marriage with a hopeless wimp, who seems to posses no courage whatsoever and since being a true man is so important to Hemingway, I have to conclude that he observes Francis Macomber through the entire story with very subtle contempt.
Through this essay I have raised a lot of questions, that I've tried to answer myself and to sum up I have to say that The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber is a story about a man, who through his continued failures to reach manhood wrecks his marriage and frustrates his consort. Francis Macomber is indeed a coward and perhaps he doesn't deserve his manhood when he achieves it and maybe that's why he dies. With this story Hemingway tells us that if you're not a man, you're nothing, not even alive and Francis experiences the only true living time of his life just between the buffalo shooting and his death and even though it was short it was happy and real hence the title:The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.
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