The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber
"They are, he thought, the hardest in the world; the hardest, the cruelest, the most predatory and the most attractive." [on American women]
The Story
In "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," a husband and wife find new stress when the husband shows himself to be a coward. The husband is contrasted with the European hunter. The story takes place over just two days. It opens near the end of the first day, after the first event (a lion hunt that is later retold). Label days (Day 1) and time of day (Day 1, afternoon) as you go in order to keep track of things. The story was first published in 1936, just a few years after Hemingway's first safari in Kenya. He would later go on a second safari with his fourth wife, Mary, in the winter of 1953/1954. For more background, see the further reading below.
Questions to consider
How are Francis and Wilson described as opposites? In what ways (plural) does Francis experience a "short, happy" life? How are the Hemingway hero characteristics displayed in this story? How are men and women portrayed? How are the Americans portrayed?
Tanzania, Africa
Big-game Hunter
Hemingway went on two safaris, one with his second wife Pauline in the 1930s and another with his fourth and last wife Mary in the 1950s. Click below to see pictures from both safaris.
Four-Letter Man?
In the story, the guide Robert Wilson says, "So he's a bloody four-letter man as well as a bloody coward." Readers often wonder, What is a four-letter man? Here is the best explanation I have seen.
Femme Fatales
Critic Arthur Waldhorn says, "Hemingway's women either caress or castrate." To read more on Hemingway's fictional females, see the article "The Short Happy Life of the Hemingway Hero."