“The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” by Ernest Hemingway was fairly hard to follow. It felt like I picked up a novel, opened it to middle of the last chapter and began reading. The couple in this story had an awful relationship. The more I read, the worse their problems got. At first it seemed as if they just didn’t get along, perhaps just having a spat like every couple does. Then Hemingway reveals that they have been close to breaking up before but Margo, the wife can’t find anyone as wealthy as her husband, Macomber, and he can’t find anyone prettier. They are at a point in their lives where they both feel stuck with one another. As the reader, it’s obvious how detrimental their problems are when Macomber has been laying in his tent thinking about the lion incident and his wife comes in. It is the middle of the night and Hemingway makes it very obvious to the reader where she was. The fact that she was with the professional hunter, Wilson, is once again obvious when she kisses him on the mouth the next morning right in front of her husband.
Their relationship is sad yet amusing. The way Macomber and Margo talk to one another is very sarcastic. When Margo calls her husband “darling” the reader can almost hear the sarcasm in her voice. Almost every sentence they say to one another is overly dramatic.
The ending of this story is so tragic. Macomber finally reaches a major turning point in his life; he overcomes fear, when his wife “accidentally” shoots him. It’s hard to believe that her killing her husband is an accident as she claims with their wild history together. Wilson doesn’t seem to believe Margo accidentally killed Macomber either. There was some foreshadowing to this moment. Hemingway makes a point to mention the gun sitting on the seat next to Margo before the men go out after the buffalo.
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