Margot In Hemingway's The Short Happy Life Of Francis Macomber

Introduction:

"She shot very well this good, this rich bitch, this kindly caretaker and destroyer of his talent. Nonsense. He had destroyed his talent himself.“
- Harry (The Snows of Kilimanjaro 54)

Full of emotion, confusion and open to countless interpretations to this day, Hemingway has proven to be one of the greatest and most discussed American writers of the twentieth century. Hemingway is known for “writing about the truth” in the simplest of ways by using only few words to describe a situation accurately in an artistic way. The various literary techniques and styles he has created and uses within literary works, has made him an important influence on the English language and literature of the twentieth century.

Hemingway was

The story is set in Africa on a safari trip, where the plot is focused on three main character;. antagonist Margot Macomber, protagonist and husband Francis Macomber and the English hunter Robert Wilson, who is the foil.

The relationship between Margot and Francis Macomber is superficial and one of financial convenience: “Margot was too beautiful for Macomber to divorce her and Macomber had too much money for Margot ever to leave him.” (20). The relationship takes a turn for the worst when Margot cannot seem to contain her resentment towards her husband, due to humiliation caused by his cowardly failures after not killing the lion. As a result, Margot has an affair with Robert after he kills the lion to emphasise Macomber’s loss of masculinity. On Macomber’s journey to recover his lost masculinity, Macomber decides to kill the buffalo. When it was discovered that the buffalo was not truly dead, Wilson and Macomber decided to hunt it down once more. As the buffalo charged towards Macomber, he had finally shot the buffalo after some difficulties. Macomber proved to be worthy of the hero code by facing his fears and proving he no longer was the coward his wife once accused him of being, however

Firstly the setting, the writer Harry and his wife Helen are stranded on a safari trip in Africa, Kilimanjaro. While suffering from a gangrene infection spreading to his thigh and awaiting his death, Harry spends his last hours drinking, insulting his loyal wife and regretting his wasted years. However, she has remained to put up with his understandable anger and lovingly keeps him company assuring him she was always there for him and that what belonged to her belonged to him as well: “Your bloody money, [...]” - "That 's not fair,[... ]It was always yours as much as mine. I left everything and I went wherever you wanted to go and I 've done what you wanted to do”