Ernest Hemingway has created a masterpiece of mystery in his story

"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber". The mystery does not

reveal itself to the reader until the end of the story, yet it

leaves a lot to the imagination. At the end of the story

Margaret Macomber kills her husband by accident, in order to save

him from being mauled by a large Buffalo while on a safari in

Africa. The mystery is whether or not this killing was truly

accidental, or intentional. If it was to be considered

intentional, there would certainly have to be evidence in the

story suggesting such, with a clear motive as well. What makes

this mystery unique is that Hemingway gives the reader numerous

instances that would lead the reader to devise an acceptable

motive, yet human nature tells the reader that this killing could

not have been intentional. From a purely objective analysis of the

story, the reader would see far more evidence supporting the

theory of an intentional killing rather than an accidental one.

The clues supporting the idea that Margaret killed Francis

intentionally can best be seen when observing and studying the

background information on both Francis Macomber, and Margaret

for changing the character of a boring, somewhat anesthetized

opinion as to the motive of the killing is credible to the reader

analysis of the conversation and narration, it is safe to makethe

likely an additional driving force for Margaret as well. The

character, Francis Macomber, through varying literary mechanisms.

his previous night's sleep (p 269). Plainly, the incident with the

The reader learns immense detail about Francis, as well as the

lion caused an incredible fear within Francis. This feeling was

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Approximate Word count = 1703
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)