Francis Macomber - From Mouse to Man.

             One theme present in Ernest Hemingway's short story, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber", is that the way a person views his life can change completely in one fulfilling moment, if only for an instant. This is a story of an "unhappy man's display of cowardice, his wife's retaliatory love affair, and his ultimate recovery of integrity as he bravely faces a charging buffalo" (Ed. Harris 205). Francis Macomber is a prominent American businessman with a beautiful, dominating wife who holds the control and power in their marriage. At the start of their safari trip to Africa, Francis Macomber is regarded as a coward only the endure the embarrassment from his own cowardliness during the hunt, the disrespect from his wife, as well as a feeling of weakness when compared to Robert Wilson, his safari leader. He regains his integrity and confidence when "he bravely faces a charging bull" only to have his "life cut short when his wife--fearful of her husband's newfound potency-fires a bullet through the back of his head" (Ed. Harris 205).

             At the start of the safari, Francis Macomber must endure the embarrassment of his own cowardliness during the hunt. He is first presented in a "mock triumph", since he had only "half an hour before, been carried to his tent from the edge of the camp in triumph on the arms and shoulders of the cook, the personal boys, the skinner and the porters. The gun-bearers had taken no part in the demonstration" (Stallman 89) (Hemingway 1395). This is evident that Macomber has withdrawn from his prior hunt for a lion and has already been recognized as a coward in the eyes of the gun-bearers. They do not wish to pretend along with everyone else that Francis deserves praise for a lion that he supposedly shot. Macomber, however, does finally shoot a lion during his second outing with Wilson and his wife. Upon approaching the injured lion hiding in the tall grasses, "Macomber heard the blood-choked coughing grant, and saw the swishing rush in the grass.