Short Happy Life Of Francis Macomber Analysis

Francis Macomber, the main character in the story Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber written by Ernest Hemmingway was a coward and fearful person at the beginning of the story but he later underwent a personality changes at the end of the story where we could see him to be braver than he had ever been in the entire story. Francis Macomber’s personality changed after he knew the fact that his wife was cheating on him with the hunter who he hired. Robert Wilson, the hunter who was hired by Francis Macomber was a brave and handsome man. The reason why Macomber’s wife cheated on him was because she saw Wilson to be way more dominant than her coward husband. Macomber’s failure on his lion-hunting trip resulted in him being recognized as a coward, …show more content…
His need for power was low at first and became high towards the end of the story. Apart from that, Macomber’s need for affiliation changed from high to low after he knew that his wife had an affair with Wilson. The reason why I said Macomber had a high need for achievement was because he was persistent in his hunting trip even though he was afraid to confront the lion. His motivation was to do well in his first hunting trip so that he could feel the pleasure in overcoming his fear. The changes in the levels of the need for power and affiliation might be caused by the changes in the strength of Macomber’s motives. At the start of the story, Wilson was seemed to be more dominant than Macomber in their hunting trip because he was the one who taught Macomber how to hunt lions and other animals. Meanwhile, Macomber’s high need for affiliation at the beginning made his primary motive to be accepted by Wilson and his wife as a good hunter and to maintain their good relationship. As Macomber’s need for affiliation became higher, his need for power must be lowered because to be accepted in social relationship he must not show his dominance. This also explained his high agreeableness trait at the beginning. Later in the story, Macomber’s need for power became strong than his need for affiliation. He started to show his dominance in order to have an impact on others and to feel stronger than them. His wife betrayal caused his need for affiliation to be weaken and his need for power to be