Masculinity in “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” Being a man is a theme that Ernest Hemingway often writes about in his stories. Masculinity plays the biggest role in the short story “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” because Wilson and Francis Macomber have the goal to be a “bigger” man. Margot is Macomber’s wife, and she is impressed by Wilson’s manliness rather than her husband’s. Throughout the story, Margot makes it blatantly obvious as well that she does not respect her husband as a man. Margot compliments Wilson on having a sunburnt face, and Hemingway points out that Francis’ face is only red when he gets frustrated or is in an awkward situation (which is quite often). Then, Margot has sex with Wilson in his tent
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By better man, it means to be more of a stereotypical man, not being chivalrous. Their way of one-upping each other has to be directed towards each other. The only way they feel manly, is by tearing each other’s self identity down into self pity. At one point during the buffalo charge, the narrative portrays Macomber "aiming carefully," a phrase that echoes Wilson 's actions during the earlier scene when he "aimed carefully (Strychacz 3). This is Macomber trying to be more like Wilson than Wilson even is. When Macomber goes to standoff against the water buffalo, he understands that it is incredibly foolish. The real reason behind it is because he knows that Wilson is too cautious and wise to ever do something like that. Wilson brings Margot into his tent for two reasons. Reason one, he is a womanizer and that is what he does on a consistent basis. Reason number two is because Wilson knows that by having sex with Macomber’s wife, he somehow looks like more of a man and he becomes more dominant than Francis. Hemingway also notes that Wilson always brings a double sized cot for this type of occasion (Strychacz 7). Wilson clearly has no issue with talking about doing illegal things like giving workers lashes. He thinks by doing this it makes him seem like a man, whereas Macomber does not know that much about being a “bad
By better man, it means to be more of a stereotypical man, not being chivalrous. Their way of one-upping each other has to be directed towards each other. The only way they feel manly, is by tearing each other’s self identity down into self pity. At one point during the buffalo charge, the narrative portrays Macomber "aiming carefully," a phrase that echoes Wilson 's actions during the earlier scene when he "aimed carefully (Strychacz 3). This is Macomber trying to be more like Wilson than Wilson even is. When Macomber goes to standoff against the water buffalo, he understands that it is incredibly foolish. The real reason behind it is because he knows that Wilson is too cautious and wise to ever do something like that. Wilson brings Margot into his tent for two reasons. Reason one, he is a womanizer and that is what he does on a consistent basis. Reason number two is because Wilson knows that by having sex with Macomber’s wife, he somehow looks like more of a man and he becomes more dominant than Francis. Hemingway also notes that Wilson always brings a double sized cot for this type of occasion (Strychacz 7). Wilson clearly has no issue with talking about doing illegal things like giving workers lashes. He thinks by doing this it makes him seem like a man, whereas Macomber does not know that much about being a “bad