The car is a place where a coward stays or goes to when things start to get hairy. This is what happened with Francis. He is reluctant to shoot on the ground because the animal could charge at him at any moment. The car provides comfort to him. Also, common sense suggests that cars are used as an escape route. This is also another reason why Francis wants to be in the car. Albeit, Francis acts kind of like a child, he is also chivalrous when he tells his wife to stay in the car while he takes a look at the lion.
Francis looks like a great example of a success, well groomed sportsman. He is thirty fives years of age, has a lot of money and knows many things such as, “duck-shooting, about fishing, trout, salmon and big-sea, about sex in books, many books, too many books, about all court games, about dogs” (Hemingway 18). His friends regard him as the “know-it-all,” however he just knows things pertaining to him and nothing else. As the story goes on, Francis goes through a radical change in which he becomes a man, kills a buffalo and finds happiness. This is cut short since he dies at the end of the