“The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”

Introduction
First body paragraph,
second,
third, and
fourth and
then a conclusion.

After a careful reading of Hemingway’s long”In Defense ” short story, “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” please write a 3-4 page essay on the ending of the story.
Do you believe that Margaret shoots her husband on purpose or that it was a terrible and unfortunate accident? To help convince your reader of your analyses, you MUST use the story to make your case, by quoting and paraphrasing from the text and building an argument by a close reading of the text! In addition, read the article, “In Defense of Unhappy Margot Macomber” by H.G. Johnson and cite the article in your paper to agree or disagree with the peer-reviewed author’s opinion. This article deems the shooting as an accident; however, Johnson cites other critics and Hemingway himself who believe otherwise, and so whatever your argument is, you can cite and paraphrase the article to your liking and to support your argument. Using the article will establish your paper as a companion piece, or as an opposition piece. Use a Works Cited page for the short story and the article.
Upload the draft to the Assignment window assigned
Use Double spaced, font 12, Times New roman; with 1-inch margins all around.
The Paper MUST be in a Word document. I will read and offer comments and suggestions using Track Changes (A feature on Word) and then return it to you for the final draft a week later. So your paper MUST be uploaded in word; any paper not uploaded in word will receive zero points.

Discussion on Hemingways’ story:
Does Margot shoot her husband Francis on purpose, or is it a terrible accident?

This topic will also be the subject of my essay. To make my point quote the story and cite of page number. (Hemingway 16). is required.

A draft of the essay will be due next Thursday, April 16 by Midnight. The final paper will be 3-4 pages and so the draft should be at least 2-3 pages; a Works Cited page is also required.

Notes on “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” by Ernest Hemingway (1936) This story is about:
1. Control
2. Point-of-view
3. Understanding Omniscient narrator
Our chief question with this story is how we interpret the shooting at the end of the story that causes the death of Francis Macomber. Was it an accident, as Margot would most definitely want us to believe, or was it on purpose, cold bloodied murder, as the guide Wilson intimates when he says, “Why didn’t you poison him? That’s what they do in England” (Hemingway 17). Additionally, If we look at what the author, Hemingway himself, says in an interview when asked about this very dilemma, he pretty much suggests that Margot shot her husband: “…the only hint I could give you is that it is my belief that the incidence of husbands shot accidently by wives who are bitches and really work at it is very low” (quoted in Johnson 44).
However, since the publication of “The Death of the Author” by By Roland Barthes in 1967, readers should no longer use the obvious biases and experiecnes of any author as the solitary source of meaning in the text: we the reader are the only ones that should give a text any meaning. Therefore, no matter how much Hemingway might have wanted us to conlcude that Margot shot Francis on purpose, we should have the text, the story itself, shape our understanding. Of, course, that does not mean you ignore – just don’t let it be your only interpretative tool.
Notes on Macomber 1
First, Does Margot have motive? Yes, absolutely. In 1936 there were no laws to protect, women in particular, in divorce. Francis could divorce Margot at any time and wouldn’t have to give her a dime. And, we know that although she received $5,000 for endorcing products that she never uses (Which was a crime for any celebrity to do before Michael Jordan came along and changed all that) that was 5 years ago, and she is no longer considered a great enough beauty in America – in Africa yes, but not in America – so, she is past her prime. If Francis was to divorce her, how would she survive?
So, yes, when Francis – after shooting along with Wilson what he thinks is the third buffalo – suddenly feels like he is finally alive, and isn’t afraid of anything any longer, and even tells, Margot, “If you don’t know what we’re talking about why not keep out of it?” (Hemingway 16), Nevertheless, she does see the writing on the wall and is afraid.
Because she has lost control of her husband. Her husband who only knows “about sex in books, many books, too many books” (Hemingway 10 (Slide 8 of Hemingway’s Style PPT), and who we can interpret as having impotence, which is what Margot has got on him, but after the buffalo – he doesn’t care. So, yes, she is has motive because she has lost control.
But then Wilson also has lost control. K.G Johnson in his article, “In Defense of Unhappy Margot Macomber” and the powerpoint on Hemingway will explain the control aspect of the seating arrangment, but we can also look at the point of view at the end of the story. The point of view of the story at the very end is from Wilson’s point of view. The narrator is omniscient (which means it is all knowing): that is why the story starts off from Margot’s point of view as she
Notes on Macomber 2

compares the two mens appearances side by side (PPT Hemingway Style); then, we have Wilso’s, then Francis’s as he is about to shoot the lion (ppt) and the night after when his wife sleeps with Wilson who carries a double cot for such occassions. Then, we get the lion’s pont of view and at the end we have Wilson’s point of view (who is shown to be a sexist and women hater in ppt) and it is Wilson who puts it in the reader’s head that she shot her husband on purpose and will not stop at Margot until she finally pleads, through tears, “Oh, please stop it,” she said. “Please, please stop it” (Hemingway 17).
And, how does he respond: “That’s better,” Wilson said. “Please is much better. Now I’ll stop” (Hemingway 17).
And, thus he has the control back. He lost the control when she questioned him about shooting the buffalo from the jeep and when Wilson said if it ever came out he would lose his licence and thus is career. To which, Francis responds laughing, “Now, she has got something on you” (Hemingway 15).
So, Wilson has a Motive for making it look like a murder to get control back and basically tell her, you say nothing about shooting from the jeep and I’ll tell the authorities that this was an accident.
Johnson, also gets into the omnicient narrator who tells us that Margot picking up the gun as the Buffalo was about to run over her husband, and “shot at the buffalo” (Hemingway 17). And, the omnicient narrator knows all.
Having said all that, there is a lot of reasons as to why Margot shot her husband on purpose and Johson quotes many different critics who disagree with him and think she did it on purpose – so, if you feel she did it on purpose, you can quote any or all of those critices that Johnson
Notes on Macomber 3

quotes: just remember to say the critics name in the quote and the in-text citation should be (Quoted in Johnson PAGE).
Finally, the name of the gun is MannLichter: Lichter is German for killer, so she uses a man- killer!