Ernest Hemingway is an author of many short stories that are particular to his background and how he was brought up. Born on July 21, 1899, in suburban Oak Park, IL, to Dr. Clarence and Grace Hemingway, the author grew in a quiet suburb to a mother and father who were stable financially and had glittering careers. Most of the setting depicted in his short stories is rich and suburb settings, which implicate the luxurious lifestyle he leads at his young age. Ernest ’s belief in masculinity and the notion that a man must be tough derives from the fact that he took part in both boxing and football during an in school. He was a boxer who admired being a soldier but faced rejection because of numerous injuries he sustained from boxing ( Knodt, 2019). He started writing short stories in 1927. Since then, he did many recognized publications, among them being The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, which many critics point to as his best among all the stories he did. The veteran author would later die in the year 1961 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. In this article, there is a critical analysis of literary elements in one of his best books, The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.
Ernest uses different literary elements to reshape the story’s plot. First, the author resorts to using a narrative approach to build the plot. It is due to the narration that the author succeeds in revealing Francis’ cowardice face when facing the lion. His description of how Francis's hands are shaking is an illustration that creates an image on how Francis is terrified at the fact that he has to kill the that has been terrifying people the whole night. Other than that, he uses third-person narration as a way to invoke the sense that he was much involved in the narrative. The decision to use both the third party narration and the description approach works best for him. The plot is also developed well from the fact that the author uses flashbacks and alternative it with the present happenings in the story ( Ledden, 2018). As the story begins, the author uses the present tense to describe the situation in its current form. The atmosphere is gloom, but everyone is "pretending that nothing had happened” (Hemingway, 1977). However, it switches to flashback on the occurrences at night, and this makes readers understand that it was a terrifying lion, and Francis to kill it that has led to a tensed situation.
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The use of a few characters in the story makes it more exciting and easy to understand. Francis and his wife, as well as Wilson, are a significant character. There are others, such as gun bearers, that also lay substantial roles in the story. The use of few characters makes it easy for the audience to understand each of the character's traits and what they bring to the story, or they make the plot of the story (Meyers, 2019). It makes it easy for the audience to understand that despite Wilson's role as a servant, he is courageous than Francis. Wilson's "flat, blue, machine-gunner's eyes," as described by Francis wife underline the differences the two men have between them. Francis cowardice and wealth are used purposely by the author to make the audience and that Francis's wealth compensates for his naive and cowardice traits. Though unsecured about the wife's beauty and arrogance, Francis has confidence that he is rich, and thus, the wife cannot leave him. Note that the author resorted to narration, and the choice paid off as it revealed the evil intentions the wife had on the husband. The kiss to Wilson, the hatred towards the husband, all culminates in revealing the fact that by killingFrancis,the wife eliminated what probably was a barrier on her way to get wealth and Wilson.
A look at the themes in the story reveals a story that had the intent to disclose the nature of society and its expectations on the male gender. Ernest's life in boxing, football, and his role in world war I show that a man must be strong and must be committed to showing courage and desire to be tough. The intent is revealed using many themes. The theme of cowardice and lack of courage in Francis and the courage Wilson exhibit that makes Francis's wife loves him to showcase the desired courage men should exhibit in the society. Wilson describes what would make a man in this passage: "It had taken a strange chance of hunting, sudden precipitation into action without worrying beforehand, to bring this about with Macomber…Fear is gone like an operation. Something else grew in its place. The main thing a man had. Made him into a man. Women knew it too. No bloody fear” (Spencer & Coffey, 2018). On the other side, the theme of masculinity is also evident, and the intent of using it in the story is to showcase that women are hapless need men to get wealth. Furthermore, men must be tough in society.
Different elements are also used to create emphasis, bring images, and also make the story exciting and communicative. For instance, onomatopoeia, such as “whunk,” is used mostly to depict the sound of a gun. Metaphors are also used well as well as similes. These elements all create a situation where the reader is left to imagine, figure out, and even create an image of the entire book as the story unfolds (Hemingway, 1977).
In conclusion, an analysis of The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber reveals why most critics rate it as the best among all. It is a book that has many styles that make it outstanding. Its themes, the plot, the styles of description, and the number of characters used by the author are well-coordinated to create a piece of literature that is not only communicative but also easy and interesting to understand.
References
Hemingway, E. (1977). The Short Happy Life of J; Francis Macomber.
Knodt, E. A. (2019). What If It's the Mannlicher?: A Letter Complicates the Ending of" The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." The Hemingway Review , 38 (2), 87-92.
Ledden, D. B. (2018). Pauline Pfeiffer's Safari Journal and Hemingway's Composition of" The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." The Hemingway Review , 38 (1), 108-124.
Meyers, J. (2019). The feral brain: Hemingway and Ted Hughes. Q: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews , 32 (2), 127-129.
Spencer, A., & Coffey, T. G. (2018). Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Mathematical Proof of the Unequivocal Guilt of Margot Macomber in Ernest Hemingway’s THE SHORT HAPPY LIFE OF FRANCIS MACOMBER. The Explicator , 76 (4), 179-182.
