Фрэнсис Макомбердің қысқа бақытты өмірі

Short story by Ernest Hemingway set in Africa

"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. Set in Africa, it was published in the September 1936 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine concurrently with "The Snows of Kilimanjaro". The story was eventually adapted to the screen as the Zoltan Korda film The Macomber Affair (1947).

"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" is a third person omniscient narrative with moments of unreliable interior monologue presented mainly through the points of view of the two leading male characters, Francis Macomber and Robert Wilson. Francis Macomber and his wife Margot are on a big game safari In Africa. We learn from the white, professional hunter and guide, Robert Wilson, that the "gun bearers" and "personal boys" speak Swahili and sometimes receive illegal lashings. Earlier, Francis had panicked when a wounded lion charged him, and Margot mocks Macomber for his cowardice. Wilson is critical of Macomber, presented in interior monologue, but outwardly tries to shepherd Macomber toward a more accepted "code" practiced by experienced hunters. This is Francis' thirty five year old "coming of age" story. In flash back, we experience Francis' cowardly run from his wounded and charging lion, dispatched by a scornful Wilson. We also learn of Margot's adultery with Wilson on the night after. Though Macomber hates Wilson he seems to "need" him. As Wilson puts it, this is Francis' chance to come of age, to become a man. The next day the party hunts Cape buffalo. Macomber and Wilson hunt together and shoot three, killing two but merely wounding the first, which retreats into the bush. Macomber experiences a rush of confidence, saying that it felt "as though a dam within him had burst." While MacComber is jubilant, Margot also senses his renewed sense of vitality and is sullen. The gun bearers report that the first buffalo has not died and has gone into the tall grass. Wilson refocuses on Macomber and helps him track the wounded buffalo, ominously paralleling the previous day's lion hunt. This time, however, MacComber approaches the hunt in ernest, without any of the fear he embarassingly displayed before. When they find the buffalo, it charges Macomber. He stands his ground and fires, but his shots are too high, impacting the bone shield across the top of the animal's head (the "boss"). Wilson shoots as well, but the buffalo keeps charging. At the same time, Margot fires a shot from the car, which hits Macomber in the head and kills him. As told by the omniscient narrator, " and Mrs. Macomber, in the car, had shot at the buffalo with the 6.5 Mannlicher as it seemed about to gore Macomber and had hit her husband about two inches up and a little to one side of the base of his skull." Wilson is furious, noting that he would report it as an accident, but heavily indicating that Margot intentionally killed her husband because she knew he would divorce her.

"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" was published in the September 1936 issue of Cosmopolitan and later in The Fifth Column and the First Forty Nine Stories (1938).

The essence of "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" is the contrast of courage and fear. Mellow described the story as "one of Hemingway’s classic studies of fear". Macomber hears the roar of a lion and is unnerved because he has never "heard, as Hemingway pointedly states, the Somali proverb that says, 'a brave man is always frightened three times by a lion: when he first sees his track, when he first hears him roar, when he first confronts him'. Or in Somali ‘Saddex jeer ayuu ninku libaaxa ka cabsadaa: markuu raadkiisa arko, markuu reenkiisa maqlo, markuu runtiisa la kulmo’ Hemingway explains, Macomber is afraid of the lion’s roar and unnerved by his fear because "he did not know the Somali proverb." Wilson has courage but Macomber, who is afraid of lions, has none. When the cowardly husband, whose wife had made her way from Wilson's tent hours before, finds the courage to face the charging buffalo, he forges the identity he wants: the courage to face both wild animals and his wife. Tragically, Macomber's happiness is measured in hours, and indeed in minutes. Francis Macomber has lived most of his adult life under the manipulative and domineering influence of Margot. He cannot bring himself to face her and assert his leadership in their marriage, allowing her to step all over him. The text implies that the affair with Wilson is not the first time Margot has cheated on her husband. Macomber, fleeing from the lion, is unimpressive when compared with Wilson, the seasoned hunter and safari veteran, cool and collected in the face of danger. The loss of Macomber's manhood in the encounter with the lion mirrors the blow he takes when Margot blatantly cheats on him. This appears to push him over the edge. Macomber translates his fury into the intensity of the hunt. He experiences rising confidence and bravery during the hunt, as he seeks to take back the manhood he never found. Macomber's transformation is symbolized at the beginning with Macomber's offering the group "lime juice or lemon squash". But at the end of the buffalo hunt, he and Wilson toast their success in whiskey. Macomber progresses from a timid rabbit drinking juice, to a hunter, downing more masculine hard liquor. Hemingway also employs animals as symbols in "The Short Happy Life". Macomber is referenced as a rabbit, and one of his kills is described as one of "the big cowy things that jump like hares". His conquests are gentle animals, easily frightened. In contrast, Margot is described as "predatory", like a lion. The comparison to Macomber’s cowardice during the hunt is clear: Macomber the rabbit runs from his wife, a lion. Building his courage is catalyzed by Macomber's hot rage, an experience associated with the lion. At the end, Macomber lies dead, mirroring the posture of the buffalo he has shot. Wilson compliments the dead creature as a "hell of a good bull", implying that Macomber is finally worthy of respect by right of the beast he has conquered. Margot is disturbed by Macomber's sudden confidence and assertion of his manhood, feeling her dominance threatened. It is no coincidence that Margot is the one who kills him. The unresolved debate is whether she murdered or accidentally killed Macomber. If she purposefully shoots him, she has preserved her dominance and ensures that she will keep his wealth (possibly the only reason she married him). If the shot is accidental, the moment is tender, as well as tragic. She has just observed her husband become a man, and though she fears the end of their relationship, she is invigorated with energy to start afresh. Margot picks up the gun to defend her husband, trying to save him in the face of danger. For once, husband and wife are both on the same side, shooting at the same bull. It is tragically ironic that she kills the man she is trying to save, but such is Hemingway's commentary on life. The sweetest moments are short lived. A third interpretation of Margot's shot is that she is trying to regain dominance over her husband by killing the bull herself. If this is the case, she wins back her power, but destroys the thing she is trying to control. The bullet accomplishes exactly what she was trying to avoid.