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The short happy life of francis macomber essay prompts
An introduction to courage
How does hemingway portray men? identify images of masculinity
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In society, courage plays a large part in becoming a man. As defined by by the Merriam Webster dictionary, courage is the mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. In other words courage can be interpreted as the strength to overcome one’s own fears. In Ernest Hemingway’s short story, The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, courage is a recurring theme that creates a plethora a different interactions between the characters. As the title implies, the main protagonist is Francis Macomber, and the story follows him through his journey through cowardice and bravey. Throughout the story, the issue of courage creates a dichotomy between the characters that offers insight into what courage might mean to the characters and how it plays a role in interpersonal relations in society. Courage, a major recurring theme in the short story, forms a base for which to analyze and explain different characters’ actions while providing insight into common societal views on courage and how it plays a role in manhood.
When analyzing each character, the reader is shown different levels of courage, and how each character responds and interacts with their own level of courage. Of the three major characters, Robert Wilson, the professional hunter, has the highest level of courage. This is reflected in how he speaks to Francis and his wife how there is no feeling of doubt in his words. One of the important thoughts Wilson brings to the table about courage is when he speaks to Macomber about how “ in Africa no white man ever bolts.” A lot of Wilson’s actions are reflected in his thoughts about no white man ever running. Bolts has the connotation of running away in a terrified manner, and therefore by saying...
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...me a man, it is easy to come to the conclusion that Margot shot her husband. The analysis of courage and the role it plays in this story leads to conclusions about what happened in the story. Beyond the story, courage also plays a significant role. In almost any society, women look for courage in their men. This is shown in the story by how Margot moves to Wilson when Macomber shows his cowardice. In the story by gaining courage Macomber ascends into manhood. Just like Macomber, when men are boys, they tend to be scared of everything and are not self assured of their actions. However, when they rise to manhood, boys become self assured and fearless, showing that they are no longer boys, but men. Macomber’s growth in the story is a parallel to how society looks on men with and without courage, proving to the reader that to become a man one must overcome their fears.
A characters courage is not measured by how an action will be accepted by others, but by how their actions stay true to themselves even in the face of a pressured surrounding. Colin McDougall’s The Firing Squad a story about a young soldiers attempt at redemption and George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant an essay about Orwell’s days in a British colony where he was called to handle the situation with an aggressive elephant are two pieces of literature that demonstrate the effects of courage. Courage takes many forms and in these two great pieces of literature it can be measured by looking at the characters and how they use courage and lack of courage as a driving factor in different ways throughout their story’s.
In life, there could be multiple ideas on what heroism really mean. Many people would be curious about what it would take for them to become a hero. In the short story “The Mystery of Heroism” by Stephen Crane, a young union soldier’s name Fred Collins, who is engaging in a devastated war, decided to take a risk of running across a raging battlefield in order to retrieve water from a well for his fellow soldiers. Collins reveal the essence of bravery and courage by endangering his life to retrieve water for his fellow soldiers but at the same time he also did it to assist himself. Collins wants to prove to all of his company that he is brave enough to take risks. As a result, Collins demonstrates that his heroic actions is based on whether
An example of courage, as the judgment that something else is more important than fear, is through the character of Kak in B for Buster by Iain Lawrence. In this novel, Kak is characterized as a young, determined boy, desiring to turn himself from a comic book reading boy into a World War II hero. Planning to escape his drunken, abusive father, Kak enlists himself in the Canadian Air Force although he is underage and only sixteen years old. During his first mission, he is becomes frightened of the risk of not coming home alive, but doesn?t show his emotions because of his austere, intrepid crewmen. During this mission, Kak did not have an absence of fear, but he felt that becoming a hero like the ones in his comic book, and accomplishing his dream of fly, was more important than his fear of dying.
Francis Macomber is a thirty-five years old man, on an African safari. He is also there with his wife he is feminine as well as a coward. Macomber is considered a coward because when faced with his first lion, he bolted and fled, increasing hatred from his wife. She has been disapproving of him for a while. She is basically a snake in the grass and cheats on Macomber. Macomber decides to have a brave moment in his life for a chance and in the process, is killed. Gender roles and masculinity played a major part in the story; whether, it was Margot or Frances Macomber, and even more.
Mark Twain best described courage when he said that, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear” (Twain). Both in The One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey and Watership Down by Richard Adams, the authors deal with the topic of courage and each share a similar view on it as this quote. Indeed, both authors suggest that courage is not accumulated simply by acts of heroism, but rather by overcoming fears and speaking one’s mind as well. These books are very similar in the way that bravery is displayed through the characters in an uncommon way. Firstly, an example of bravery
Bates, Milton J. “Tim O’Brien’s Myth of Courage.” Modern Fiction Studies 33.2 (summer 1987): 263-79
...Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.’” Short Stories for Students. Ed. Kathleen Wilson. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 211-18. 27 vols. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 29 Oct. 2009.
Who do you think of when you hear the word “hero?” Do you think of a superhero, such as Superman or Batman? Or maybe you think of a strong, responsible individual like your mom or dad? Whoever you think of must contain qualities and characteristics that you associate with heroes. A few of these characteristics may include being strong, powerful, courageous, and helpful. Up until Hemingway’s time, these were some of the modern day traits affiliated with heroes. Ernest Hemingway introduced a new idea of the hero in his writing. These heroes had a new set of qualities. Hemingway heroes were described as men who lived lives of pleasure, had control of their emotions, were graceful under pressure, skillful, and much more. A Farewell to Arms by
The reason why I argue courage is because the youngest brother leaves his family to start a new life and that requires courage. He also is too rebellious to be like his older brother. Immorality is a given theme in this book. The mistreatment of servants and the 66th birthday party that was overtly sexual, concubines argue that their society is full of lewdness and that they lack any morals. An interesting observation is that all of the women they love are pure and virtuous and 2 of them die horribly which goes to show how immoral the author viewed his society. Another point to be argued is that inequality is also a common theme of this novel. The author describes this by the treatment of the young women and how they are treated and unable to have a normal education. (Gale, www.bookrags.com/Family, 2014)
Bates, Milton J. "Tim O'Brien's Myth of Courage." Modern Fiction Studies 33.2 (Summer 1987): 263-279.
Courage exists in several forms in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. As defined by Atticus Finch, real courage "…when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what” (149). The novel explores the how this real courage can be shown in different ways through the lives of many characters in Maycomb, particularly, Tom Robinson, Mrs. Dubose, and Atticus. Their courage is evident through their lifestyle, actions, and beliefs.
...;The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber ends with Wilson saying, “ ‘I’m though now”, he said,’I was a little angry. I’d begun to like your husband’”(28). What Hemingway is telling us plainly is that Macomber was able to achieve something. His death, although tragic, is not as tragic as Paco’s. As we have said many times in class, Hemingway knows death does indeed come for everyone. From short stories like The Killers to novels like For Whom The Bell Tolls, death can almost even be described as a reoccurring character in Hemingway’s work. However death impact is weighed by comparing it to life. For Macomber, death came at his highest point. He went down like man. Paco however, lost his life before he could lose his innocence. He was not even given the chance to live. And that is what Hemingway thinks is all the more tragic. To die not like a man, but a boy.
This theme is the driving force behind the two films 12 Angry Men, written by Reginald Rose, and A Time to Kill, written by John Grisham. In 12 Angry Men, courage is represented mostly by Juror 8, who stood alone in a supposed open-and-shut case and defended his ideas with evidence and reason. Similarly, Jake Brigance from A Time to Kill accepted the challenge to defend Carl Lee Hailey, an African American man who murdered two white men who were going to court for raping his daughter. These are two prime examples as to how courage can be utilized to both express one’s opinion, but to help those in need.
I recently read Earnest Hemingway's "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." This is a story about a thirty-five year old man, Francis Macomber who is on an African safari hunt with his wife, Margot. Led by his guide, Robert Wilson, Macomber tries to display his manhood by killing dangerous creatures. This in fact has the exact opposite effect when he humiliates himself by running from a wounded lion. Samuel Shaw stated in Earnest Hemingway, "…this is about much more than a hunting yarn, although it is that, too. It is a story that examines that elemental bases of the male-female relationship and the sources of human freedom and dependence" (82). The situation is complicated when Margot sleeps with Wilson and Macomber knows about it. Macomber has another chance to prove himself when they go into an island of trees to shoot a wounded buffalo. This time he stands his ground and shoots repeatedly as the buffalo charges forward. Seeing the whole situation from the car Margot shoots at the last instant, and in a brilliant ending by Hemmingway, misses and hits Macomber right in the back of the head, leaving the reader to wonder, "Did she mean to hit him?" Prevalent in this story is Hemmingway's use of the literary conventions conflict and ambiguity.
Courage is not just found in the veteran soldier who can display shiny medals or in the policeman who bravely risks his life for justice as portrayed on television or in films. Suicide is the antithesis of courage. It is not an elementary school boy who agrees to fight, but he who can stand up against it. A six year old girl who ventures out on her bicycle for the first time displays as much courage as a young man who witnesses a murder and volunteers to testify in court.