Monday, March 8, 2010

Frances Macomber

The Short Happy Life of Frances Macomber
This short story was, in a way, odd. The dissonance felt between the wife and the husband was seen throughout the book and foreshadowed something bad coming at the end of the story. I did like reading the story as we discovered more and more about each character and the relationship between all three of them.
I felt genuinely bad for Mr. Macomber. He first had this cowardly experience with the lion and running from it instead of shooting it. It shows the first break in the relationship with his wife. She is mad and embarrassed by the fact that he was scared of the lion.
His wife is a very unlikeable character. She thinks that he won’t leave her because she is all wonderful and very pretty but at the first signs of showing strength and independence she reacts scared and unsure of him. I like how the tide turns between the husband and wife. She is so unbelievably scared of him growing a spine and standing up to her (basically starting the process to leave her) that she shoots him. Even though she has a relationship with the white hunter and apparently has had other relationships with others, she still believes that he won’t leave her.
The tie between all three is interesting. Wilson is cocky and is there to hunt and have his way with cheating wives. Macomber has no spine when it comes to his wife and with the help of shooting an animal; he starts to develop a new personality. And then Mrs. Macomber is this completely false, pretentious, unfaithful, wife.
All in all I enjoyed reading this story. I wish there were more to the story itself, a few more chapters, maybe. The ending did surprise me and I like stories that surprise me.

No comments:

Post a Comment