THE SHORT HAPPY LIFE OF FRANCIS MACOMBER BY ERNEST HEMINGWAY

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1 THE SHORT HAPPY LIFE OF FRANCIS MACOMBER BY ERNEST HEMINGWAY A COMPLETE LESSON PLAN

2 BIOGRAPHY OF ERNEST HEMINGWAY Hemingway was born in a suburb of Chicago in 1899 where he developed a love for outdoor life, especially hiking, camping, hunting and fishing. As a teenager, he loved to play football and box; he wrote poetry, stories, and news columns. After high school he went to work as a reporter for the Kansas City Star. During W. W. I the American army rejected him because of an eye injury. He enlisted as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross in Italy in He was wounded during a mortar attack and spent time recuperating in an Italian hospital. In the early 1920s he worked as a reporter and foreign correspondent for The Toronto Star and the Star Weekly. He married Hadley Richardson, published Three Stories and Ten Poems, and covered the Greco-Turkish War as a correspondent. In 1925 he met F. Scott Fitzgerald. They were the new voices in American fiction known as expatriates in France, living cheap, exotic, graceful, and luxurious lives. Their realistic, cynical writing mirrored a loss of innocence and idealism experienced after WWI. In 1926, his novel The Sun Also Rises gained widespread attention. This post-war story about the lost generation of Americans is set in Paris and Pamplona, Spain. His description of the running of the bulls in Pamplona popularized the event. In 1927 he divorced Hadley and married Pauline Pfeiffer. They made their home base in Key West, Florida until Today the home is a well-known tourist attraction.

3 In 1929, Hemingway published A Farewell to Arms, a realistic description of W. W. I. The main character is an American ambulance driver wounded in a mortar attack. In 1933, he published Winner Take Nothing, a book of stories. He went on safari to Africa, the setting for his two long stories "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber", both published in In he covered the Spanish Civil War for the North American Newspaper Alliance. In 1940 he published for Whom the Bell Tolls, set in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. He and Pauline divorced and he married Martha Gelhorn. In 1944 as a war correspondent, he acted as an observer during the D-day invasion and attached himself to the 4th Infantry Division during operations leading to the liberation of Paris. He and Martha divorced and he married Mary Welsh. By this time, Hemingway had become an international celebrity and worldwide adventurer who loved traveling to bullfights, hunting big game, and deep-sea fishing. In 1952 he published The Old Man and the Sea, the story of a destitute, elderly Cuban fisherman on a crucial fishing trip in the Gulf Stream. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in In his later years, Hemingway was overcome by a series of accidents, including two plane crashes and a fiery car accident. He took his own life in 1961 as his father had before him.

4 HEMINGWAY S WRITING STYLE Hemingway is considered the most influential of all post-war writers. He is most famous for his literary style which has had a strong effect on American fiction. This style of writing is spare in language, using the fewest words possible to convey an idea. His work is forceful in its simplicity. Hemingway wanted to reduce the showiness of literary language to the bones of truth it must express. He felt that the words of a story should only represent the tip of an idea like the tip of an iceberg. Hemingway is also noted for adding a new kind of hero to American fiction. This Hemingway hero is a role model, a man of courage and endurance, a man who has a code of honor, and a man who shows grace under pressure. Many of his characters are held up to his personal code: a belief in self and the qualities of decency and a display of bravery competence, and skill. He believed that a hero should have the will to live fully, and take up the rare, good moments that life offers gracefully.

5 Reading Log: The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber Draw a horizontal line to form a split-note page. On the left side of the line, give a summary, description, or quote for each of the numbered items. On the right, make relevant comments directly related to the summary. These may include your opinions, reactions, questions, or predictions. Arrange corresponding left and right side comments so that they begin together. 1. Where are the characters and what are they doing as the story opens? 2. Describe Margot Macomber. 3. What is Wilson s attitude toward American women? 4. How does Francis annoy Wilson the most at lunch? 5. What does Francis remember feeling the night before the lion hunt? 6. How does Francis behave as he sights and shoots the lion? 7. What suggestions does Francis make as the lion hides in the brush? 8. Describe what the lion feels and what he does after he is wounded. 9. What happens as the group goes in after the lion? 10. Explain why Francis believes his wife will never leave him. 11. What finally makes Francis angry? 12. What happens as Francis and Wilson chase the buffalo? Why does Wilson break his own code? 13. How does Wilson think Francis has changed? 14. How does Margot react to the change in her husband? 15. Describe what happens to Francis as the wounded buffalo charges. 16. How does Wilson accuse Margot?

6 Identify an example of each element in the chart from the following passage. Briefly explain how it adds to your understanding of the story. Look at the beggar now, Wilson thought. It s that some of them stay little boys so long, Wilson thought. Sometimes all their lives. Their figures stay boyish when they re fifty. The great American boy-men Beggar had probably been afraid all his life. Don t know what started it. But over now. Hadn t had time to be afraid with the buff. That and being angry too Be a damn fire eater now. He d seen it in the war work the same way Fear gone like an operation. Something else grew in its place. Main thing a man had. Made him into a man. Women knew it too. No bloody fear. METAPHOR SIMILE FRAGMENT OXYMORON ANALOGY

7 How does the title of the story relate to each character? Margot Wilson Francis

8 TEST for The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber 1. The exposition of the story reveals a group that is a. Drinking to celebrate a recent lion kill b. Arguing over who actually shot the lion first c. Drinking to forget an unpleasant incident d. Planning another lion hunt for the next day 2. It is clear that Margot Macomber values most a. The skins of the animals they kill b. Her power and control over her husband c. The beauty of the scenery in the African plains d. Any type of challenging adventure 3. When Francis discusses the lion hunt, he annoys Wilson most by a. Refusing to admit there was a problem b. Placing the blame on Wilson c. Admitting he ran away in fear d. Asking Wilson not to tell anyone what happened 4. When the three discuss hunting buffalo for the next day, Margot a. Decides she d rather not see her husband make a spectacle of himself again b. Refuses to stay in the camp and wait for their return c. Tries to persuade Francis to give up hunting and return home d. Wants them to hunt for lion again because it was exciting 5. The statement, he did not know a brave man is always frightened three times by a lion, it implies that a. Francis should not hunt the lion if he feels so afraid b. Even the Swahili know not to hunt the lion c. Just because you want to do something does not mean you should d. Francis should have understood and endured his fear 6. Francis shows his fear before shooting the lion by all of the following EXCEPT a. Refusing to get out of the car b. Asking to shoot from the car c. Complaining about the lion s roar d. Forgetting to remove the safety catch on the gun 7. Hemingway switches the perspective to the wounded lion to show a. Why no one should be allowed to hunt big game b. Man will always win c. A true symbol of courage d. Why Francis should be the one to finish the job

9 8. When the group stalks the wounded lion in the brush, Francis wants to a. Go in quickly and end the lion s suffering b. Leave the lion in the bush to die on its own c. Wait by the car while Wilson handles the kill d. Send the gun-bearers back to the camp for help 9. Wilson will not leave the lion to suffer, but he also does not want to a. Chance not collecting his full fee b. Look weak in front of his gun bearers c. Leave the lion for someone else to run into d. Create talk at the hunting club 10. Wilson s attitude toward Francis throughout the story could best be described as a. Consistent dislike b. Intolerant and disrespectful c. Amused and mocking d. Conflicted and understanding 11. Francis is finally forced to confront his inner conflict when a. His wife will not stop nagging him b. He makes a bet with Wilson c. His wife s behavior with Wilson angers him d. He becomes upset with himself 12. When Wilson thinks to himself, Hope the silly beggar doesn t take a notion to blow the back of my head off it is ironic because a. Francis considers himself a man with great tolerance b. Wilson does not respect Francis c. It happens to the silly beggar instead d. When the lion charges, Wilson blows off half of his head 13. Wilson s code of honor applies to all of the following EXCEPT a. American women b. Hunting big game c. Discussing his clients with other guides d. Leaving his clients to fend for themselves 14. When Francis loses his fear, Margot a. Gains the fear he has lost b. Wants to thank Wilson for changing their lives c. Gains pride for his new found courage d. Regains the love she once had for him 15. The atmosphere at the story s end leaves the impression that a. Margot will be charged with murder b. Wilson will tell the authorities the shooting was an accident c. Wilson and Margot will marry d. Margot is not regretful for her action

10 Discussion: Answer each question in a paragraph with detailed story support. 1. Explain how the lion could be considered a foil to the humans. 2. Discuss which character best reflects the opposite of the concept of a Hemingway Hero and provide specific support for your choice. 3. Why is Wilson embarrassed when he shares the quote from Shakespeare s Henry IV with Macomber? [ By my troth, I care not; a man can die but once; we owe God a death and let it go which way it will he that dies this year is quit for the next. ] What does this show about men like Wilson? 4. Explain how the title of the story helps to relate a theme of moral failure and recovery of self-esteem. Answer Key: 1. c 2. b 3. d 4. b 5. d 6. a 7. c 8. b 9. c 10. d 11. c 12. c 13. a 14. a 15. b

Ernest Hemingway ( )

Ernest Hemingway ( ) Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) Oak Park Born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1899 (a Chicago suburb) Father was Clarence Hemingway, an obstetrician Mother Grace Hall Hemingway, a music teacher Childhood Some biographers