In the rough and unmerciful nature of Africa courage, pride and masculinity are vital qualities for surviving. It certainly is not a place for a woman or an inexperienced man for that sake. There are no rules of conduct but the ones given by nature itself, and therefore death is a natural but unpredictable part of the life there. No one is spared and the only chance you get is assimilating to your surroundings.
In Ernest Hemingway’s short story, The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, two of his main characters are tourists on an African safari guided by the British hunter Robert Wilson. Francis Macomber seems to be a successful man but no sooner is he carried triumphantly to the camp than we realize that Mr. Macomber actually just returned from an act of cowardice. He is certainly ashamed and tries to forget the affair. His wife sleeps with Mr. Wilson that night, and the day after Francis Macomber suddenly experiences a change that transforms him into the man he wants to be. However, this feeling of masculinity and independence is soon replaced with a deadly gunshot fired by his wife.
The main character Francis Macomber is thirty-five years old, he is tall, trim and good at court games. Court games have clear rules and it is a step for Mr. Macomber to come to a place where only the rules of nature count, “survival of the fittest”. This definitely is an away match for him, and he feels he has to prove his manhood but instead he bolts from a lion like a coward, which makes him even more inferior to his wife than before, because every time he fails, she gets a harder hold on him, making him dependent on her and therefore incapable of leaving her. Time after time Francis is let down by his wife, and we even hear that she has a background of adultery. ”There wasn’t going to be any of that” It seems Margot is free to do whatever she wants and also it is obvious that Margot bases their relationship on Mr. Macomber’s wealth because it is a comfortable life for her.
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