In Ernest Hemingway’s The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” the true character who qualifies as the code hero is Francis Macomber.
It is not obvious at first that in the story, Francis is portrayed as a cowardly and fearful man, as opposed to the manly and brave Wilson, who seems to be the perfect character to be the code hero. With the lion hunting incident at the opening of the story, Francis cowers off from the lion’s roar alone, running to safety in front of his wife. This defies the code by not having acceptable behavior in facing death, while Wilson goes in to face the lion and kills him bravely. Yet, where the theme of the story is concerned, Francis faces a bigger challenge than Wilson can ever imagine. Francis is a cowardly man, not physically, but mainly mentally. He lacks self-esteem and belief in his own self, which leads to people stepping all over him, like his wife does.
His wife openly cheats on Francis because she is convinced that he is too afraid. If she left him, she thinks he wouldn’t be wanted by another woman. Francis’s behavior towards her is the root of her observation. He is convinced that he is less than what he is, and she underestimates him just the same. Wilson is a tough man who bravely earns a living by hunting wild safari animals for rich men who come for a hobby and to impress their wives. He is not facing an inner turmoil like Francis, just physical ones that he knows he can handle.
He has much esteem and is positive that he can overcome any challenge that his job brings. For his own hobby, he pleases the wives of the rich men he works for. In the story’s climax, Francis proves to be the character Hemingway uses to fulfill his code hero. Francis seems not to fit the code in the beginning of the story, for the Hemingway code hero must avoid death at all costs, which Francis does in a cowardly way that defies the second rule. When faced with death, the hero must have acceptable behavior. At the near end of the story, Francis fulfills the code by thinking up in a quick minute, just like the code. He is a man of action who doesn’t think before he goes into the bush; he just lives for the moment with excitement.
Francis, as the true Hemingway code hero, goes through his life being a cowardly man who is afraid of everything deep inside that intimidates him. However, he has a life-altering experience when his wife cheats on him with the man who intimidates him the most at the moment, Wilson. He decides to be brave and changes his fearful ways, facing the buffaloes as bravely as he can. At that moment, Margot, the person who uses his discontent in himself, realizes that he has changed and he will now have the guts to leave her. The woman who once threatened Francis endlessly when he stood up for himself is now in fear that the tables have turned. Unfortunately for Francis, he dies of bravery when his wife mistakenly shoots him in the back of the head while trying desperately to save his life from the bull charging towards him.
A major difference in Hemingway’s two exemplary code heroes, Francis Macomber and Frederic Henry of A Farewell to Arms,” is that Frederic actually lives on to change his ways of thinking and his values, while Francis is a misfortunate man who is saved but dies from cowardice, his bravery sprouted from anger, jealousy, and intimidation all rolled into one. The short story carries a great moral: how people who are not content with themselves get stepped all over by others. It teaches you that you are what you think you are; it’s your choice to choose to be content or not content. The catch is that your decision might just change your outcome, as it did in Francis.
