The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. Set in Africa, it was published in the September 1936 issue of "Cosmopolitan" magazine concurrently with "The Snows of Kilimanjaro". The story was eventually adapted to the screen as the Zoltan Korda film "The Macomber Affair" (1947). "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" is a third person omniscient narrative with moments of unreliable interior monologue presented mainly through the points of view of the two leading, male characters, Francis Macomber and Robert Wilson. Francis and his wife, Margot,
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber learn of Margot's adultery, punctuated by sleeping with Wilson the night after Francis' cowardly run. Wilson both kills Francis' wounded lion and has sex with his unhappy wife. Macomber both hates and needs Wilson in spite of this. As Wilson puts it, this is Francis' chance to come of age, to become a man. Note: Throughout the narrative, both Francis and Wilson have repeated moments of interior monologue, unreliable, but still their internal and highly critical thoughts about each other and Margot are repeatedly expressed. Rarely is Margot given this internal voice, and when it is allowed, it blurs with