The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber is suddenly invigorated with energy to start afresh. Margot picks up the gun to defend her husband, trying to save him in the face of danger. For once in their lives, husband and wife are both on the same side, shooting at the same bull. It is tragically ironic, of course, as she kills the man she is trying to save, but such is Hemingway’s commentary on life. The good things we gain are the sweetest, and the most short-lived. A third interpretation of Margot’s shot is that she is trying to regain dominance over her husband by killing the
Man and Woman in Front of a Pile of Excrement black sky against which the disjointed limbs of the figures are highlighted. Miró's choice of title was to use French and not Spanish. Miró said that the reference to excrement comes from a saying by Rembrandt who said that when it came to painting, rubies and diamonds were found in dung heaps. This picture was painted in Mont-roig del Camp in 1935 and was in the possession of Pilar Juncosa Miró, but is now in the permanent collection of the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona. Pilar Juncosa had been Miró's wife since 1929 and she was a supporter of his