Abstract

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber is one of the most celebrated short stories written by Ernest Hemingway, who is one of the most famous American writers in the 20th century. It tells that an American couple, Francis Macomber and his wife Margaret (usually referred to as ‘Margot’), are on a big-game safari in Africa, guided by professional hunter Robert Wilson. From the beginning of the first hunting, bolted and fled when faced with his first lion and earning the contempt of his wife and Wilson, Macomber is gradually gaining a measure of courage as he engages in a standoff with a charging water buffalo. In the end, even though Macomber kills the buffalo at the last minute, Margot fires a shot from the car in the back of his head, and Francis dies at the most courageous moment of his “short happy life”.
This paper analyses the death of Francis Macomber from two main aspects. Firstly, it starts from the two male characters—Macomber and Wilson—who are presented with absolutely distinctive characteristics：One is a coward, the other a true man. Setting up Wilson’s image as a symbol of a true manhood in our eyes from the beginning, Hemingway describes the protagonist being a coward when faced with a charging lion and keeping quiet when faced with the adultery between Margot and Wilson. However, it is from this coward’s fight with the charging buffalo, or with danger that we can truly、vividly feel and understand the inner meaning of manhood. Secondly, it discusses the only female character—Margot, and her relationship with Macomber and Wilson, and her controversial role in the act of killing her husband. In the conclusion, it is mentioned that death is resulted by his change and pursuit for true manhood, however, the meaning of the seemingly ironical words “short happy life” in the title of the story is also manifested at the moment of the his death. The terse, simple dialogues and concrete descriptions in the story exhibit the essential qualities of Hemingway’s iceberg theory.

Key words：Ernest Hemingway; Francis Macomber; iceberg theory; code hero; death
 
摘要

《弗朗西斯•麦康伯的短暂幸福生活》是由二十世纪美国最为著名的小说家海明威写的颇负盛名的一篇短篇小说。它主要讲述了一对美国夫妇——麦康伯和他的妻子玛格丽特（通常被称为玛戈）在职业猎手罗伯特•威尔逊的带领下在非洲进行狩猎的故事。从一开始被他遇到的第一只狮子吓傻吓跑，受到妻子和威尔逊的蔑视，麦康伯在与一只气势汹汹的冲向他的水牛对峙的过程中逐渐获得了勇气。最后，虽然麦康伯在最后时刻射杀了那只水牛，他的妻子玛戈却在车中开枪射中了他的后脑勺，弗朗西斯在他“短暂幸福生活”中最具勇气的刹那死去了。
这篇文章将从两大方面分析麦康伯的死亡。首先，本文着手于本文的两个男主人公——麦康伯和狩猎向导威尔逊，他们被赋予了完全不同的性格特征：一个是个懦夫，另一个是个真男人。从小说一开始便在我们眼中树立了威尔逊的真男人形象，海明威却描写了一个在狮子面前胆小懦弱，在妻子与威尔逊的奸情面前默不做声的主人公。然而，正是从这样一个懦夫与水牛，或是与危险的争斗中我们真切的体会与了解了男性气概的内涵。其次，本文将探讨文中唯一的女性形象——玛戈，分析她的性格特征，她与麦康伯和威尔逊之间的关系，和她在射杀她丈夫过程中具有争议性的角色。结尾部分将提到麦康伯的死亡是由于他的改变和对男性气概的追求所造成的，然而，在文章题目中所提到的、似乎十分具有讽刺意味的“短暂幸福生活”，它的含义也正是在他死亡的瞬间得到了更好的阐释与升华。文章中所展现的短小精练的对话与细致的描述也使得这篇小说成为海明威冰山理论的最好阐释之一。

关键词：海明威；弗朗西斯•麦康伯；冰山理论；准则英雄；死亡