Research Paper After reading, watching, and studying the Canvas module resources, write at least an 650 word essay supporting the claim, Francis Macomber goes on the hero's journey.Use in text citatio

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms and The Johns Hopkins University Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The South Central Bulletin This content downloaded from 132.174.254.102 on Sun, 18 Oct 2020 17:49:38 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 230 STUDIES BY MEMBERS OF SCMLA WINTER, 1972 THE CAR AS SYMBOL IN HEMINGWAY'S "THE SHORT HAPPY LIFE OF FRANCIS MACOMBER" J. F. PEIRCE Texas A & M University Hemingway's use of the car as symbol in "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" has largely been over- looked by critics. The reasons are natural. Cars are a com- monplace of our life style, and the car is necessary to Hemingway's movement of his characters from place to place. As a result, its symbolic use is obscured by its func- tion. Hemingway uses the car as a changing symbol to delin- eate his characters: the protagonist Francis Macomber, his wife Margot, and the white hunter Wilson. It serves, in part, as the motivation for Macomber's belated initiation into manhood. It illustrates Wilson's code of conduct. And it underscores Wilson's belief in the corruptive power of women as shown by Margot. Essentially, this is the story of two similar hunts during two days of hunting in East Africa: one for lion, the other for buffalo. The two hunts are largely parallel. In the first, Macomber wounds a lion, and after a brief wait to let it stiffen, the two men go after it into the high grass. The wait has increased Macomber's fear that has been building in him since the night before. When the lion charges, Macomber flees in panic. Margot witnesses his cowardice and Wilson's courage in killing the lion and gives herself to Wilson to punish her husband. During the buffalo hunt that follows, though it appears that Macomber and Wilson have killed three buffalo, one is merely wounded. Again the men wait, but this time Macomber is impatient, having lost his fear and gained his manhood in the excitement of the hunt. When the buffalo charges, after the men go into the bush, Macomber stands his ground and is shot and killed by Margot. Carlos Baker, writing of this story, says: ... During the next day's shooting, we watch the Macombers in their contest for possession of a soul. Hemingway silently points up this contest by the varying positions of the trio ... in their boxlike open car. On the way ... Macomber sits in front, with Margot and Wilson in the back. After the day's d~bbacle, Macomber slumps in the back beside his frozen wife, Wilson staring straight ahead in front. When Macomber has proved himself with the ... buffalo, it is Margot who retreats to the far corner of the back seat, while the two men happily converse vis- a-vis before her. And finally, as Macomber kneels [It is Wilson, not Macomber, who kneels] in the path of the buffalo, it is his wife from her commanding position in the back seat of the car who closes the contest.1 Baker does not develop this game of musical chairs that the characters play in the "boxlike" car, nor does he show the significance of Margot's shooting Macomber "from her commanding position in ... the car," or its importance as a symbol in "their contest for the possession of a soul." Hemingway's use of the car has been seen but not com- pletely appreciated. The constant reference to the car is, of course, necessary, so that it seems only a part of the back- ground, but if the references are examined closely, one can see their purpose. Symbols and myths associated with cars have become an important part of our culture. Hemingway was no doubt influenced by them in using the car as symbol. In his running description of the car, Hemingway sug- gests that it has no top. It is "doorless and box-bodied."2 To the lion, seeing it in silhouette, it looks "like some super-rhino" (p. 15yf 0 D F R P E H U Z D Q W V W R V K R R W I U R P L W S S . 14, 28yf E X W : L O V R Q W H O O V K L P W R J H W R X W D Q G K H V W H S V R X t of the curved opening at the side of the front seat, onto the step and down onto the ground" (pp. 14-15yf 7 K H V H D W V D U e low (p. 20yf D Q G L W P X V W K D Y H D W K L U G U R Z R I V H D W V R U D W U X F k bed, for "the gun-bearers brought the [lion] skin over ... and climbed in behind.. ." (p. 21yf . Thus, the car roughly resembles a convertible. In 1936, when the story was written, it was every boy's dream to own a convertible, or "cock wagon," as it was vulgarly called. To most men, a car symbolizes sex and power. The sticking of the key into the lock, ignition, the rhythmic pumping of the pistons, the surge of power as one "guns" the engine, and its elongated shape - all have sexual con- notations. 1Carlos Baker, "The Two African Stories," in Hemingway: A Collection of Critical Essays, ed. Robert P. Weeks (Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1962yf S . 120. From Hemingway: The Writer as Artist, by Carlos Baker (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1952yf . 2Ernest Hemingway, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," in The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway (New York: Scribner's, 1953yf S 6 X E V H T X H Q t quotations are from these texts and are indicated paren- thetically in the paper. This content downloaded from 132.174.254.102 on Sun, 18 Oct 2020 17:49:38 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms WINTER, 1972 STUDIES BY MEMBERS OF SCMLA 231 But this car is convertible in another sense. It is "door- less" and "box-bodied," possible references to sexual loose- ness and the vagina and womb, references that are em- phasized by the game of musical chairs the characters play within its body. Cars provide the young with mobility and an arena for the male-female struggle for sexual dominance and initia- tion. And the expression "to take for a ride" with its con- notation of murder was current when the story was written. How much of this Hemingway had in mind when he wrote the story, we can only guess. But the uses of the car are so integral to its structure that their symbolic interpretation can hardly be questioned. Hemingway describes Macomber's belated initiation into manhood as the result of losing his fear while hunting. Before his transformation, the car represents for him the security of the womb. Sighting the lion while in the car, he asks Wilson the range: "About seventy-five. Get out and take him." "Why not shoot from where I am?" "You don't shoot them from cars .... Get out." (p. 14yf When the lion is wounded, Wilson tells Margot: " 'We're going to have a look. .... You stay here [in the car]. You can see even better from here' "(p. 16yf . This is Hemingway's preparation for what is to come. The car becomes an opera box from which Margot wit- nesses Macomber's cowardice and Wilson's courage, moti- vating her actions: Macomber's wife had not looked at him nor he at her and he had sat by her in the back seat with Wilson sitting in the front seat. Once he had reached over and taken his wife's hand without looking at her and she had removed her hand from his. Looking across the stream to where the gun-bearers were skinning out the lion he could see that she had been able to see the whole thing. While they sat there his wife had reached forward and put her hand on Wilson's shoulder. He turned and she had leaned for- ward over the low seat and kissed him on the mouth. (p. 20yf Wilson is in the position of dominance, and the low seats present no barriers, physical or sexual, to the trio. Later, Macomber takes stock of his marriage: His wife had been through with him before but it never lasted. He was very wealthy, and ... he knew she would not leave him ... He knew about that, about motor cycles ... about motor cars, about duck hunting, about fishing ... about sex in books, many books, too many books, about all court games, about dogs, not much about horses, about hanging on to his money, about most of the other things his world dealt in .... His wife had been a great beauty ... but she was not a great enough beauty any more ... to be able to leave him and better herself . . . If he had been better with women she would probably have started to worry.... (pp. 21-22yf This evaluation makes clear that he was not good at sex and that his wife was interested, not in him, but in his money. It suggests, too, that for him motorcycles and cars, like books, were sex substitutes. During the buffalo hunt, after he has been cuckolded, Macomber again attempts to shoot from the car: "... he was raising his rifle when Wilson shouted, 'Not from the car, you fool!' and he had no fear, only hatred of Wilson" (p. 28yf . The umbilical cord that has bound him to fear and to his wife is severed. During the excitement of the shooting, which for Macomber must be in part a sexual experience, he achieves manhood. Wilson describes it: ... He had seen men come of age before and it always moved him ... It had taken ... a sudden precipitation into action without opportunity for worrying beforehand, to bring this about with Macomber .... Probably meant the end of cuckoldry too. . .. Beggar had probably been afraid all his life.... But over now. Hadn't had time to be afraid with the buff. That and being angry too. Motor car too. Motor cars made it familiar. Be a damn fire eater now. .... More of a change than any loss of virginity. Fear gone like an operation. Something else grew in its place .... Made him into a man. Women knew it too. (pp. 32-33yf "Motor cars made it familiar" suggests the commonplace quality of cars to our life style and the car as an extension of one's self and as a symbol both of security and power, helping Macomber achieve his emancipation from Margot and dominance over her. For Wilson, the car is a negative symbol. He does not need it as a hunting stand or an ersatz womb or a cockpit in which to make love. He can stand up to the charge of a wounded lion, and he does not have to hunt for women. Like Margot, they come to him. Wilson is Hemingway's mouthpiece, his alter ego - the hunter, the dominant male, the man's man, the symbol of manhood. It is his standards by which the Macombers are measured. Baker says of him: The yardstick figure, Wilson... is the man free of woman and of fear. He is the standard of manhood to- ward which Macomber rises, the cynical referee in the nasty war of man and wife, and the judge who presides. after the murder, over the future fortunes of Margot Macomber. (pp. 120-21yf Of Wilson's standards, Hemingway says: ... He had hunted for.. . the international, fast, sporting set, where the women did not feel they were getting their money's worth unless they had shared that cot with the white hunter. . . and their standards were his standards as long as they were hiring him. ... in all except the shooting. He had his own stan- dards about the killing and they could live up to them or get someone else to hunt them. ... (p. 26yf The Macomber of the lion hunt falls short of Wilson's standards. When Macomber shows his fear, Wilson "felt as This content downloaded from 132.174.254.102 on Sun, 18 Oct 2020 17:49:38 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 232 STUDIES BY MEMBERS OF SCMLA WINTER, 1972 though he had opened the wrong door in a hotel and seen something shameful" (p. 17yf : K H Q 0 D F R P E H U V X J J H V W s leaving the wounded lion, Wilson says: "It isn't done" (p. 18yf , Q : L O V R Q V E R R N W K L Q J V D U H H L W K H U G R Q H R U Q R W G R Q H . Mostly they are not done. One doesn't shoot from cars. No reason is given. It just isn't done, but it does put the hunter and the hunted on a more equal footing. The hunter risks death, too. Margot doesn't measure up to Wilson's standards when she treats Macomber badly because of his cowardice: ... Wilson thought to himself she is giving him a ride, isn't she? Or do you suppose that's her idea of putting up a good show? How should a woman act when she discovers her husband is a bloody coward? She's damn cruel but they're all cruel. (p. 10yf To Margot, the car is a place of segregation as well as an opera box. Each time the men hunt, she is left in its safety - not the safety of the womb, but woman's place by the fire. It is, also, a place where she dominates Macomber and is dominated by Wilson. And it is a weapon to be used for her own purposes after the men chase the wounded buffalo in it: "... I didn't know you were allowed to shoot them from cars ...." "No one shot them from cars," said Wilson coldly. "I mean chase them from cars." "Wouldn't ordinarily... Seemed sporting enough... while we were doing it. Taking more chances driving that way... than hunting on foot.... Wouldn't mention it... though. It's illegal if that's what you mean. .. ." "What would happen if they heard about it in Nairobi?" "I'd lose my license... be out of business." "Really?" "Yes, really." "Well," said Macomber, and he smiled for the first time all day. "Now she has something on you." (pp. 29-30yf After the chase, Margot realizes that she has lost her dominance over Macomber. This is shown by her position in the car as the two men talk about Macomber's loss of fear: Macomber's face was shining. "You know something did happen to me," he said. "I feel absolutely different." His wife said nothing and eyed him strangely. She was sitting far back in the seat and Macomber was sitting forward talking to Wilson who turned sideways talking over the back of the front seat. (p. 32yf Margot is sitting far back while the men, united by their anticipation of risking their lives, are joined in a masculine marriage that has shut her out. She attempts to regain control over her husband, but fails: "You've gotten awfully brave, . . ." [she] said con- temptuously, but her contempt was not secure. She was very afraid of something. Macomber laughed, . . . "You know I have...." "Isn't it sort of late?. . ." "Not for me...." Margot said nothing but sat back in the corner of the seat. (p. 34yf Hemingway prepares us for the murder that follows. Wilson says: "... We'll leave the Mannlicher in the car with Memsahib. ." (p. 34yf . And later: ... Macomber, looking back, saw his wife with the rifle by her side, looking at him. He waved to her and she did not wave back. (p. 35yf Charged by the buffalo, Macomber stands his ground. There is no question of his courage now: . .. He shot again.. . and saw the horns jolt again and fragments fly, and... aiming carefully, shot again with the buffalo's huge bulk almost on him..,. and he could see the little wicked eyes and the head started to lower and he felt a sudden white-hot, blinding flash explode inside his head and that was all he ever felt. (pp. 35-36yf Margot has used the car as a hunting stand from which to kill her husband. Wilson recognizes her deed for what it is: "That was a pretty thing to do," he said. ...."He would have left you too." "Stop it," she said. "Of course it's an accident," he said. "I know that." (p. 36yf No doubt this is said sarcastically, for Margot again says: "Stop it" (p. 36yf ) R U G H V S L W H + H P L Q J Z D \ V V W D W H P H Q W W K D t "Mrs. Macomber, in the car, had shot at the buffalo.. . as it seemed about to gore Macomber and had hit her husband" (p. 36yf : L O V R Q N Q R Z V W K D W L W Z D V P X U G H U D Q G 0 D U J R W G R H s not deny it. Margot has violated Wilson's code. One does not shoot an animal from a car - even if that animal is one's husband who is about to leave one. It's just not done. Her act proves everything he has ever believed about the corruptive power of women, and he must show his contempt for her, bring her to her knees: "'Why didn't you poison him? That's what... [women] do in England' "(p. 37yf . In the end, Margot pleads: "Oh, please stop it... Please, please stop it." "That's better," Wilson said. "Please is much better. Now I'll stop" (p. 37yf . And believing I have proved my point that Hemingway uses the car as symbol, I will stop, too. This content downloaded from 132.174.254.102 on Sun, 18 Oct 2020 17:49:38 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms