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The closing sequence of “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” has for many years ignited great debate in the critical world. Did Margot Macomber intentionally shoot at her husband to kill him or was she in fact aiming at the buffalo in an attempt to protect him from a certain death?

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The closing sequence of “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” has for many years ignited great debate in the critical world. Did Margot Macomber intentionally shoot at her husband to kill him or was she in fact aiming at the buffalo in an attempt to protect him from a certain death?

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Many feel that she was trying to kill her husband because he was becoming too brave, too soon. As a brave man, he would have the courage to leave her. After Margot has shot and killed her husband, white hunter Robert Wilson confirms the fact that Macomber would have left her. Perhaps this is what she feared and explains why she had no other choice but murder. If she truly wanted him dead, however, there would have been no need for her to pull the trigger herself. Remember that from her vantage point, it looked as if the buffalo was about to fatally gore Macomber. If we examine the text more carefully and take Hemingway’s words (ambiguous as they may be) at face value, we will observe that Margot indeed was aiming at the buffalo, likely in an attempt to protect her husband. Even if she had killed the buffalo without hitting Macomber, she’d still be depriving him of his courageous act. The buffalo would be her kill and Francis would again be the cowardly runner-up.

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