ENG 1101 English Composition I, section OL 0110

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  • 12-7-22 6th of 6 readings (for discussion and for the next essay)
  • December 7, 2022 at 1:31 pm #82580

    Prof. Masiello
    Participant

    6) A short story by Ernest Hemingway, called “The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber”
    https://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/selena.anderson/engl2328/readings/the-short-happy-life-of-francis-maccomber-by-ernest-hemingway

    There is an audiobook version, read to you, just in case you may not have the time to read this rather long short story”

    (32) The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber – YouTube press Ctrl + click

    Q a) Notice that the story is out of sequence. Rather than go in chronological order, it starts in the middle, goes back to the beginning, and then ends at the end.

    Q b) Why do you think Hemingway chose to do this?

    Q c) Who are the three main characters? (Note: Francis is a male name. Frances is a female name.)

    Q d) Whom do you think the author wants us to like or dislike?

    d) Notice how many things are said about Margot / Margaret: she is openly cheating on her husband and has no remorse. He writes,
    “She was an extremely handsome and well-kept woman of the beauty and social position which had, five years before, commanded five thousand dollars as the price of endorsing, with photographs, a beauty product which she had never used. She had been married to Francis Macomber for eleven years.”

    We would consider her a “trophy wife,” which wealthy men often have. Think of all the music performers and athletes with model wives.
    However, when we see an ad does it make a difference to us if we know (or care) if the model actually uses the product?

    Q e) Then, what does it say about her integrity to mention she got paid to endorse something she did not use?

    f) This couple does not seem to love one another, yet they stay together.

    Q f) What is the attraction, what “power” does each have over the other?
    g) At the end, Margot deliberately shoots Francis dead.

    Q g) Why does she shoot him then, rather than any other time?

    Q h) What was happening to make his life short and happy?

    FYI: If you look carefully, there are two scenes in which we get the POV of the lion.
    This is a remarkable point of view example: we see up close how the lion is breathing and thinking. It uses limited vocabulary–because it is a lion.

    Here is one of the scenes: “The lion still stood looking majestically and coolly toward this object [the lion is seeing the Jeep and doesn’t know the word for it] that his eyes only showed in silhouette, bulking like some super rhino. There was no man smell carried toward his and he watched the object, moving his great head a little from side to side. Then watching the object, not afraid, but hesitating before going down the bank to drink with such a thing opposite him, he saw a man figure detach itself from it and he turned his heavy head and swung away toward the cover for the trees.”

    i) It seems Ernest Hemingway has more respect for the lion than the woman.

    Q i) In a movie, the camera would show you what the lion is seeing and maybe the sound of his breathing would be heightened. Did you sense something unusual in the two lion’s POV (point of view) scenes, in their wording or did you not even notice it?

    December 8, 2022 at 11:55 pm #82614

    Manahill Arshad
    Participant

    B. He does this sequence to add suspense among the characters and the people to see how they can be more interested in the story.
    C. The three main characters are, Francis, Wilson, and Margot.
    D. The author wants us to like Francis and not like Margot because the author shows her as a betrayed woman.
    E. I would consider as a “Trophy Wife” because she stayed with him for so many years. No, because the product looks great, and we would want to try it once.
    F. The attraction is the killing of the animals.
    G. She shoots him at that time to make it seem like an accident to show that it was not her fault at all.
    H. The thing that was making it shot was how good Wilson was and better and how attractive Margot got to him by his skills.
    I. My focus did go to that scene, but it looked confusing because the lion just stood there rather than attacking Francis and running behind him. After all, it would just be in minutes that he would have gotten his meal. It kind of showed how an animal can have mercy and would leave you alone but your wife of 11 years will kill you just because of the lack of skills you have.

    December 9, 2022 at 12:33 pm #82616

    Viviana
    Participant

    B) Noticing how the story was in chronological order, I feel as though Hemingway did that for us the readers to understand the sequences of events. Everything that happens was for a reason that leads up to the next.

    C) Robert Wilson, Margot (Mrs. Macomber), Francis Macomber

    D) I feel the author wants us to dislike Margot and be in favor of the husband. Due to how she acted around Wilson, in a flirtatious way, what grabbed my attention is when Hemingway said “She has a very perfect oval face, so perfect you expected her to be stupid.” This supports how the author wants to direct us to this mentality.

    D) Depending on how famous the person in the Ad is, no people would not care if they have used it or not because since they are promoting it, due to their popularity this encourages people to buy it.

    E) She is being untruthful since she gets paid to expose a product that she doesn’t use. In this sense, she is driven by money.

    F) The power that kept this marriage intact, was clearly not for love but the for benefits they both get. Margot was so beautiful that Francis would be a fool to leave her, and Margot endured the fact that her husband has money. They both have more to gain by staying together rather than leaving

    G) Though she gets money off of him, doesn’t take away that she is not happy. So at this moment when she killed her husband in a scene where anyone can potentially die she took it so not only does she won’t get blamed since they are in an accidental environment but now she can leave him with his money. In marriage, what’s your’s is mine.

    I) I have to agree with Manahill on this, it’s clear how though with any human. Trespassing on their land, their first instinct is to hunt and kill. However, I noticed how weird the lion was more in a still position. Animals almost have the same feelings as humans, hence why they can grant mercy or move on as if they were not there.

    December 10, 2022 at 4:12 pm #82630

    Tahreem Imran
    Participant

    b) I think for the reader reading this because the author wanted us to have a better understanding on understanding the steps.
    c) Three main characters are Wilson, Francis and Margot.
    d) I think the author wants us to dislike Margot because the authors showed her as a betrayal [betrayer or cheater] and someone who needed attention from Wilson in a bad way.
    e) She is just being untruthful because she gets paid to expose a product that she doesn’t use.
    f) The power that kept them together was not love definitely because she was heating on her husband anyway. I think it would be attraction of beauty.
    g) She shoots him at that time to make it seem as an accident and not on purpose so she does not get blamed for it

    But why did she kill him that day at that time? It has to do with his newfound confidence, not just the shooting opportunity.
    h) Something that was happening to make his life short and happy was how Margot was attracting him and his short, happy life lasts for only a second or two, but he dies as master of his own life.
    i) I would like to agree with my classmates on this because animals actually have a better understanding and sense than human when it comes to protecting. They’ re more loyal in feeling for someone.

    Good answers, Tahreem.

    December 21, 2022 at 6:42 pm #82789

    Ali Ammar
    Participant

    B) This was done in order to both provide context for the incident with the lion, and to build suspense as to what happened in that story.
    C) Francis Macomber, Margot, and Robert Wilson.
    D) The author wants us to dislike Robert in the beginning and then it shifts to Margot as she starts betraying Francis, while Francis is portrayed as the one who should be liked by the author.
    E) This reveals how her priority is achieving status, in terms of knowing if the model actually uses the product or not, I think that’s irrelevant as the purpose of an advertisement is to attract an audience to try a specific product.
    F) The attraction seems to be by both beauty and status, she stays with him because of his wealth and he stays with her because of her beauty
    G) She decides to shoot him then instead of another time to hide the fact that it was deliberate.
    H) His attraction to hunting gives him so much adrenaline and excitement but it was short-lived due to Margot shooting him dead.
    I) In these scenes, the lion seems to show some sort of mercy and forgiveness, my classmates have made a great point in claiming that a wife of 11 years didn’t hesitate to kill him yet the lion showed forgiveness and mercy. This further explains the writer painting a negative picture of Margot, with good reason.

    December 22, 2022 at 12:33 pm #82800

    Haider
    Participant

    B) this article was written to help the reader have a better understanding of the steps
    C)Three main characters are Wilson, Francis and Margot.
    D)Margot was shown as a betrayal [wrong word: betrayer or cheater] by the authors and as someone who needs wilson’s attention in a bad way
    E)She’s just lying because she’s paid to expose a product she doesn’t use.
    F)Her husband and she stayed together not because of love, but because she was heating up [??]to him anyway. This would be an attraction based on beauty.
    G)By shooting him at that time, she makes it appear like an accident and not on purpose so she won’t be blamed

    By why just then…in addition to the availability of the guns–Francis was newly confident and she could not deal with that
    H)He died as master of his own life despite his short, happy life being snuffed out by Margot’s attraction.
    I)I agree with my classmates because animals have a better sense of protection than humans. Their loyalty to someone is stronger.

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