Hemingway's The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber
After reading the story, please compose your answers to each of these questions in complete sentences. For credit, submit your answers to these questions in a Google Doc, shared with me.
1. What, in your opinion, does the title suggest?
2. Characterize Mrs. Macomber. List several details, traits, etc.
3. Characterize Robert Wilson. List several details, traits, etc.
4. Characterize Francis Macomber. List several details, traits, etc.
5. A Hemingway hero asks lots of clarifying questions. Maintain a list of Macomber’s. Note who provides the answers and not just what he says, but his manner in doing so.
6. On page seven, what is Macomber’s important announcement?
7. “Why not just let up on the __________ just a little, Margot.” Why is the use of this particular word choice significant?
8. At what point does the flashback begin?
9. Who in this story is the hero? How do you know?
10. Margot persistently attacks Francis’ weak spot, which is what?
11. Provide proof that Francis’ fear is irritating Wilson.
12. Why doesn’t Margot want to hold Francis’ hand? What does she do instead?
13. On page 21 the flashback comes to an end. Where specifically, does this occur? What does Hemingway reveal to the reader in the ensuing exposition and reflection?
14. On page 22, where is Margot? What does the dialogue reveal?
15. Provide proof (from the dialogue) that Mrs. Macomber is the one who wears the pants in the marriage. Be specific with your reasoning.
1. What, in your opinion, does the title suggest?
2. Characterize Mrs. Macomber. List several details, traits, etc.
3. Characterize Robert Wilson. List several details, traits, etc.
4. Characterize Francis Macomber. List several details, traits, etc.
5. A Hemingway hero asks lots of clarifying questions. Maintain a list of Macomber’s. Note who provides the answers and not just what he says, but his manner in doing so.
6. On page seven, what is Macomber’s important announcement?
7. “Why not just let up on the __________ just a little, Margot.” Why is the use of this particular word choice significant?
8. At what point does the flashback begin?
9. Who in this story is the hero? How do you know?
10. Margot persistently attacks Francis’ weak spot, which is what?
11. Provide proof that Francis’ fear is irritating Wilson.
12. Why doesn’t Margot want to hold Francis’ hand? What does she do instead?
13. On page 21 the flashback comes to an end. Where specifically, does this occur? What does Hemingway reveal to the reader in the ensuing exposition and reflection?
14. On page 22, where is Margot? What does the dialogue reveal?
15. Provide proof (from the dialogue) that Mrs. Macomber is the one who wears the pants in the marriage. Be specific with your reasoning.
A Modern Realist: Ernest Hemingway
For some background information on Ernest Hemingway, download the slides here:
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Jack London's To Build a Fire
- Who was Jack London?
- What mechanical thing is mentioned in the first paragraph? When you next see this thing mentioned in the story, write the sentence down.
- What are the prevalent feelings and sights in the first paragraph?
- What is the total length of the trail mentioned in paragraph two? Why do you think the author wants to be so specific?
- What is a cheechako?
- Why may the man's lack of "imagination" be a serious flaw?
- What experiment does the man perform? Why is he surprised at the result?
- Why is the man not with the rest of "the boys" at the camp on Henderson Creek?
- How is the dog's reaction to the cold different from the man's? Why is it different?
- Before this man, when was the trail last used? Why may this be important?
- Comment on these lines: "He was not much given to thinking..." and "empty as the man's mind and thoughts..."
- What precaution has the man failed to take?
- What happens to the dog? What does it instinctively know to do?
- What is happening to the man's fingers and toes?
- What do we learn about the past generations of man that is different from the past generations of wolves?
- What has the old-timer on Sulphur Creek told him the previous fall?
- How does the man react to this advice after he gets his fire going?
- What does this sentence mean to you: "The wires were pretty well down between him and his finger ends"?
- What mistake did the man make when he chose the location for his fire?
- What does the dog do that lets us know it is in no danger from the intense cold?
- When the man fails to build a fire, what wild idea does he get?
- What must the man do when he first stands up? Why?
- In his panic, what does the man do?
- As the man sits and rests, what strange sensation does he feel?
- What hallucination does the man have?
- What does the man "say" to the old-timer?
- How do we know from the end of the story that the dog has been somewhat domesticated?
- Find where the word "pall" is used in the first paragraph. Now that you've finished the story, tell why you think London chose this word. (You may look the word up if you need to.)
- London does not merely tell you that it is extremely cold. He gives details that make you feel cold. For example, he notes the "sharp, explosive crackle" when the man spits into the frigid air. List five other details from the story that make the cold real to you.
- Why do you think we are not told the man's or the dog's name?
- Both Twain's and London' stories are part of a literary tradition called "Naturalism" which was inspired by Charles Darwin's studies of natural selection and survival of the fittest. From the story, what can you conclude about London's views about Man as an animal? Why do you think this story is paired with Mark Twain's The Lowest Animal in our textbook?
Mark Twain
(1835–1910)
The works of Mark Twain are marked
by a relaxed, humorous manner of observation. In
his essay The Lowest Animal Twain satirizes human
nature by describing some experiments he supposedly
conducted at the London Zoological Gardens. Twain
takes Charles Darwin’s theory that humans evolved from
earlier ancestors, or “lower animals,” and turns it upside down.
"Man is the Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim."
(1835–1910)
The works of Mark Twain are marked
by a relaxed, humorous manner of observation. In
his essay The Lowest Animal Twain satirizes human
nature by describing some experiments he supposedly
conducted at the London Zoological Gardens. Twain
takes Charles Darwin’s theory that humans evolved from
earlier ancestors, or “lower animals,” and turns it upside down.
"Man is the Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim."
“It is observed by Homer that a man loses half his virtue the day he becomes a slave; he might have added, with truth, that he is likely to lose more than half when he becomes a slave master.”
-Richard Whatley
-Richard Whatley
African-American Spirituals
Go Down Moses - Louis Armstrong, 1958
Follow the Drinking Gourd - Pete Seeger, 1953
Swing Low Sweet Chariot - The Fisk Jubilee Singers, 2011
Follow the Drinking Gourd - Pete Seeger, 1953
Swing Low Sweet Chariot - The Fisk Jubilee Singers, 2011
The American Civil War
Group 1:
Slavery Divides the Country A Response to the War: Idealism A Reality of the War: Appalling Suffering |
Group 2:
A Result of the War: Disillusionment Eyes of an Era |
Group 3:
The War in Literature The Rise of Realism Realism Takes Root in Europe American Regionalism |
Group 4:
Realism and Naturalism Psychological Realism Endings and Beginnings |
As you read, think about these questions:
- How and when did American writers respond to the Civil War?
- What is Realism?
- What did the naturalist writers believe?
- Why did the events of the late 1800s inspire American writers to abandon their Romantic ideals?