The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

Hemingway frequently plays with the contrast between the inner and outer lives of his characters, noting their lack of authenticity or "phoniness." Characters' thoughts often conflict with their actions and their words. At times, they seem unaware of the unresolved contradictions that are inherent in their attitudes and behaviors.

For example, Margot is ashamed of her husband early in the story for fleeing the line. She calls him a coward and leaves the tent in tears. However, she also benefits from his nonconfrontational demeanor, or his "tolerance"; she kisses Wilson in front of her husband to taunt him. The narration also suggests that she frequently takes other lovers, in addition to Wilson, because she knows her husband will not leave her. She enjoys wielding power over her husband and manipulating him.

Despite Margot’s claims of being humiliated by his weakness, when Macomber conquers his fears by killing the buffalo, she is upset by his newfound confidence and empowerment. She hopes he will flee on his next encounter, again becoming the timid, controllable man of the story's opening. When he doesn't cower, having experienced joy for the first time and come into his own as a man, she shoots him. Wilson confirms that this was an intentional act committed by a wife who knew her husband would leave her. Margot's professed longing for a strong, powerful man like Wilson is at odds with her actions as a wife who panics when her own husband adopts these traits.

Wilson also acts in ways that are at odds with his inner life. He despises “American women” like Margot, claiming that he long ago learned how they really are. He refuses to obey her wishes and tries to keep her away from the hunt, but he also acknowledges her intelligence and has sex with her. When he gains respect for her husband after Macomber emerges as a more conventionally masculine hero, he decides that his relationship with Margot is over. However, despite suspecting that the woman intentionally shot her husband, he becomes complicit in covering up the truth of the murder as a means of protecting his client and his own reputation. Thus, he demonstrates the same inauthenticity that he silently condemns in his clients.

Macomber is self-absorbed but lacks self-awareness early in the story, seeming not to recognize that he possesses no motivation to do the thing he came to Africa to do in the first place. He is preoccupied with the outward appearance of success, his wife’s beauty as a status symbol, and how he is depicted in the “society column” at home. He wants to keep his failure to kill the lion a secret for fear of destroying his reputation. He fails to recognize that his triumph over the buffalo is also rooted in inauthenticity, as the chase is enabled by the car, which gives the men an unfair advantage over the animals. His sense of empowerment and joy in this act indicate his continued focus on image and himself, rather than an awareness of the implications and ethics of his actions.