The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

Foreshadowing is a literary device that provides hints or indications of future events. This story's title foreshadows the death of Francis Macomber, whose life is “short and happy.” Wilson tells Macomber that “in Africa no woman ever misses her lion and no white man ever bolts” (119). Although this is ostensibly a comment about the guide's responsibility to protect his clients' reputations, it also foreshadows that Margot will hit her target when she shoots her husband.

Finally, Margot suggests that Wilson would “kill anything,” contrasting his courage to her husband's timidity; however, this may also foreshadow her testing the guide's limits. His response, “Simply anything,” plants the seed for his complicity in helping Margot present Macomber's death as an accident.

This story uses an omniscient third-person point of view, meaning the narrator knows and sees all. This perspective provides access to each character's thoughts and motivations and exposes the irony and contradictions of their actions. Hemingway uses a free indirect style to share this content with the reader by repeatedly switching perspectives to reveal characters' thoughts, instead of articulating them via dialogue.