Setting

Physical setting

The short story “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” by Ernest Hemingway takes place over the course of two days, on a safari in Africa.

The camp where Macomber and Wilson rest after the hunt is located “under some wide-topped acacia trees with a boulder-strewn cliff behind them, and a stretch of grass that ran to the bank of a boulder-filled stream in front with forest beyond it” (p. 2, ll. 36-39). The setting appears idyllic and restful. 

Macomber’s first sight of the lion makes him appear larger than life: “The early morning breeze that blew toward them was just stirring his dark mane, and the lion looked huge, silhouetted on the rise of bank in the gray morning light, his shoulders heavy, (...) barrel of a body bulking smoothly.” (p. 7, ll. 36-39). This shows that Macomber’s fear influences his perception ...