Failed Relationships in Ernest Hemingways Life and Fiction Free Essay Example, 1500 words

The man blames the couple s unhappiness on the baby, That s the only thing that bothers us. It s the only thing that s made us unhappy (Hemingway, 1986: 275). She continues to seek reassurance that he will still care for her when everything is over, But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you ll like it? (Hemingway, 1986: 175). Traditionally, the concept of the white elephant is used to indicate something that is no longer of value to the owner, although it might have value elsewhere (Martin, 1996) and the girl s continued reference to the hills similarity to the beast indicates she is already aware of where the relationship is headed. The insistence of the man that everything would be just like it was before the baby suggests his own delusion regarding their problems and mirrors the problems Hemingway had with women in his real-life (Allen, 2000: 3). In The Short and Happy Life of Francis Macomber , Hemingway reveals his latent f ear of strong women and being dominated as he depicts the story of a middle-aged man who is finally beginning to understand his true worth and his wife, a woman who has nothing but contempt for her weak and cowardly husband. We will write a custom essay sample on Failed Relationships in Ernest Hemingway's Life and Fiction or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page As the story progresses, it becomes clear that during this, the couple s first safari, Francis fled from the sight of his first lion. There is an interesting parallel in Hemingway s life in that he and Pauline went on their first safari in 1933 (Allen, 2000: 3). The couple s relationship is also characterized in a strongly similar fashion to Hemingway s relationship with Pauline, They had a sound basis of union. Margot was too beautiful for Macomber to divorce her and Macomber had too much money for Margot ever to leave him (22).