discussion questions

Class 5 Tues April 17 “Indian Camp”; “Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”

“Indian Camp”

1. What exactly is the initiation in this story? Who is initiated into what?

2. Why does the husband stay in the bunk if he can’t stand the screaming?

3. Joseph Flora suggests that “Indian Camp” conveys “a great sense of [the Indians’] humanity, of their suffering and ability to love, and of their solidarity.” Do you agree?

4. Anthropologists tell us that in some Indian tribes, the pregnant wife is considered unclean, vulnerable, and in danger; the husband absorbs her weakness and associates her blood with his own death, practices couvade (in which the father of a child just born engages in certain rites, such as resting in bed, as if he had borne the child), and resents the intrusion of those who assist at the birth.

"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber"

I. What makes a man, in the terms of this story? (Is Wilson presented as more manly than Macomber? Has the definition of manhood changed sufficiently since the 1930’s to make Wilson less manly in our eyes than in Hemingway’s?)

In other words, what are some of the differences between Francis and Wilson?

2. Does Francis lose his manhood when he runs from the lion?

Was he more of a man before the lion incident? in what sense?

3. Does he somehow become a man again during the buffalo hunt?

No fear. Wilson welcomes him to manhood with a

revelation of his own code: you only live once (150)

4. Why couldn't he have lived? Why is his death "right"? Is it

because, though he's conquered his fear, been welcomed

into manhood by Wilson, he's still a "bloody four-letter

man," a pretender out of his element?

structurally, FM's death works very well, and

makes an interesting plot twist. But does it work

emotionally? Does it feel right? If so, why?