Last Post--Wilson Fences

August Wilson

Fences

I really enjoyed reading Fences by August Wilson.  I thought it had a lot of meaning behind it all.  Rose one of the main characters and the wife of Troy was a fine lady.  She had spent her entire life taking care of her family the way she thought she should. She was always there for her son and husband.  She wanted Troy to build a fence around their yard. I thought that symbolized how she wanted to keep everything in her area. If she had a fence her family would not ever leave.  Troy seemed to be a good guy.  He went to work every day and paid his bills and was a good provider.  He had a troublesome childhood with his father.  His mother left the family when Troy was just a boy. Troy saw his father as a the devil.  Troy never wanted to be anything like him but sometimes you cannot escape the damage that has been done to you as a child.  Troy found another lady named Alberta, she made him feel alive again. I don’t think he was out to hurt Rose but ultimately he did. Alberta turned up pregnant and had a baby girl.  Unfortunately she died during the birth and Troy was forced to take his new daughter home to Rose and ask her to mother the child.  I was really surprised that Rose went along with it, but I understand it was not the child’s fault. She never asked to be born into that mess.  Troy had once been a great baseball player. Cory his son was also a great player and had the opportunity to play college ball which could have led him down a great road. Troy would have nothing to do with it.  He messed up Cory’s chances which I thought was really mean! I think he should have given him a few years to see where it would take him.  During their lifetime racism was really bad and most of the ball players were white regardless of their ability.  Troy thought it was a waste of Cory’s time and I think he was trying to save him from the hurt he had once felt.  In the end Troy dies of a heart attack.  Cory has been away at the Marines and comes home for the funeral to support his mother but had no intention of going to the funeral.  All of Troy’s family was there finally after he pushed them all away. 

Week 15

Week 15

Alice Walker

Everyday Use

Everyday use was a very touching read.  It was one of those stories that you can’t believe how fast it’s over.  The story is about a mother and her two daughters, Maggie and Dee.  Their father has died and the girls were raised by their mother and grandmother. Many years ago when the girls were little there was a house fire and they lost everything and little Maggie was badly burned.  She has always visualized herself as the ugly daughter while Dee was the pretty one. I am sure this made her feel horrible while growing up.  Dee was also very picky about her looks and lifestyle.  At times it seems she is pretending to be something she is not.  In the story Dee is coming back to visit her Mom and sister after being away at college.  It really doesn’t say Dee has married Hakim-a-barber or not, but he is at the visit with her.  I think the girls are at some sort of competition with each other for their mothers love.  Dee seems very into her heritage but also couldn’t get away fast enough from the life she knew while growing up. I suppose she just wanted better things with her personality.  She just showed up and wants to take all these possessions with her.  She directly goes to the churn top and is noticing how lovely the benches they eat on are now that she is older.  After she decides to take that form her mom she goes into the bedroom for handmade quilts her own deceased grandmother has put together. Mother has told her they were already promised to Maggie.  I felt sorry for Maggie.  She is so used to giving things up and not having her way that she just says, “ Dee you take them”.  Of course Dee would have!  I was so glad when the mother gently took the quilts back and said, “NO”.  Finally Maggie gets what she deserves and probably felt so much love in that moment.

Amy Tan

Half and Half

Amy Tan parents emigrated from China to California where she was born and raised.  She probably grew up with more American influences while her parents tried to keep their Chinese heritage alive and strong.  Like when she first started dating Ted.  They would have preferred her date Chinese boys from church like her sisters.  In the story it starts with the girl trying to find a way to tell her mother that her and Ted are going to get a divorce. She thinks her mother will want her to work it out and starts reminiscing to a time when her mother really believed in God and the day she stopped relying on faith.  They were out as a family with 7 children.  I can relate because I have 6 and know how hectic times can be when they are all doing something different and you cannot possible keep your eye on them at all times and request the older ones to do it, when really it’s not their job or fair to them.  They are thinking about the day that everything changed. They were at the beach as a family and Dad was fishing, mom busy with blankets and organizing other kids.  The boys are off playing in the sand, the girls take a walk and as the narrator gets up to do her own thing she is ordered to watch Bing, her four year old brother.  Under her watch her little brother takes off and ends up drowning in the ocean.  Although it’s really not her fault I am sure she has held onto guilt her entire life since then. I know I would have. Even though the parents express their thoughts on the guilt belonging to the Dads selfishness and Mom knows she distracted her daughter when she should have had her focus on Bing.  I can only imagine the pain this death would bring to the entire family.

Bobbie Ann Mason

Shiloh

Bobbie Ann Mason grew up on a small farm in Kentucky where she grew up doing farm chores and reading.  This is probably the reason she often writes about blue collar people in small-town rural America. In this short story Norma Jean is adjusting to her husband, Leroy Moffitt being off of work.  He was a long haul truck driver who was injured in a trucking accident and is suddenly home all the time.  Norma Jean has spend the last 10 or so years pretty much as a single lady.  I am sure she has done what she wanted and when she wanted.  Her husband being home I think is irritating her.  They seem to get along just fine.  Leroy is noticed how much he has missed being gone all the time and regretting the time he has missed sharing with Norma Jean.  On the other hand it seems Norma Jean is just done and over it.  She is always keeping busy with her lifting weights and has taken up classes at the local community college. I think this is just a ploy to get away form him so much. Norma Jean’s mother, Mabel is always visiting and insists the couple go visit a battle ground called “Shiloh”.  The couple finally give in and and decide to take a trip out there.  This is where Norma Jean tells Leroy she would like a divorce I guess this happens a lot with couples. They just grow different and apart from each other.  I am sure she is not out to intentionally hurt him but I am surprised at how long she has stayed with him. And for it to happen so suddenly? she even said she was fine until her mother caught her smoking.  I guess that led her to do some soul searching and realized she isn't living the life she wished to anymore.

Jamaica Kincaid

Girl

Jamaica Kincaid also had a sad life while growing up.  She is from the Caribbean island of Antigua.  She was an only child for many years.  This whole story is constant criticism she received by her mother.  I don’t see how anyone could treat their child this way.  She never had one positive thing to say to her.  Always calling her a slut, or would grow up to be a slut.  No wonder she moved far away after high school and changed her name.  It sounds as if maybe the mother had remarried and had more children and this was at a time when Jamaica really needed love and support from her mother not constant cruel words and hatefulness.   She often wrote about her mother and how her ways killed any love between them.  I just cannot imagine saying any of those things to my daughter.  Her mother must have been a very unhappy lady to want to ruin her daughter’s life.  In a way it is also sounds like the mother is trying to help teach her to be a proper adult.  Maybe she was scared her daughter would turn out just like her.  A lot of it she is offering advice but was it really necessary to go about it in that way?  The poor girl never gets a chance to voice her own opinion or to ask questions.  I hate when people only think that THEIR way of thinking is the only right way.  It really drives me nuts.  Maybe if the daughter could get word in edgewise they would have a better relationship and her daughter would actually learn from her mothers wisdom and not make the same mistakes.  I thought some of the advice was good. I am sure she only wanted the best for her daughter and wanted her to grow to be a proper lady and not have such a tough life as she had.   But gosh there are better ways to raise a child. 

WEEK 14

Week 14

Flannery O’Connor

A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Flannery O’Connor had a really short life.  Our intro stated she often wrote about violence, evil and and not the typical traditional forms to write about. I did enjoy reading “ A Good Man is Hard to Find” What started out as what seemed like a happy story of a little southern family going on vacation turns tragic.  The family consisted the Grandmother, her son Bailey, his wife and three children.  They family is going on vacation. They are disagreeing on where to go.  Bailey wishes to go down from Georgia to Florida while his mother wants to go up north to Tennessee. The Grandmother is afraid of some misfit on the loose who is a escaped criminal.  They decide on Florida and on the way the Grandmother gets to thinking about an old house and wishes to see it again. After some arguing and persuading Bailey decides they can do.  They end up having an accident and roll their car over. Everyone is ok but shaken up.  Luckily a car happens upon them and I was relieved for the family.  But it turns out it was the Misfit.  He seems like a nice guy so I thought he just was using them for an escape or needed clothing.  The request Bailey to follow the two other boys out into the woods for no reason and they all hear a gunshot.  This really shocked me.  How horrible, just a family trying to have a vacation and now Bailey is shot dead or for sure dying alone in the woods.  Next they ask if the Mother and children wish to go and they do and bang bang bang they are also shot.  What did they ever do to deserve this? I guess this story follows along the writings of Flannery O’Connor with writing about violence and evil. I just don’t know why someone with talent to really write would choose such horrid topics.

Tillie Olsen

I Stand Here Ironing

Ok this was a sort of weird story.  But overall a good read interesting read. Tillie Olsen only completed the 11^th grade but has continued to educate herself through the public library.  By her early twenties she had already begun to make a name for herself.  Her career was interrupted to raise a get married and raise a family.  She continued on her writing journey later on.  I am not sure if this is a story about her own life or maybe her own child.  It sounds as if she is reflecting what could have gone wrong.  Very sad as her husband left her before Emily was a year old. She had no choice but to find work in a hard time of the depression.  She often had to send Emily away to other family members to keep her until she could get her back. Very sad to think what Emily went through!  She probably always felt like she could just be shipped off easily.  And then to add more brothers and sisters to the family probably only made it worse in her eyes.  It sounds like the mother often tried to make her feel special by allowing her to stay home and play as a family but I think the trust was already broken at this point.  She never had anyone to lean on and cry to, instead she was shipped off to strangers and even a convalescent hospital.  I cannot imagine having to do that or even choosing to do so. It sounds like Emily had found a way to be happy through her comedy.  It brought her attention she always wanted and needed.  I am not sure what is happening in the beginning with her on the phone talking about someone wanting her to talk to Emily.  I think her mother feels bad and possibly responsible for how her Emily has turned out.

Nikki Giovanni’s Poetry

Nikki Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1943.  She was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio but often visited Knoxville during the summer with her sister to stay with her grandparents. She currently works at Virginia Tech as a Distinguished Professor.  I did enjoy her poems somewhat.  They were easy reads which helps me a lot. The first poem Nikki-Rosa I think she is trying to say you cannot assume every black child had a hard rough life while growing up.  Just because she didn’t have all the fancy luxuries as some she was still a happy child.  I am not sure if she is just imagine what it is like for others or experiencing it herself. She was born in 1943 so it wasn’t that very long ago like the 1800’s during a time of slavery and all.

          I’m Not Lonely was a good point of view of someone worrying about what their life would be like if they were alone and here it happens and she is just fine.  There is no need to worry about her having nightmares because she is doing great. She can hog the entire bed at night without having to share.  That must be nice J I bet she felt sort of free. Instead of constant worry of what it would be like, she now knows and is doing great.

          Poem for Black Boys is a little unclear to me.  It sounds as if she is writing to say they should stick to their own thing, but I am not sure.  They should not act like they are something they are not and to stick to what they know like runaway slave.  That sounds really bad and racist to me.   Why cant little boys play what they want?  They can be the the sheriff if they wish instead of always the bad guy. I think this poem would make a little kid into a stereotype instead of shooting higher for a dream. 

Week 13

Week 13

Kathryn Stockett

The Help

What do you think motivated Hilly? On one hand she’s so unpleasant to Aibileen and her own help, as well as to Skeeter once she realizes she can’t control her. But she’s a wonderful mother. Do you think you can be a good mother but at the same time a deeply flawed person?

How much of a person’s character do you think is shaped by the times in which they live? 

        I really enjoyed reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  I was really impressed with her first novel.  The story takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962.  I guess me be raised in California it was very different. My brother and sister were both born in the early 60’s and I have never heard stories of maids and such.  Maybe it was more of the   richer families versus middle class.  I also think out west was very different with slavery than living in the south.

        I definitely think a person’s character is shaped by the times in which they live.  It was acceptable in those days to have help with black maids.  I could just never imagine it.  I guess you can say it’s the same today with anyone being a maid, but now it’s a choice not the only job they can find.  I think you grow up and do as you were taught so all these new young moms are only replicating what they saw their entire lives and what they were taught by living with their mothers and fathers. Just like today it would not be acceptable at all to be so cruel to a maid just because she is a black woman.

        I am not sure what motivated Hilly.  I think she is just a horrid person to everyone but her children.  Some people just have no heart to be kind to anyone.  I would partly blame her parents for allowing her behavior her entire youth. If she saw all that hatred with her mother and father I am sure she finds it normal behavior.  I think she can be nice to her children because they are hers and they haven’t pissed her off just ye. I never read her say anything nice about her white friends children either and I am pretty sure just like Skeeter’s mom if her little white daughter grew up trying to help the black’s she would have turned on her just as fast or try to hide her and persuade her to be like everyone else and be ashamed.  I am glad things have changed for the better.  I cannot imagine having to treat others so badly and it being acceptable.  I would be the one feeling bad. 

Week 12

Randall Jarrell

           Randall Jarrell was born in California, raised by his paternal grandparents and great grandparents. At the age of 12 he moved to Tennessee and finished high school there. He was supposed to go to secretarial school in order to work in his Uncles candy firm.  Instead he ended up at Vanderbilt University.  He later taught English at Kenyon College  and at the University of Texas.  From 1942-1946 he served in the U.S Army Air Force.  He uses his military experience in many of his finest poems.  He last taught at the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina.  He remained here the rest of his life.  I did not find his style of poetry very interesting. They were all a bit hard to follow and understand.  After I read Losses a few times, I could clearly see the poem is about war.   I think it’s an analysis of the soldiers die in any war.  They really don’t   know who they are killing and although this is an underlying reason, it isn’t really always the belief of the soldiers.   If they lasted long enough through the war, they were given medals, but is being rewarded for killing others really that great?  I was not very fond of the poem, The poem A Girl in a Library.  I had a hard time following and finding the meaning.  I can see its about a girl who is studying maybe a subject she doesn’t really like or want to study.  The last poem we read In Montecito. Randall Jarrell seems very disappointed in having to witness the ending of a life.  It sounds as if  a lady has died. After she dies everything is thrown away like it never mattered to anyone.  Someone else is now sitting in her seat at the cricket match.  All his poems were very odd to me.

Sylvia Plath

            Sylvia Plath had a hard life.  She was born in Massachusetts to a German father and Austrain mother who she often wrote about in her poetry.  She was said to be a brilliant and erratic child.  At the age of seventeen she was able to publish her first poem and a short story.   She had severe mental problems which she often wrote about.  After entering Smith College on a scholarship she was filled with apprehension of horror and death and felt obsessed with isolation and entrapment.  How very sad to be so talented yet trapped in your own world suffering.  The first poem The Bee Meeting I am not quite sure what is going on.  I can compare it to her maybe being in a hospital and she is explaining it as a meeting.  But I see possible Doctor’s and nurses coming at her all gloved and  covered, yet she is naked maybe on a Dr’s table. I think maybe she was being put in some sort of protection suit for herself and in solitary confinement.  The Poem Daddy was such a sad read. Her dad died at the age of 10 and I think she couldn’t ever get past that.  It sounds as if he was very strict to her and she hasn’t forgotten it.  Since he was then dead she could not ever question or talk to him to sort out her own feelings. She had a lot of rage toward her father for leaving her.  She compares the Nazis destroying their world and how her father has destroyed hers in a way.  I think she also find her husband and tries to mold him into the father she never had.  And he also leaves her, but this time she is able to control that rage.  All her poems are very sad to me.  I wish she could have gotten proper help to work through her issues.  To take her own life at such a young age is so sad.

James Baldwin

Sonny’s Blues

            James Baldwin was also known as one of the most important American black writers of the twentieth century.  He was the oldest of nine children and was born and raised in Harlem.  He grew up being dominated by his stern father who was the minister of a storefront church.  At 14 Baldwin underwent a spiritual experience and began to preach in competition with his own father. The story we read Sonny’s Blues   turned out to be a pretty good read. It’s basically about two brothers who are 7 years apart and have their differences, but in the end they are family and need each other in their lives and come to terms that they are different and learn to accept that and be a family again. The two boys grow up with their mother in a poor neighborhood.  The oldest brother goes off and joins the army, during that time their mother passes away and Sonny lives with his big brothers wife and family. He ends up with a bad crowd and becomes addicted to heroin.  He realizes his problems and joins the Navy against his brother’s advice.  After a long gap of 7 years with no communication between the brothers they are brought together again because the older brother’s daughter has died and Sonny was in a drug program being rehabilitated.  They exchange letters and upon Sonny’s release he returns to live with his big brother and family.  Sonny always had a  gift and fascination for music which his brother thought was a waste of time. Sonny invites his brother to a nightclub in order to see him play the piano. At this time the big brother finally accepts Sonny for who he is and can understand him a bit more. It was very sad the Sonny had his music taken from him, what he loved most was gone, his mother and his music. Maybe if they had a better relationship and could lean on each other none of the problems with drugs would have happened. 

Week 10

Week 10

Eudora Welty

Powerhouse

            Eudora Welty lived from 1909-2001.   She was born and grew up in Jackson, Mississippi.  She graduated from University of Wisconsin in 1929.  She began writing a few years later. She wrote about society news for a Memphis newspaper.   In June of 1936 her first short story, “Death of a Traveling Salesman” was published. She wrote several novels until 1972.  She had a strong sense of the southern ways of life. 

            Powerhouse was a weird story to me and I really didn’t care for it much.  Powerhouse was a black man doing a show on a tour of some kind.  He is described horribly in my opinion.  He is described as Asiatic, monkey, devil.  It sounds like Eurdora Welty is rather racist.   Powerhouse is playing music and he talks an awful lot through out his performance. Half of the time I do not know if he is kidding or not.  In the story segregation was still a big part of the normal things going on.  Powerhouse and his band must play a white dance song, in which only the white people may dance.  This just brings sadness to my eyes.  Everyone should have a right to dance regardless of who is there.  I still do not understand why he is talking about a telegram about his wife being dead.  I am just not sure if he is serious or not, or if it’s just a part of a song.  He sounds like he really enjoys his music and is able to feel the music in his soul. He spends a lot of time talking to his band mates.  It sounds more like a comedic show instead of a music performance.  The songs through out the performance are really appropriate for the time.  I don’t think they enjoyed playing for the white people and in their own way have their own prejudices going on.

John Steinbeck

           

Flight

            John Steinbeck lived from 1902-1968.  He was born in Salina, California and used much his locale in his works.  He often wrote about native migrant workers and their struggles.  He had many different jobs since he was a young boy.  He worked as a newspaper reporter, bricklayer, chemist helper and sometimes a fruit picker.  He earned a Pulitzer Prizes in 1940 and in 1962 he earned a Nobel Prize in Literature. 

            In the story Flight, he was a great story teller who uses great description through out the tale.  Even though the story ends tragically it was a good read and kept me on my toes.  It starts out on a farm near the ocean in California. Pepe is a young boy who is the oldest child in the house of 3 kids.  His father was killed ten years ago from a rattlesnake bike to his chest.  Pepe is no help around the farm at all. While his little brother and sister catch fish for dinner, he simply plays with his father’s old knife. Pepe’s mother needs him to ride a horse into town in order to get medicine and salt.  He feels he is now a man for going on this jouney alone.  But his first  night away from home he gets into trouble.  He is supposed to stay at Mrs. Rodriguez house to rest.  While he was there they are all drinking whine and he gets into a fight with another man/boy and ends up throwing his fathers knife at him, killing him.  He rushes home where his mother packs him some things and sends him on his way in order to escape the men coming after him.  He is in no way ready to be out alone already.  Upon his journey he is cut  on his fingers and its all down hill from then. The men eventually catch up to him and he is shot dead. So sad at such a young age with so much life left to live.  Maybe his mother shouldn't have sent a kid out on a real man's journey.

Richard Wright

Native Son

            Richard Wright had a troubled childhood. His family was abandoned by his father and he was raised by his mother and grandmother. Growing up in the South in the 1920’s and being black he had many obstacles to overcome in school. He graduated as Valedictorian and already had stories published while still in high school.  He fled north up to Chicago where he worked several menial jobs.  He ended up in New York where he wrote Native Son.

            Native son takes place in Chicago where Bigger is a young black man looking for a job to help support his family.  He is hired as a driver for the Dalton family.  One of his first jobs is to take Mary the daughter to her University.  Soon as she is in the car she directs him elsewhere.  All the while he just wants to do the right thing for his job.  While out with Mary and Jan he is very uneasy.  They make him feel as one their own and he hates them for it.  He is not used to being treated equally.  I thought this was a great story with equality instead of the usual slave stories.  They end up drinking too much and he is loosening up.  At the end of the night Mary is too drunk to make it up to her own room and Bigger must help her.  He finally gets her into her room and suddenly Mrs. Dalton who is blind appears.  He is so afraid of being caught and fired he does everything to keep Mary quiet, he ends up pushing the pillow so hard on her mouth that she is suffocated and dies.  Even though what he did was wrong I can see his side of the story.  He of course would be punished and probably hung for murder when he was not intentionally trying to kill her, but he wanted that job so bad he just wanted to keep her quiet in order to get out of her room.  I felt sorry for him and the ending was sad.  But it was much better than reading Powerhouse.

Week 9

Week 9

William Faulkner's        

 

 "That Evening Sun"

            William Faulkner lived from 1897-1962.  He received a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949.  After that achievement his reputation spread around the world.  He grew up in Oxford, Mississippi. He used this town in many of his writings with some small changes.  He traveled a great deal, and trained as a pilot.  I find it interesting he never graduated from college yet accomplished so much.  Goes to show if you are truly talented you will succeed.

            “That Evening Sun” takes place in Jefferson.  I thought it was a rather odd story.  It was ok and kept me engaged enough to get through it but I really don’t see why it would be so special.  I read it as if a white family has a maid named Nancy.  She has a ex husband or boyfriend who was in trouble with the law and had left town, she is horribly scared he is back and wants to harm her.  After her job is done with the cooking and cleaning she doesn’t want to go home.  She instead just sits quietly in the family’s kitchen.  We find out she is afraid to walk home alone in the dark so Jason the man of the house walks her home with his 3 children.  His wife does not like this at all.  She thinks Jason cares more about he negro help than his own wife and family.  I thought it was really nice of him to care about her well being.  Soon enough Jason is tired of walking her home and tells her,  her husband is not out there.  She manages to talk the 3 children into walking her home with promises of fun.  When they arrive there is nothing fun about it for them. They want to go home but she offers them popcorn and stories so they stay. I was glad their father showed up to bring them home where they belong.  What if her crazy husband really did come back and harm them all.  I believe the constant worry drove her insane and she began drinking. In the beginning of the story she was in jail trying to hang herself.  It was confusing jumping from the present into the past and the two kids constantly talking during the story because they were too young to really understand what was going on with Nancy and Jesus. Overall it was good but another sad story about how unfair blacks where treated in those days. 

 Langston Hughes

Hughes' poetry and  "On the Road"

            Langston Hughes was born in 1902 and died in 1967.  In grammar school he was chosen as a class poet and in high school he published two poems in magazines. He had many talents including humorist, historian of blacks. He wrote many novels, short stories and poems.  They also included children’s books, songs, and operas.   He had great black heritage and living in New York City picked up tastes in jazz music which you can clearly see in his writings.

            I enjoyed the few poems we had to read.  In the poem,   The Weary Blues I can easily picture a low lit club with a piano player at his piano and small tables gathered about.  The piano player is playing his blues and the person in the audience is just getting caught up in the music forgetting their own worries.  In Harlem, I picture a person who has a dream that is put on hold.  They are wondering what happens, Do they dreams dry up?  Do they fester? Or just explode.   I thought the majority of his poems were easy to understand and I liked them. 

            “On the Road” was sad to me.  We have a man called Sargeant who gets off a freight train looking for a place to sleep.   He is so tired and hungry he pay’s no attention to the snow coming down on him.  He goes to a church where is he is turned away and referred to a shelter which he has already been rejected because they are already full and he is also a black man.  He is banging on the church door until cops arrive.  I believe they knock him unconscious but he is having his own dream of breaking Jesus off the cross and them leaving together and he finds shelter for the night and Jesus goes on to Kansas City. Sargeant wakes up to what he thinks is being beaten on his hands by cops again but he realizes he is in jail from the earlier incident.   I find it very sad because he was black he was not accepted by the church.  I bet if it were any white man they would have been given a spot to sleep. 

Ernest Hemingway

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

            Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois.  His father was a Physician who gave his son many adventures in fishing and hunting.  After high school graduation he went to work as a report in Kansas City.  He was in World War I and the first American to survive after being wounded on the Italian front.  He often wrote about a modern world filled with sterility, failure and death.

            We were assigned to read The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.  In the story we have a wealthy family of Francis and Margaret Macomber who are on a safari vacation in Africa.   This story keeps with his themes of failure and death.  The Macomber’s are out on a lion hunt with Mr. Wilson.  They finally find their prey and Francis first wants to shoot from the car which is a big NO NO.  He ends up shooting a lion but he does not die and they must look for him in the brush. Francis is very scared of the big kill and you can tell he just does not want to go through with it.  The time comes and the lion charges and Francis runs away like a chicken.  His wife is just downright disappointed and calls him a failure.   Back at camp for the night Francis wakes up and his wife is missing.  Turns out she has been with Mr. Wilson for a few hours and we can only imagine what they are up to.  She finds Mr. Wilson desirable because he is not afraid to kill the lion unlike her husband.  They both think the other will not leave each other because Mr. Macomber us rich and Mrs. Macomber is beautiful. 

            They are out on another hunt for buffalo and Mr. Macomber gets his kill and is very proud of him self. He has conquered his fear. Again he only wounded the buffalo so must go in the brush to finish him off. The buffalo charges again and he shoots and shoots but keeps hitting the horns which bullets just bounce off of.  Mr. Wilson is also shooting and Mrs. Macomber takes a shot and accidentally shoots her own husband dead.   I think this was their secret plan to get rid of him so they could be together.  This way she walks away with all her husbands money and Mr. Wilson.  The death could look accidental to most but only they know the truth.