Francis Macomber - From Mouse to Man One theme present in Ernest Hemingway's short story, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber", is that the way a person views his life can change completely in one fulfilling moment, if only for an instant. This is a story of an "unhappy man's display of cowardice, his wife's retaliatory love affair, and his ultimate recovery of integrity as he bravely faces a charging buffalo" (Ed. Harris 205). Francis Macomber is a prominent American businessman with a beautiful, dominating wife who holds the control and power in their marriage. At the start of their safari trip to Africa, Francis Macomber is regarde