Comparing wives in “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” and “American Beauty
...to divorce her and Macomber had too much money for Margot ever to leave him" (93). Margot stayed with Macomber for money's sake, and Macomber stayed with Margot for her beauty. They were materialistic and hardly had love for each other. Then, as Margot lost control of Macomber, she felt her "Gold Mountain" would have gone soon, so she ended the relationship by killing him subconsciously (104). It is easily seen that the couples in each story lose love to wealth. The authors presented the lack of love by different means. In "Macomber" the author did not describe the greediness of the couple in detail directly. Rather, it uses the personal emotions, conversations and gestures to uncover that the couple was loveless. As for Beauty, the author portrayed exclusively how worldly Carolyn was and how it deceased the couple's love. Besides materialism, the wives both lost their love to individualism in a different manner. Individuality bases on a self-centered point of view, with all surroundings thought to be subject to that individual, which is a selfish point of view. Now look back at the two stories. In Beauty, Carolyn was too individualistic. Carolyn was selfish that she endlessly filled her heart with materials and flooded her house with all kind of furniture. Where did the money come from? It came from her hard work. This reduced her family life and the love within the family. Unable to find satisfaction from money and having lost favor of her husband, Carolyn lost direction in life and blamed Lester and intended to kill him. (Beauty 1999) On the other hand, Macomber's wife married him in order to control him and enjoy his wealth. Macomber did not resist her control and they got along well. One day, however, when Macomber proved his dignity with his success in hunting, grew in independence, and Carolyn felt insecure about her possession of Macomber. This possession directly affected her self-benefit, and she was worried that her money would have gone after she lost the control. Alarmed, she half-intentionally killed her husband (104). Both stories show how individualism drove the wives so far to forget love, endanger relationships and even give rise to attempts to kill the spouse. The difference is, in Beauty, Carolyn's individualism met with indirect protests by her husband. Lester avoided his responsibilities for the family by leaving his job and getting a low-waged one. He often mocked at Carolyn's selfish thoughts. Hoping his wife would return to love one day, Lester, just before his death, was looking and smiling at their family photo taken when they were still in love of one another. However, Lester was killed and could not become her wife's savior. In "Macomber", her husband never felt like to resist Margot's control. He even accepted Margot's kissing of another man. Her husband was so powerless under her control. Thirdly, the wives in both stories might have been driven too hard by their speedy life and approached a hasty decision by different ways. The haste is also seen in the ending scenes of both stories. In Beauty, Carolyn intended to use her gun until she found her husband, whom she used to love, lied down forever. She regretted and cried bitterly. (Beauty 1999) This implies that she did not meant to kill Lester-she still loved him-but her love was deep under her heart that she did not realiz...