The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

The lion’s roar symbolizes the call to courage and masculinity, something Francis Macomber lacks for most of the story. The lion roams just outside the camp, awakening him with its roar. This noise is a call for Macomber to conquer his fears: “When Francis Macomber woke in the night to hear [the roaring] he was afraid” (122). Despite his fear, he cannot avoid the encounter with the lion forever.

The lion acts as a measurement or test of the men’s courage; Wilson tells him he “must make it stop that racket” (124). Stopping the lion from roaring equates to answering the call to masculinity and exerting force over nature's threats. However, Macomber leaves the task half-done, reducing the roars to agonizing grunts when he only wounds the animal. Wilson succeeds at silencing the lion after Macomber fails to complete the task.

The camp symbolizes society, with all its materialism, security, and luxury. Here, Macomber lives a risk-free, passive existence just on the edge of danger, yet shielded from it by tents and skilled marksmen. In this space, he is passive and frightened, and Wilson notes that he still has the face of an "adolescent." The camp sustains the