Teaching The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

Instructions for You

Objective: That Margot is a real piece of work. At first she just seems annoyed, but soon she assumes a darker and more sinister air, like all good villains.

In this one-hour activity, which can take place after Margot comes back from her nighttime dalliance with Wilson, the students will break into groups and produce a short series of sketches showing how she evolves from scorned wife to evil villain.

The sketch will feature four key moments from the drama, in chronological order, with each student playing Margot in an episode: this'll show exactly how she ends up on the dark side, and that the story isn't all about losing to animals.

Materials Needed: a copy of the text and/or our Shmoop summary page

Step 1: Get the students to split into groups of four to prepare a short series of sketches they'll perform about Margot. They're going to focus on various moments during the story that Hemingway kind of glosses over, which nonetheless are crucial in her development as the villainess. Here's what the students will focus on, in the following order:

• The moment, pre-story, when Margot could have left Francis (mentioned by her husband as he lies alone at three in the morning)
• Margot's initial reaction when she hears of Francis's cowardliness just before the beginning of the story
• Margot's feelings about Francis's poor performance on safari when she stays home at the beginning of the second section
• Margot's viewpoint and emotional mind-set on the night that she sleeps with Robert

The students have creative license to present each piece as they wish, but should work according to the following guidelines:

• Each moment will be introduced by another member of the group, who should briefly give insight into how Margot is feeling and why she's going to act as she does.
• There should be specific reference to the story to explain why Margot acts and feels as she does in each performance, both in the introduction and the performance itself.
• Each performance should include at least one quote from the story.
• Each performance should last one minute (so four minutes by each group in total).
• The performances should indicate how Margot slowly evolves into a villainess as the play progresses.

Here's an example, to get the students started off:

• The first student will focus on Margot at the beginning of the story, when she hears of her husband's cowardliness on the safari.
• One student can introduce this piece, revealing how Margot is infuriated and can barely stand the thought of her husband, let alone having to hang with him when he gets back. This would foreshadow the opening section as the future villainess basically has steam coming out of her ears when within one hundred yards of her husband.
• The student playing Margot could then come on stage and enter into a monologue about how she's not exactly Francis's number one fan at the moment.
• She could then make reference to how difficult it'll be to chat to her husband now that he's been exposed as a coward, quoting the line she'll later say: "Conversation is going to be so difficult."

Give students the majority of class time to write out their scripts and rehearse their blocking.

Step 2: When lines are learned and episodes readied, each group will perform their piece. One student should introduce each of the four sketches as Margot is shown to slowly move over to the dark side.

Ask students to respond to each performance; for example, have them decide which version of Margot was most representative of her in the story, or where she seemed most villainous.

Step 3: For homework, students should write a 200-word diary entry, as Margot, after she sleeps with Wilson in the third section of the story. They should detail how she feels at this time and her plans for the future, based on what has happened in the story so far (which should be referred to, duh). They should write in her voice, and feel free to really Mar-go to town on this one.

Instructions for Your Students

Objective: That Margot is a real piece of work. At first she just seems annoyed, but soon she assumes a darker and more sinister air, like all good villains.

In this one-hour activity, which can take place after Margot comes back from her nighttime dalliance with Wilson, you'll break into groups and produce a short series of sketches showing how she evolves from scorned wife to evil villain.

The sketch will feature four key moments from the drama, in chronological order, with each student playing Margot in an episode: this'll show exactly how she ends up on the dark side, and that the story isn't all about losing to animals.

Step 1: Split into groups of four to prepare a short series of sketches about Margot. You're going to focus on various moments during the story that Hemingway glosses over, which nonetheless are crucial in her development as the villainess. Here's what the students will focus on, in the following order:

• The moment, pre-story, when Margot could have left Francis (mentioned by her husband as he lies alone at three in the morning)
• Margot's initial reaction when she hears of Francis's cowardliness just before the beginning of the story
• Margot's feelings about Francis's poor performance on safari when she stays home at the beginning of the second section
• Margot's viewpoint and emotional mind-set on the night that she sleeps with Robert

You have creative license to present each piece as you wish, but should work according to the following guidelines:

• Each moment will be introduced by another member of the group, who should briefly give insight into how Margot is feeling and why she's going to act as she does in this section of the performance.
• There should be specific reference to the story to explain why Margot acts and feels as she does in each performance, both in the introduction and the performance itself.
• Each performance should include at least one quote from the story.
• Each performance should last one minute (so four minutes by each group in total).
• The performances should indicate how Margot slowly evolves into a villainess as the play progresses.

Here's an example, to get you going:

• The first student will focus on Margot at the beginning of the story, when she hears of her husband's cowardliness on the safari
• One student can introduce this piece, revealing how Margot is infuriated and can barely stand the thought of her husband, let alone having to hang with him when he gets back. This would foreshadow the opening section as the future villainess basically has steam coming out of her ears when within one hundred yards of her husband.
• The student playing Margot could then come on stage and enter into a monologue about how she's not exactly Francis's number one fan at the moment.
• She could then make reference to how difficult it'll be to chat to her husband now that he's been exposed as a coward, quoting the line she'll later say: "Conversation is going to be so difficult."

Step 2: When lines are learned and episodes readied, each group will come on stage to perform their piece. One student should introduce each of the four sketches as Margot is shown to slowly move over to the dark side.

Your teacher will ask various students to respond to each performance, such as having them decide which version of Margot was most representative of her in the story, or where she seemed most villainous.

Step 3: For homework, you're going to write a 200-word diary entry, as Margot, after she sleeps with Wilson in the third section of the story. You should detail how she feels at this time and her plans for the future, based on what has happened in the story so far (which should be referred to, duh). You should write in her voice, and feel free to really Mar-go to town on this one.