The Car Symbol Analysis

The car that Wilson and the Macombers use to hunt is notable because it is forbidden. At once a symbol of innovation, masculinity, and humanity’s—often futile—attempt to dominate the natural world, it appears throughout the narrative, facilitating the two parallel hunts and shuttling characters between the campsite and the hunting ground—that is, between safety and danger. The hunters are not supposed to use cars to track and shoot animals, since this provides them with a definite advantage and as such is unsportsmanlike. The car is itself a space of safety that separates humans from potentially vicious animals. In Wilson’s view, though, cars are “sporting” enough. He believes that chasing buffalo by car is itself dangerous, given the rough African terrain, and thus, a more courageous task. However, he also deems shooting from the car a cowardly act. For Wilson, then, the car represents the risk, thrill, and domination to be found in hunting. He even connects the car to Macomber’s transformation from “boy-man” to “man,” suggesting that cars are a source of male power: “Motor cars made it familiar. Be a damn fire eater now.” Indeed, to the lion who witnesses the car’s approach, it resembles a “super-rhino,” threatening brute force and strength. Yet for Margot, who is confined to the car while her husband and Wilson hunt, the vehicle is a kind of prison, a site of confinement. It is “doorless and box-bodied,” allowing her to witness the safari but preventing her from exiting and engaging in the hunt herself. Her femininity, it seems, excludes her from the space of the hunt, where masculinity reigns. Nonetheless, Margot shoots her husband from the car, directly contradicting Wilson’s imperative and asserting her own dominance—and her participation in the male-centric hunt. Thus, the car represents a crucial struggle between power, risk, and safety, both in terms of the hunt and in terms of gendered relationships between characters.