The Fly

“The Fly,” by New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield, was originally published in the British newspaper The Nation on March 18, 1922. The Modernist short story was written while Mansfield was in Paris getting treatments for tuberculosis that would prove unsuccessful; less than a year later, Mansfield died, at age 34. The autobiographical elements of “The Fly,” combined with the influences of Modernism, create a multifaceted exploration of the complicated relationship people have with loss and grief.

This study guide cites The Doves’ Nest and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield, published in 1923 by Alfred A. Knopf and available via Project Gutenberg.

“The Fly” is set in London in the early 1920s. Narrated in the third-person omniscient perspective, the story takes place entirely within the office of an unnamed boss. Mr. Woodifield, a former employee, sits in an oversize armchair during his recurring Tuesday visit with the boss. Since Woodifield’s stroke, his wife and daughters only allow him to venture into the city once a week. Although the boss is five years senior to Woodifield, his “stout, rosy” appearance contrasts sharply with Woodifield's “frail old figure” (74-75).

Woodifield admires the boss’s “snug” yet modernized office. The boss enjoys bragging about his office renovations and his expensive possessions to Woodifield, whom he considers to be inferior. Woodifield tells his former boss that he has something he meant to tell him but is struggling to remember. The boss generously offers him a shot of fine whiskey from Windsor Castle, and Woodifield remembers what he wanted to tell him. While Woodifield’s daughters were in Belgium visiting their brother Reggie’s grave, they discovered that the boss’s son was buried nearby. Woodifield assures the boss that the grounds are being well maintained with flowers and nice paths. The boss has never been to Belgium to see his son’s grave and does not verbally respond to Woodifield’s description of the cemetery. However, there is a slight physical reaction: a twitching of the eye. Woodifield then abruptly changes the topic and begins talking about how much his daughter Gertrude was charged for jam while staying at the hotel in Belgium, but the boss isn’t paying attention. Woodifield leaves of his own volition, and the boss distractedly sees him to the door. The boss then tells his office messenger, Macey—whom he thinks of as an “old dog”—that he wishes to be undisturbed for the next 30 minutes. The reminder of his son’s death serves as the turning point in the story.

In the second half of the story, the boss is alone in his office. His demeanor now changes as he attempts to process the shock of Woodifield’s comments about his son’s grave. His son died six years ago in World War I, but the boss never recovered. He thinks about how he worked tirelessly to build up his business with the intent to hand it over to his only son. His son had even begun learning about the business the year before the war and excelled at it. The boss remembers receiving the telegram from Macey informing him of his son’s death. The boss questions how he found the motivation to keep on working at his business as long as he has without the promise of a future that includes his son.

The boss’s feelings confuse him: “Something seemed to be wrong with him. He wasn’t feeling as he wanted to feel” (81). He reexamines an old photo of his son in uniform that hangs over a table in his office, but he doesn’t like the photo because it looks too serious and unnatural—not a true depiction of his son. Just then, the boss notices a fly that has fallen into a pot of ink and is trying to climb out. The boss uses a pen to scoop the fly out, places it on some paper, then observes the fly’s attempts at cleaning itself off. The fly succeeds in freeing its wings, but the boss decides to present the fly with more danger and drops another blot of ink on it. Once again, the fly begins the task of cleaning itself, and the boss admires the fly’s determination. Yet just as the fly is once again free, the boss drops a second drop of ink on him. This time, the fly’s struggles to free itself are feebler, and the boss decides he will only deliver one more drop of ink. The third drop of ink proves to be too much, and the fly dies.

The boss tries to revive the fly with both his words and his pen, but his attempts are futile. He puts the dead fly into the trash can: “But such a grinding feeling of wretchedness seized him that he felt positively frightened” (83). He rings for Macey to bring him some new paper quickly. The story ends with the boss struggling to recall what he had been thinking about before the episode with the fly occurred. There is no real resolution to the internal conflict experienced by the boss: “For the life of him he could not remember” (84).