A Short Tabular Analysis of Katherine Mansfield's “The Fly”

 A Short Tabular Analysis of Katherine Mansfield's "The Fly"

Element/Analysis
👉Title :"The Fly"
👉Author: Katherine Mansfield
👉Genre: Short story
👉Setting: An office during World War I
👉Theme: The fragility of life and the inevitability of death
👉Characters: The boss (Mr. Woodifield) and the clerk (the unnamed speaker)
👉Plot: A conversation between the boss and the clerk about a recent tragic event leads to a reflection on life and death
👉Narrative Style: Third-person limited
👉Symbolism: The trapped fly represents the fleeting nature of life and the human desire to avoid facing mortality
👉Tone: Somber and contemplative
👉Mood: Melancholic and introspective
👉Structure: Linear progression with a twist ending
👉Conflict: Internal (the clerk's struggle to confront mortality)
👉Resolution: The clerk attempts to regain composure and return to work
👉Writing Techniques:  Vivid descriptions, introspective thoughts, and symbolic imagery
👉Literary Significance: "The Fly" is considered one of Mansfield's finest short stories and showcases her mastery of character development and symbolism
👉Reception: The story has been praised for its depth and emotional impact, with critics appreciating Mansfield's exploration of the human condition

The Publication

Katherine Mansfield wrote the short story "The Fly" in 1922 at the Montparnasse, Paris, Victoria Palace Hotel in February 1922. On March 18, 1922, The Nation and Athenaeum published it for the first time. In 1923, The Doves' Nest and Other Stories published it.

The Autobiographical Element

Leslie Beauchamp, Mansfield's younger brother, lost his life in Ypres Salient, Belgium, in October 1915 while participating in a grenade training exercise while serving with the British Expeditionary Force. He was 21 then. Leslie had worked for his father's business prior to enrolling, just like the guy in the story.

The story

The events of the story surround a boss who is reminded of his son's death during a visit from an old friend. The man then rescues and causes the death of a common housefly. The story's simple action, which is understated but offers a telling description of character and place, is marked by a lack of humor and compassion. The story also makes a fascinating study of a psychological crisis that afflicts a man almost completely lacking in self-awareness. The story also is a critique of war and patriarchy, as well as a metaphysical exploration of humans' place in the world. It is further one of the starkest expressions of post-World War I existential helplessness and despair.

Characters in "The Fly"

Woodifield, an old and infirm man, who is only allowed to leave his house on Tuesdays. He lives with his wife and daughter.

The boss, a well-off friend of his, who has lost a son to World War I. Much attention has been paid to the central character of the boss. He has been seen as a symbol of malignant forces that are base and motiveless, a representative of the generation that sent its sons to their slaughter in a cruel war, and a god-like figure who, in the words of King Lear, toys with the lives of human beings for sport.  He is a bully who torments the fly for boyish pleasure, and his sense of loss is no more than self-pity. However, some commentators claim that the boss should not be viewed as an unsympathetic character, but simply as a man whose experiments on a common housefly are manifestations of an unconscious metaphysical questioning about the meaning of life.

Macey, the boss's servant, the main office clerk. 

The fly, the symbolic device of the story.

Gertrude, Woodifield's daughter

Reggie, the son of Woodifield who died in World War I.

Major Themes

War: “The Fly” has spawned a variety of interpretations. It is frequently seen as an indictment of the brutal horror of World War I, along with the hopelessness and despair left in its wake.

Death and Disease: Some critics have pointed to references Mansfield made in her journals and letters about flies to show that the fly represents herself, struggling to fight the ravages of her tuberculosis, only to be crushed in the end by a selfish and cruel father much like the boss in her story.

 

Reality: Other critics have resisted such autobiographical interpretations, insisting they detract from a more universally compelling existential message concerning the inevitability of death and man's unwillingness to accept this truth.

 Ardhendu De