The Fly

Why does Mansfield leave both the boss and his son unnamed? What is the effect of this narrative choice?

What does the story suggest about the role memory plays in processing grief?

Some critics have argued that the central symbol of the story, the fly, is confused and blurred. Who or what does the fly represent? (Consider the boss, the boss’s son, the author, and even abstract concepts like grief.) Using textual support, make an argument for two or more interpretations of the fly as a symbol.

The boss never leaves his office during the story, yet his character evolves. How does the setting influence his character’s evolution? What do the things he has chosen to surround himself with reveal about the identity he wishes to portray to others?

Although Mr. Woodifield does not appear in the second half of the story, the new things readers learn about the boss cause a reevaluation of him. How does looking at the boss as a foil to Mr. Woodifield differ if one uses only the first half of the story versus using the second half of the story?

At what points in the story do you see the influence of the war echoing through the lives of the characters? How would the story be different if the sons had still died, but not due to war?

The story ends with the boss struggling to remember what he had been thinking about before the incident with the fly. Why does Mansfield choose this ending for the boss?

Naturalism was a literary movement that preceded Modernism and was characterized by a scientific approach to studying characters and their surroundings. Naturalism believed humans were helpless to change their situation and that the universe is a cruel or indifferent force. Although Mansfield is thought of as a modernist, what elements of Naturalism can also be seen in “The Fly”?