The Fly

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1922

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Character Analysis

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Character Analysis

The Boss

The unnamed protagonist is simply referred to as “the boss.” In the first half of the story, he is depicted as someone who takes great pride in his newly redecorated office and in his ability to showcase his superior position to his frail, former employee Mr. Woodifield. Despite being five years older than Woodifield, the boss is described as “still going strong, still at the helm” (74). He enjoys being able to feel superior to his former employee.

He waves “exultantly” toward the upgrades he installed. When he sees a sign of weakness in Woodifield, he decides to generously share with him an expensive bottle of whiskey, “swooping across” (77) for the cups. His mannerisms and tone of voice in the first part of the story suggest a man who has power and enjoys the presence of the lesser man if only because it serves to emphasize his greatness.

The evolution of the boss’s character comes when Woodifield brings up the subject of his son’s grave in Belgium. The boss becomes silent: “Only a quiver in his eyelids showed that he had heard” (77). After Woodifield leaves, the boss undergoes a physical transformation. His body, initially described as “stout, rosy” (74) is now described as a “fat body plumped down in the spring chair” (79). He has seated himself in the armchair that has just been vacated by Woodifield rather than his own roller chair and in doing so also takes on Woodifield’s frailty.

Mr. Woodifield

Mr. Woodifield is a flat character who serves as a foil to the protagonist. His physical deterioration is in contrast with his boss’s abundant vitality in the first half of the story. Despite being five years younger than his former boss, he is described as “old” 17 times in the story’s first half. His fragility is emphasized by the simile used in the opening sentence, which describes Woodifield as sitting in an armchair, looking out at his boss’s office “as a baby peers out of its pram” (74). Woodifield retired after having a stroke and has since been restricted by his wife and daughters, who only allow him to leave the house once a week. He struggles to remember things, and his hands tremble.

Woodifield still refers to his former boss as “the boss,” suggesting that there is still a hierarchy to their relationship. However, Woodifield bears no envy toward his boss. He admires his boss’s comfortable surroundings and freedoms and is heartened by his strength. Both men lost a son in the war six years ago, but unlike his boss, Woodifield can talk about his son and finds comfort in his daughters’ visit to the gravesite. Although Woodifield may be physically weaker than the boss and presented to elicit pity, he is emotionally stronger than his boss, and it is the boss who merits sympathy.

Macey

Macey, another flat character, is described as “the grey-haired office messenger” (79) who works for the boss. He is compared to a dog waiting for his owner to take him out on a run. He is mentioned only three times in the story, one of those times in a flashback. In the boss’s flashback of the time when his son was working with him in the office, we learn that Macey “couldn’t make enough of the boy” (80). Macey is depicted as an extension or reinforcement of the boss’s own idolized opinions about his son.

The other two times Macey appears in the story are in the present, and his appearances bookend the boss’s internal conflict. First, Macey is mentioned right after Woodifield has left the boss’s office after telling him about his son’s gravesite. The boss instructs Macey to keep away all people for 30 minutes. After Macey leaves, the boss begins his exploration of memory and emotions. The second time Macey makes an appearance is at the end of the story after the boss has killed the fly and is overwhelmed with a feeling of misery. The boss takes his emotional turmoil out on Macey by speaking to him sternly, asking him to fetch him more paper “and look sharp about it” (84). Once again, Macey is described as a dog leaving to obey his owner’s commands.

The Boss’s Son

The boss’s son is unnamed, and the boss refers to him only as “the boy.” Woodifield introduces the boss’s son in conversation, as he is buried near Woodifield’s son in Belgium. The boss’s son was killed six years prior in World War I. Later in the story, he appears as a flashback in his father’s memories. He is the only son of the boss and worked with his father one year before the war started to learn the business that would one day be passed down to him. According to his father’s memory, his son was popular with others in the office but wasn’t spoiled. He is described as having a naturally pleasant and personable way with others. He always knew the right thing to say, encapsulated in his repeated phrase: “Simply splendid!” (80).

The boss’s depiction of his son in this flashback contrasts with the picture of his son that hangs on the wall of his office. In that picture, he is an unsmiling soldier in uniform: “The expression was unnatural. It was cold, even stern-looking. The boy had never looked like that” (81). The boss is torn by competing images of his son: the boyish, outgoing young man who came to work with his dad before the war; the serious, uniformed soldier who would leave to fight and die in a war; and the disturbing image of him dead in a grave that Woodifield creates when he tells him about visiting Belgium. The boss’s inability to reconcile all these images of his son contributes to his emotional confusion.