The Fly

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1922

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Themes

Death and Reconciling the Loss of a Son

Both Mr. Woodifield and the boss have experienced the death of a son during the war; however, death impacts each man differently. For Woodifield, knowing that his son’s grave is well tended in a beautiful cemetery with flowers and broad paths is a comfort. He has come to terms with death and moved on with his life. He approaches death as a tourist, visiting or revisiting the loss of his son but not dwelling there. He can move the conversation effortlessly on to the prices in Belgium, much like a tourist recounting his experiences with a place recently visited. Woodifield also speaks the name of his deceased son, Reggie, whereas the boss’s deceased son’s name is never spoken. Despite Woodifield’s outer physical weaknesses and sheltered existence, his son’s death did not result in his own spiritual death as it has for the boss.

For the boss, hearing about his son’s grave is a shock that causes a disturbing image: “It was exactly as though the earth had opened and he had seen the boy lying there with Woodifield’s girls staring down at him” (79). The boss has yet to come to terms with the ugly fact of his son’s death, despite the six years that have passed. He is unable to speak after Woodifield’s reminder of death. His son’s physical death has resulted in his spiritual death, and he is no longer able to find purpose and meaning in life.

The boss’s experiment with the fly allows him to test whether he has any power over death. However, the death of the fly reveals to the boss the truth: Death is inescapable. This fact is one he finds frightening because it reminds him that his own son’s death is still a reality that he could not control. The image of the fly cleaning itself is described as a scythe being sharpened, an image evoking the grim reaper. The boss is unable to reconcile the death of his only son and instead chooses to remain in denial. With this abrupt ending, Mansfield suggests that death is inevitable regardless of one’s acceptance. In turn, Mansfield underscores the lasting impact of the loss of a son, an experience she witnessed in her own family after her brother’s death during World War I.

The Relationship Between Grief and Time

Mr. Woodifield and the boss illustrate two different approaches to grief. For Woodifield, time has allowed his grief to become a thing of the past that has impacted him but not immobilized his present and future. There is no information about his initial grieving response in the days following the news of his son’s death, but it is inferred that he is in the category of “other men” that the boss says “might recover, might live their loss down” (80). Six years after the loss of his son, Woodifield can talk about Reggie’s grave casually, moving easily from a description of how the flowers look to how much a pot of jam costs. Now, he grieves the loss of his independence and freedom. His wife and daughters don’t allow him to leave the house or drink whiskey, and the effects of his stroke have restricted his ability to work. He grieves the smaller losses of a life shrunken by health concerns. Unlike the boss, Woodifield mentions family members, his wife and daughters, one of whom is named Gertrude. They have cared for him and shared the burden of grief with him; in contrast, the boss never mentions any other members of his family sharing in his grief.

The boss rejects the traditional cliché that time can heal all wounds. His initial reaction to his son’s death in the first few months was highly emotional and filled with tears at the mere sound of the words “My son!” (79). Although he is no longer able to cry six years later, he does not view this as time healing his wounds. Instead, the boss views grief as a substitute for love. When he can no longer draw forth the same kind of emotional reaction as he once did, he grows confused and believes something is wrong with him. He worries that if he cannot demonstrate his love for his son by handing down his business, and he is also unable to grieve his son, what is left for him? He attempts to trigger tears after Woodifield leaves by sitting in the emotional Woodifield’s chair and taking on a typical posture of the grieving with body leaned forward and face in hands: “He wanted, he intended, he had arranged to weep….” (79). However, no tears come. Instead, for the boss, time has only distorted the unresolved grief into an emotional obstruction that leaves him unable to express any negative emotions in a healthy way. After the boss experiences the fly’s death, he is once again overwhelmed with a visceral sense of despair that scares him. Yet he still does not cry, choosing to turn his grief into anger at his office messenger instead.

The Meaning of Survival

Survival strategies in “The Fly” range from repression to measured living to active fighting. The boss’s repression of any uncomfortable grief is a defense mechanism that proves ineffective. The boss has survived without his son by surrounding himself with materialistic objects in his office that cannot die and will impress others: “It gave him a feeling of deep, solid satisfaction to be planted there in the midst of it in full view of that frail old figure in the muffler” (75). Comparing himself to other men, either Mr. Woodifield or Macey, buoys him up. With his office, he has created a place isolated from the reminders of a life without his son. However, work is both a comfort and a source of pain to the boss. By passing down his business to his son, the boss had hoped to ensure the survival of his legacy, to become immortal in a sense. With the loss of his son, the boss’s own immortality is now jeopardized. At the end of the story, the boss represses this unpleasantness by completely forgetting all thoughts of his son.

Woodifield has survived both the loss of his son and a stroke. The latter limits his ability to work, and his wife and daughters have taken measured control over his life. He is not allowed to drink alcohol or travel outside his home more than one day a week. The boss regards Woodifield as frail and old, and the narrative compares Woodifield to a baby wrapped up in a muffler. Woodifield has survived but is not thriving.

The titular fly repeatedly fights for its survival despite multiple attacks. After watching the fly’s first successful survival attempt, the boss comments, “It was ready for life again” (82). Survival is not something the boss wishes to be reminded of, so the boss decides to further test the fly’s ability to survive by dropping more ink on it. The fly meticulously fights back each time, but the boss wins in this duel between fly and human. The boss may have avoided physical death and even survived the effects of aging that plague Woodifield, but his is a Pyrrhic victory.