Katherine Mansfield's “The Fly"

Katherine Mansfield “The Fly"

Katherine Mansfield published “The Fly” in 1922, after her brother was killed in World War I. It is an odd little story in which the boss visits with his old friend, Mr. Woodifield; both men have lost sons in World War I. Later, the boss becomes preoccupied with a fly.  Don't forget that WWI was particularly important in shaping the lost generation (see your class notes about the lost generation). 

            Lost Generation, in general, the post-World War I generation, but specifically a group of U.S. writers who             came of age during the war and established their literary reputations in the 1920s. The term stems from a             remark made by Gertrude Stein to Ernest Hemingway, “You are all a lost generation.” Hemingway used it             as an epigraph to The Sun Also Rises (1926), a novel that captures the attitudes of a hard-drinking, fast-            living set of disillusioned young expatriates in postwar Paris.

Question to consider:  Although the story “The Fly” never overtly mentions World War I, make a list of details which indicate that the story is related to WW I and takes place shortly thereafter.

            Beginning with the idea of the Lost Generation, World War I had a very significant impact on the literary idea of Modernism. Modernism refers to the literary study that has a radical break with literary forms of the past in the experimental, avant-garde style of writing, as seen in both WWI and WWII. In addition, it rejects the certainty of the Enlightenment viewpoints (universal truth can be understood through logic and rationalism) and disillusionment of values on which a society is based, thus the traditional ways were rejected and "new" ways took its place. The Lost Generation is an example of Modernism. After Modernism, Post-Modernism was established which refers to a literary study that emphasizes the lack of profundity (that nothing can be recognized as important) because there is significant in isolation. Moving on, modernization is the industrial process often seen with "westernization" which includes promises and values associated with individualism, democracy, literacy, general education, private ownership, middle class, scientific methods, etc. Modernism, separate from modernization , rejects the Enlightenment and thus would reject the Enlightenment ideal of Scientific Rationalism, which means scientific knowledge  makes universe more rational and predictable. Another important aspect originating from WWI is Dadaism. This was a cultural movement raised during the war and was mainly involved in visual arts, literature, and graphic design that rejected prevailing standards (anti-war or anti-art).  Other literary movements include realism, or one that depicts subject as in everyday life, and surrealism, or one that features the unexpected juxtaposition of elements (elements of surprise) developing out of the Dada movement. Surrealism became a means of expressing the function of thought and free play of mind (i.e. Salvador Dali). Overall, all of the literary movements had a significant impact on their time, especially during WWI.

Question to consider:  Although the story “The Fly” never overtly mentions World War I, make a list of details which indicate that the story is related to WW I and takes place shortly thereafter.

            Katherine Mansfield's "The Fly" is a short story about a boss and an old man named Mr. Woodifield who refers to the boss's dead son, thus causing the boss to create great emotion and have a paralleling experience where he drowns a fly with ink. The characters in the story include the boss who was typical man whose son died six years previous in the war, Mr. Woodifield who was retired with a wife and daughters, that kept him in the house every day except for Tuesdays. The story starts with Mr. Woodifield in the boss's office admiring the new carpet and other amenities, then leading to the photograph of the boss's son who died in the war. Then, the boss gives him some whisky to brighten his night following with the old man telling him that his daughters went to Belgium and saw his son's grave. The boss is astounded and stays silent, while the old man continues to describe the cemetery and overlook the boss's emotions. The old man leaves and the boss is left alone pondering about his son, with such deep emotion but without the physical tears. Later, the boss sees a fly in a pile of ink and saves it, but then starts to put drops of ink back on it continuously leading the fly to fight for his life, where eventually he died a death of suffering. Throughout the ink droppings, the boss was encouraging him to fight and survive. Once the fly died, the boss felt a sense of guilt but also completion, leading him to forget about his son. Throughout the story, there are references to WWI through the photograph of his son in the military uniform, the graveyard reference, and the fly's suffering to survive. In addition, the boss was "dead" inside emotionally because of his grief and violent actions, but also physically "dead" through his stroke and declining health. The fly's death parallels his son's death by showing the ink representing the war and his son representing the fly who died. The fly can symbolize all the soldiers in battle, whereas the boss symbolizes the political leaders who are choosing the soldiers future and fate. This death also parallels World War I.