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Write A Note On Katherine Mansfield's Presentation of The Boss in The The Fly'

The Boss in Katherine Mansfield's short story "The Fly" is a bereaved father who lost his only son in World War I. The story uses stream of consciousness techniques to reveal the Boss's deep grief and agony over his son's death, which he keeps hidden from others. When his colleague mentions visiting his son's grave, memories overwhelm the Boss and he tries to find relief by playing with a fly, dropping ink on it until it dies. This makes him realize how his own actions mirrored the fate that took his son, showing the depth of his unresolved grief.

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110 views1 page

Write A Note On Katherine Mansfield's Presentation of The Boss in The The Fly'

The Boss in Katherine Mansfield's short story "The Fly" is a bereaved father who lost his only son in World War I. The story uses stream of consciousness techniques to reveal the Boss's deep grief and agony over his son's death, which he keeps hidden from others. When his colleague mentions visiting his son's grave, memories overwhelm the Boss and he tries to find relief by playing with a fly, dropping ink on it until it dies. This makes him realize how his own actions mirrored the fate that took his son, showing the depth of his unresolved grief.

Uploaded by

tajuddin ahmed
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Write a note on Katherine Mansfield’s presentation of the Boss in the ‘The Fly’.

     The central theme of the short story “The Fly’ is the agony of a bereaved father whose only son
had been snatched away by the world-war. The Boss in the story is the unfortunate father. He is the
central character, the pivot and the revelation of his bereaved heart is the main focus of attention.
His outward life of glitter and happiness has been drawn with as much care and attention as void of
his soul. The story gives us glimpses into the two aspects of his life : The earlier part shows how
successfully he keeps up his appearance before others. The later part shows how pathetic in his life
in moments exclusively private.
     “The Fly” as a short story differs from the traditional ones in its mechanics of presentation. Here
we do not find any character- development in the conventional sense. The author is primarily
concerned with offering an insight into the soul of the Boss relying mainly on atmosphere and
suggestiveness. The method adopted for guiding the reader and intimate into the inner recesses of
the Boss’s soul is  the “stream of consciousness” technique. The authoress places her sensitive
finger on a significant moment of the Boss’s and makes his lay bare to the reader through a kind of
metal soliloquy-- the inner working of his soul.
     The Boss receives in his gorgeous office chamber, his one time colleague Mr. Woodifield who
though younger than him has now retired from the service and became “a frail old figure in the
muffler”. The boss who is still going strong pities Mr. Woodifield and serves him wine. Mr.
Woodifield in course of his conversation refers to the visits of his daughters to Belgium where they
had come across the grave of the Boss’s son. The Boss’s memory is stirred in grief for his only son
killed in battle six years ago. After Woodifield’s departure from the office the Boss is exclusively left
to himself to ruminate the memory of the dead son. He feels very helpless and destitute. He wants
to get relief by shedding tears. He utters again and again “My son, my son” but tears do not roll
down his eyes. In vain, he tries to vent  his pent-up feelings. Just at this moment in a flash-back his
mind goes to those days when the boy under his able guidance and paternal care was shaping very
well as the prospective manger of the form. But all his hopes had been nipped in the bud when the
news of the boy’s death reached him like a blot from the blue.
     Thus, when the Boss is completely over whelmed with sad memories, he is seized by a mood of
torturous self-introspection, he happens to find a fly in his ink-pot. He brings it out on to a piece of
blotting paper lets drop on it blots of ink from his pen repeatedly to watch its successive efforts to
cleanse itself and come-back to life until it dies in the process. The moment it is dead the Boss is all
at once, jerked into an awareness of the reality and he becomes frightened and repentant.
     The Boss, however, has not killed the fly for any sadistic pleasure. The fact is, in an unfathomable
depressed state of mind he has only wanted to witness again and again the most encouraging
spectacle of the little creature waging a relentless war against it. However, the Boss while sporting
with the fly becomes instrumental in causing its death.  Fate kills human beings for its sport. The
role of the Boss is not much different from that of the Fate which had snatched away his only son.
     So, Katherine Mansfield’s method of presentation of the Boss is a complete one

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