1. by Katherine Mansfield
“The Fly”
by Katherine Mansfield

2. A “theme” can be defined as a “comment about life” that an author expresses in a story. It is through the theme that most of us can relate to a story.
Every Essay 2 probably will explain
a character or characters
a conflict
a resolution

3. Choose one character from the story and tell us what you think about that character. What facts from the story cause you to see the character in this way?
Dragons says, The boss is sad and depressed mainly of his son’s death resulting from a war. For instance, “Although over six years had passed away, the boss never thought of the boy except as lying unchanged, unblemished in his uniform, asleep for ever. "My son!" groaned the boss.”

4. Choose one character from the story and tell us what you think about that character. What facts from the story cause you to see the character in this way?
Team CD say, One character from “The Fly” is the boss. After reading the story, I thought that the boss seemed sort of self-centered and arrogant. When Mr. Woodifield visits the boss’s office, the boss brags about new features that he has installed and does not really seem to care how his guest is doing. Also, at the end of the story, the boss is interested in killing a fly almost as if it gives him a sense of power. These reasons highlight the boss’s character well.

5. Choose one character from the story and tell us what you think about that character. What facts from the story cause you to see the character in this way?
Struggle Bus says, The boss is a much closed character. He brags about his personal items like all the new stuff he got for his office, but does not talk to anyone about his personal life. When his dead son got brought up he closes up and then has to take time to himself to deal with how he is feeling about it. When the old man brings up the dead son the boss “Old Woodifield paused, but the boss made no reply. Only a quiver of the eyelids showed that he heard.” Then after the old man left he said “… "I'll see nobody for half an hour, Macey," said the boss. "Understand? Nobody at all."

6. Choose one character from the story and tell us what you think about that character. What facts from the story cause you to see the character in this way?
The Walk says, The Boss is a character that seems to be depressed. He has come to terms with the fact that his son has died, but at the same time he feels terrible about that as well. He struggles with this in the fact that he no longer cares about the death of his son as much as he used to. Which can be seen in this quote “Something seemed to be wrong with him. He wasn't feeling as he wanted to feel.” He felt sad about the loss of his son, but it was no longer the intense grief that he used to feel when his son had recently died.

7. What types of conflict--person versus person, society, self, nature, and God/fate—do you think are in the story, and how are the conflicts shown?
L. P. J. says, The conflict shown in this story is person vs. self. This type of conflict can be seen in the story when “The Boss” takes his anger out on the innocent fly making it suffer the way he suffered when losing his son. The conflict could also be person vs. fate. This conflict can be seen in the loss of the son. It was not the main character’s fault, but instead something that could not be controlled.

8. What types of conflict--person versus person, society, self, nature, and God/fate—do you think are in the story, and how are the conflicts shown?
Team CD says, I believe that “person versus fate” is a primary conflict in this story. The boss lost his son in war six years ago, which can be argued is fate. The boss had a really hard time dealing with this fate and almost breaks down in sadness in the story. However, the boss is self-centered and said that he misses his son because he will not be able to take over his business.

9. Identify at least one thing in the story that you think might be symbolic. What might this symbolism contribute to the story?
Name Team says, The fly because the boss felt like he had nothing to live for, without his son, but the fly showed him, when it was fighting to stay alive from his ink, that even something as small as a fly will fight to stay alive, even if it’s life seems meaningless.

10. Identify at least one thing in the story that you think might be symbolic. What might this symbolism contribute to the story?
Team Falcon says, I believe the fly is symbolic for the boss, struggling and fighting for the will to survive. The ink that kills the fly represents the grief that bogs down the boss.

11. What else could the fly and the ink symbolize?
Identify at least one thing in the story that you think might be symbolic. What might this symbolism contribute to the story?
What else could the fly and the ink symbolize?

12. A final thought . . .
Excellent work!