fly in the ointment

The Fly in the Ointment

Author

vV.S. Pritchett (16 December 1900 – 20 March 1997) was a British writer. He was very well known for his short stories that were collected in number of volumes

Tone & Mood

Tone: Realistic, pessimistic

Mood: Sad, desolate

Background

The background is about a son who wants to help his dad that has just gone bankrupt. vEverything from the factory was taken away by the creditors, however there is a sign outside the factory which is freshly painted and the brass plaque outside the office is shining.

Character/Characterization

There are only two characters in the story:
Harold:
-Harold has no illusions about his father. -Made his life somewhere else though he doesn´t have much money -Feels he should help his father. -Trusts his father despite he is aware of his wheeling-dealing ways. -Not helping him makes him feel mean and disloyal.
Harold´s Father: -Mixture of bravado and weakness. -Shifty, boastful and dishonest. -He never misses an opportunity to deride his son’s position in life by making negative comments.

Plot

-The fly in the ointment is about a son, Harold who is worried about his father that has gone bankrupt, his father has worked for many years and he was expecting him to be in a very bad state as he had last seen, but then he sees him very optimistic about his situation.
- They then talk and the son gets to see his father’s two faces, one good and a bad one. In the end the father decides to give up and live without money. In the end the son offers him some money and the father rapidly acce

Summary

-Harold wants to help his dad that was bankrupt
-They chat for a while and the dad tells him how if he wasn’t optimistic he would’ve already been dead
-The dad decides to give up on money and live without it
-The son offers his father some money and he accepts

Literary Devices Used

-There is some foreshadowing when the son is going to enter his father’s place: “The name of the firm, newly painted too… newly polished”. It lets us know that his father isn’t in the same situation his son remembers him.

Vacabulary & Expressions

-A fly in the ointment means -someone or something that spoils a situation which could have been successful or pleasant.

-The father is the fly in the ointment in this story as his father says: ‘I’ve made my mistakes. I was thinking about it before you came. You know where I went wrong? You know where I made my mistake?’…

-The father himself admits he messed up the whole business and as his son says ‘Don’t oblige me to say we know all about it’ it means that they all know about it and that his father had problems with money

Symbolism

-The fly in the room they’re talking in is one of the father’s weaknesses. It symbolizes his lust for money that he’s unable to reach. When he tries to go to the roof he’s very unable to and makes him appear as he is more old than he already is.

Analysis

-A fly in the Ointment has just two characters and it depicts a dysfunctional relationship between a father and his son, Harold. The father is an aggressive personality.
-There is a streak of dishonesty and cruelty in him. He has just gone bankrupt but has the attitude that it is for the best.

-He claims he has no need for money but plans to live by the sea enjoying the sun and surf. The problem of this plan of living without money is the greed for money which he can’t shake off.

-Harold is aware of his father´s flaw and even if he´s mean to him he tries to help him.
The father has mask on all the time and it slips every now and then.