The Fly

The fly is a short story written by Katherine Mansfield. The protagnist of this story is the boss who kills a petty fly in order to remove his personal frustration and agony about his only son’s death at war.The boss is both a self indulgent boss as well as a bereaved father.
Firstly the boss is a bevered father. He loves his only son implicibaly and cannot come in terms with his death. He is so taken aback by his sons death that he does not even want to remember it or think about it. This can be said so as when Mr. Woodiefield brings up the topic of his daughters visiting the Boss’s son’s grave, the boss gets all stoic and stern. Therefore, the boss is a bereaved fsther.
Also, we get to know in the story that even after six years of his son’s death, the boss had not visited his son’s grave. This could be because the boss loved and cared for his son so much and took such good care of him that he could not bear to see his son in a grave. He would probably break down when he sees his son’s grave.
Moreover, when the boss sees and examines his son’s photograph, we are told that that is not how he remembers his son. This could be because the boss loves his son so much and his image of his son is that of being happy and cheerful and therefore, he cannot picture his son in this lifeless way.
Also we are told in the story that the boss had many hopes on his son and wanted to pass on his business to him and when his son died so unexpestedly at war the boss is so anguished and shattered. This also proves that he is a tribulant father.
These reasons given, it can be said that the boss is a bereaved father. However, it is also true that he is a merciless and self indulgent boss who cares little for other people.
The first example of this is his treatment to Mr. Woodiefield. Firstly he show’s off his riches and luxuries to Woodiefield the sentence from the text “…he liked to have it admirred, especially by old Woodifield” says it all. He is so self indulgent that he seeks and gets pleasure by showing off his riches to a poor old fellow. In fact, the reason that he encourages Woodifield only because Woodifield stands as a foil to his success.
Secondly, when the boss gives whiskey to Woodifield, his attitude is as if to say that ‘we are that men of the world’, he does not give the whiskey out of any amount of love or affection. He gives Woodifield the whiskey in order to show off his largeness once again like a self indulget boss.
Thirdly, the boss’s stoic forebearance to Woodifield’s talk about his dead son. The boss does not reply to Woodifield but remains stiff when his dead son is spoken off. This could be because he being the BOSS remains the BOSS by not breaking down infront of other people. Again after Woodifield leaves, he orders and not asks to be left alone. This shows that he is a very dominant person as even during his time of weekness, he gives orders.
Furthermore, when he thinks of his dead son, he cannot cry any more as much as he wants to. This is because his emotions are blunted and his pain is not in his heart but in his brain as a memory. This is proven as he is quickly distracted by the fly.
Lastly, his encounter with the fly is a very clear example of how the boss is so self indulgent and merciless. He enacts the senario of wat with the fly and becomes its god. Gives it hope after hope and finally kills the helpless fly ruthlessly. With this, his personality remains intact and he regains his lost strenght by killing a petty fly. This is the epitome of the boss’s sadistic and cruel nature.
On the whole, the boss is both a depressed father as well as cruel and self indulgent boss. In my opinion, the BOSS in him is more dominant in him than the father in him.