The Fly By Katherine Mansfield Essay

To mourn for the passing of one, can often times lead to the downfall of an individual. In the short story “The Fly” by Katherine Mansfield, a major theme that the author explores is how death has a lingering affect and defeats all. The short story is told primarily through the eyes of “The Boss”, who is the protagonist in the story. Death is a reoccurring event in the short story that affects many individuals. Through symbolism, style and setting, readers can discern how the short story “The Fly” by Katherine Mansfield thrives to portray the major theme of how death has a lingering effect on individuals.

In this story, Mansfield shows how the uses symbolism to portray the major theme of how death has a lingering effect on individuals. The Boss went through the loss of his son, who had died in the war six years ago and Mr.Woodifield went through the loss of his son as well. Mansfield uses the character “The fly” as the main symbol in the story. The fly appears in the story when it has fallen into the Boss’ broad inkpot. It tries to weakly clamber out, but due to the inkpot being so slippery, it fell back in again and began to swim. The boss attempts to poor ink blots on top of the fly, as the fly’s ability to fight amused the boss. The fly ultimately dies. The fly symbolizes the young men who went to war unaware of the terrors they may endure. Readers can witness the fly’s point of view when the author mentions “The horrible danger was over; it had escaped; it was ready…