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Grief and loss are some of the two emotions that almost everyone has felt at some point in their lives. Death is inevitable, and sometimes, losing a loved one may affect people in ways that they never imagined. The Fly , a short story by Katherine Mansfield, shows the readers how the grieving process is different for everyone, even if the circumstances of death are similar (OConnor 731). The story revolves around two older men who have lost their sons in a war. The two characters exhibit different grief levels: denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (Boelen and Smid). The writer portrays how individuals are affected by death and how people grieve differently. She revolves her story around the theme of death since it starts with two friends whose sons have died and ends with the death of a fly (Kimber 74). The paper, therefore, shows how Kate Mansfield uses the major theme of death to bring out the experience of grief and loss through the protagonist, Boss, and his old friend, Mr. Woodfield.
Mr. Woodfield is in the stage of depression in his grief, he loses his son and suffers a stroke (Edwards 46). He has become someone who is dominated by his wife and children, as they restrict him to the house the whole week except Tuesday. His grieving renders him weak, delicate, and pitiful. When he leaves the house once a week, the family members are not aware of what Woodfield does during these days, including smoking cigars and drinking whiskey. The fact that Woodfield only smokes and drinks when he is away from home indicates that he still clings to the past pleasures and is trying to deal with the pain of loss in a way that used to work for him in the past. He expresses his depression when he tells Boss that his family does not let him touch whiskey at home. Woodfields statement suggests that the restrictions his wife and daughters give him to make him weak and add to his miserable state. The narrator also adds that he seemed as if he was about to cry, which indicates his distress (Mansfield et al.114). Woodfield cannot even leave for Belgium to visit his sons grave, making him unable to get through the stage of depression.
Boss, on the other hand, is in the last stage of grief, which is acceptance. He uses his firm as a way of repressing his feelings about the sons death. He is not ready to deal with the sons demise, and for six years, he has been keeping himself busy with work to avoid thinking about the son (Eisma and Stroebe). He is even older than Woodfield but is still not willing to retire. He avoids talking to his friend Woodfield about the picture on his desk. When Woodfield mentions the grave, he triggers memories of the Bosss son and he almost sheds tears. His eyelids shaking signifies that his sons memory is surfacing after being suppressed for a long time (Volkan and Zintl). However, to some extent, Boss seems to insist on continuing running the business to feel closer to his son.
In conclusion, The Fly by Kate Mansfield brings out the experiences of loss and grief in the major characters by showing the reader the stages of pain. Woodfield and his former boss are in the stages of depression and acceptance, where Woodfield feels restricted from grieving in his way, while Boss refuses to believe that he has accepted the sons death. Moreover, the writer also creatively uses a fly in her story to symbolize Bosss grief (During 38). The flys efforts to shake the ink from itself and come back to life are symbolic of the Bosss memories of his son resurfacing in his mind. His act of dropping the ink on the fly symbolizes his attempt to bury the grief through work. However, the flys final death shows that the Bosss grief is gone and that he has finally moved on. Mansfield, through the insect, shows the reader the depth of the protagonists grief and refusal to accept that he has gotten over his sons demise.
Works Cited
Boelen, Paul A., and Geert E. Smid. Disturbed Grief: Prolonged Grief Disorder and Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder. BMJ, 2017, p. j2016,
During, Simon. Katherine Mansfields world. Journal of New Zealand Literature (JNZL), vol. 33, 2015, pp. 33-66.
Edwards, Stephen. Katherine Mansfield and the Trauma of War: Death, Memory and Forgetting in An Indiscreet Journey, The Garden Party, At the Bay, Six Years After and The Fly . Journal of the Short Story in English. Les Cahiers de la Nouvelle, vol. 69, 2017, pp. 37-54.
Eisma, Maarten C., and Margaret S. Stroebe. Emotion Regulatory Strategies in Complicated Grief: A Systematic Review. Behavior Therapy, vol. 52, no. 1, 2020, pp. 1-16.
Kimber, Gerri. Katherine Mansfield and the Art of the Short Story. Springer, 2014.
Mansfield, Katherine, et al. The Fly. Paralela 45, 2003.
OConnor, Mary-Frances. Grief: A Brief History of Research on how Body, Mind, and Brain Adapt. Psychosomatic Medicine, vol. 81, no. 8, 2019, p. 731.
Volkan, Vamik D., and Elizabeth, Zintl. Life after loss: The Lessons of Grief. Routledge, 2018.
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