This story takes place in a very brief time-lapse, at the end of a meeting between two friends. They both are old men, but very different from each other. Nevertheless, they have an important thing in common, as we will learn later in the narrative.
The first character introduced is Mr Woodifield. He is the youngest, although due to his poor health we could think he is the oldest: he has had a stroke, and his life and mental abilities have been affected. He is now retired, and we know that he is married and has at least two daughters, as we are told that they only allow him to go to the City alone on Tuesdays.
One of those Tuesdays, he goes to “the boss’s” office. This character has no other name in the story. We can suppose he really has been Mr Woodifield’s boss. He is five years older than him, but remains very vigorous and active. He also offers the perfect image of social success: he is proud of his house, of his money and of his position. He treats his employees in an authoritarian way, but he seems to have a real esteem for Mr Woodifield. Anyway, there is something that he does not want to talk about: a photography of a young officer that stands on his table.
At the end of their meeting, “the boss” offers Mr Woodifield a glass of an expensive whisky - he insists on that - in the awareness that he usually is not allowed to drink. Maybe due to the alcohol, Mr Woodifield brings out just the only thing “the boss” does not want to hear about. He explains that his daughters have been in Belgium, visiting the grave of their brother, Reggie, and that they also had a look at a nearby grave, the grave of “the boss’s” son, the young officer in the picture. This is what they have in common: both had lost their sons during the war.
After a few banalities, Mr Woodifield leaves his friend’s office. As he remains alone, “the boss” commands his clerk to be let alone for a half an hour. He is very affected and wants to weep. His unique son was the meaning of his whole life: he wanted him to inherit his business, his house, all what he built with so much effort.
But, surprisingly, he is not able to cry as he did at the beginning of his loss. He goes on thinking how great his son was, but six years have passed, and even looking at the photography he cannot really feel again the pain he was intended to feel.
Suddenly, his attention is drawn to his ink pot, where a fly is desperately trying to survive. In what seems a compassionate gesture, he saves the fly from dying by taking the poor animal out of the ink and dropping it on a blotting-paper. He observes the way the fly removes the ink from his body, and suddenly he takes more ink and drop it on the fly. Once more, the little insect removes the ink accurately, driven by its survival instinct. A second and a third time, the boss repeats the cruel gesture, and twice more the fly repeats his laborious task, each time with less energy. The boss continues observing and even talking to the fly, until it dies.
At that moment, the boss throws the exhausted body of the insect into the waste-paper basket. He has a very weird feeling that frightens him, but he calls his clerk and asks him to bring some blotting-paper. And when he tries to remember what was worrying him before, he could not remember. He could not remember anything at all.
MY OPINION
This short story is very
interesting because there are plenty of possible interpretations. The fly can
be held as a powerful representation of the nonsense of the war, where young
people lose their lives in an absurd way under the command of powerful people.
It is also a vivid image of how difficult it sometimes becomes to struggle for
life when we have been hurt by destiny. The two human characters are another
image of the poor control we may have upon our lives. “The boss” is an
especially rich character due to the contrast between his image of a powerful
man, able to control his and the other’s life, and his very childish behaviour
with the fly as well as his poor emotional ability to face and manage pain.
QUESTIONS
-How has your life changed since you are retired? Or
how do you think it’ll be changed?
-Do retired people feel they are a nuisance for other
people? In what sense?
-Let’s talk about cemeteries. Are they beautiful places to walk around? Do you know any curious cemetery? Do you go and visit your
relatives’ graves?
-Do you think it’s correct to take away things from a
hotel? (I mean: shampoo bottles, combs, toothbrushes…) Do you usually do it?
-When you travel, what do you remember best? (People
usually tell anecdotes.)
-What kind of crier are you? Do you cry watching
films? Are you ashamed of crying? (Kundera kitsch)
-According to your opinion, why do /don’t children go
on with their parents’ trade?
-What do you think it’s the meaning of the fly in the
story?
-Why did he torture the fly? Is it an instance of the
banality of evil?
-Magic numbers; three times the man flooded the fly
with ink, and at the third time it died. What do you think of ritual numbers?
Do you have one? Why did you choose it?
-“But such a grinding feeling of wretchedness seized
him that he felt positively frightened.” Why?
-At the end, he didn’t remember something, like the old
man at the beginning. What does the writer tell us about this for?
VOCABULARY
snug, pram, City, at the helm, wistfully, muffler, treacle,
on his last pins, tamper, rolling in his chaps, nutty, yer, saw ... out, cubby,
spring chair, learning the ropes, man jack, tackle, look sharp