The-fly

Besides the natural setting, Mansfield also takes animals as the symbols in her short stories. The animals are endowed with specific meanings by Mansfield, such as the fly in The Fly.
In this work, the fly just symbolizes the weak people living under the cruel war and struggling for a life。

The fly is endowed with a person's life to finish "the immense task of cleaning the ink from its wings”. The boss is the master of it。

He drops the bolts of ink again and again upon the body of the fly to see it struggle for a life. While the fly is too weak to get out of the difficulties upon the huge master, what is waiting for it will be the fate of death finally？The people at that time are also confronting with a huge monster 一the war. They are powerless and have no choice but linger on in a steadily worsening condition。

If the boss, as a person, may sometime feel pitiful to the fly, the war is cruel to people to the utmost，since it has no feeling and is unreasonable。

What the war has brought to human beings is endless hurt and torture even death。

The fly under the pen of Mansfield is just the embodiment of these pitiful people。

When confronted with difficulties，it is like a person beginning to rebel against and making efforts to escape from the dilemma。

But after all，this fly is too small，too tiny to fight against the control of the boss.
Katherine Mansfield takes the fly as the symbol to convey her opinion on the war and personal life，as well as to expose the permanent hurt the war has brought to ordinary people.
In 1922, Mansfield only finished two short stories which was far fewer than she wrote in recent years. The reason was that Mansfield's health became very poor。

（Mansfield died in 1923。

）”The Fly” was one of these two works. So ”The Fly” was finished at the time that Mansfield struggled against illness and death。

Under this background，death naturally became the theme of "The Fly”.
"The Fly” was a story that a boss killed a fly：the son of the boss died in World War I six years ago。

He seemed to forget this sorrow but his friend old Mr Woodifield whose son also died in World War I accidentally mentioned this section of past which made him very painful. However while he was recalling the memory to
his son he suddenly found a fly fall into the inkpot。

The fly was struggling to survive，it was feebly but desperately to clamber out the inkpot. The boss picked the fly out of the ink with a pen, however what he did was not to save it but toyed with it. He bestowed the chance and hope of living on the fly and deprived it by himself. Whenever the fly almost escaped form the ink, the boss dropped a great heavy blot on the fly。

And at last the fly died by exhaustion。

”The Fly” showed the fear and powerlessness of Mansfield while she was waiting for the arrival of death。

She was so talented in the field of literature and her writing skill became more and more exquisite. But the fate played a joke with her, she suffered from white plague which was incurable disease at that time。

Mansfield could not resist the erosion of illness。

Just like that fly in "The Fly" was toyed by the boss。

Although the fly continuously struggled for survival, it was too puny to win the opportunity of living。

Finally it could only die with helplessness。

In addition Mansfield criticized wars in "The Fly”。

We had known that Mansfield’s brother died in World War I。

Apart from her grief she had an implacable hatred for wars。

In”The Fly"the boss’s son also died in World War I. The boss played a slayer and controller in the game with the fly。

But when he suffered the wars he was powerless all the same。

The tenacious vitality of person was untenable in wars. Because war was the greatest tragedy which brought death to person.。