The Fly Katherine Mansfield Analysis

John was very happy about his first job as a fly swatter. He got 1 penny for 10 flies which he thought was very high rate and he felt as if he broke into his employer’s bank. He describes his job in the lens factory as a dark chapter. Over here, he was so frustrated that he felt as if the machines which were around him were cruelly and mercilessly making humming sounds. Here, he was also unhappy and depressed that he got addicted to cigarette smoking. He would flip his cigarette butts on the scarred old floor. He says floor is scarred as if it was a scar left on skin after any

Imagery is what makes stories come to life. Often times, our favorite stories are the ones full of powerful language that perfectly describes a setting, character, or situation. Virginia Woolf’s “The Death of the Moth” is no exception. This essay contains several important analogies that help the reader picture what’s happening. This imagery adds to the meaning of the work as a whole by converting the seemingly pleasant descriptions to realizations about the nature of death.

“It was characteristic of Boy throughout his life that he was always the quintessence of something that somebody else had recognized and defined” (Davies 113). He believes that he is in control of every situation, but inside he cannot control his guilt that is still buried deep inside himself. Contrary to Dunstan who feels responsible for problems, Boy runs away from his problems by keeping himself busy. The death of Leola, his wife, clearly shows Boy’s fear of facing problems, for his does not show up for her funeral, “Boy was in England, arranging something or other connected with his Ministry, and duty and the difficulty of transatlantic flights in wartime kept him there”(Davies 194). Boy still yearns for fulfillment even though he achieves greatness in terms of his financial success and his outward appearance. He says, “I feel rotten. I’ve done just about everything I’ve ever planned to do and everybody thinks I’m a success… But sometimes I wish I could get into a car and drive away from the whole damned thing.” (Davies). Boy knows that deep inside he is very unsuccessful. As he gets older, he is supposed to be wiser, but his commitment to achieving the external greatness has stopped him from being fully satisfied. There is an immense difference in the lives of Boy and Dunstan. Boy’s focus on his external being causes him live an unfulfilled life, like a ‘boy’ who cannot see that there is

In the passage from the award winning novel Secret Life of Bees, portrays Lily sneaking out of the house to be closer to her dead mother, which paints a picture of how much Lily wants to develop the bond with her late mother. To accomplish this task the author, Sue Monk Kidd, integrates numerous forms of figurative language such as symbolism , imagery, and comparisons using similes and metaphors to convey how much Lily desires to find a connection with her dead mother.

Le uses descriptive imagery of objects in order to show the internal nature of the characters. The narrator holds a butterfly paperweight next to her ear and “[hears] a soft rustling, like wings brushing against a windowpane. The rustling was a whispered song. It was the butterfly’s way of speaking, and [she] thought [she] understood it” (Le 25) Le captures the narrator’s young, wild imagination by showing an impossible interaction between the narrator and the butterfly paperweight. She evokes an image of wings brushing against a windowpane to prompt readers to imagine the butterfly’s swift fluttering in the paperweight. She compares the paperweight to her “Ba’s heavy head pressed down on the pillow at night, full of thoughts that dragged him into nightmares when all he wanted was a dream as sweet

Virginia Woolf’s appeals to emotion assist her purpose as they allow the reader to connect to the moth. The moth is the symbol that Woolf uses in order to convey her message that life is as significant as you make it. She writes,

There is switch to second person point of view and then a switch to third person when the son notices his father trying to get close to him he then brings up his father’s capabilities as the father is becoming too old for the job and his infirmity has led to his physical condition to decline. As his son is telling him that he will be demoted, the father replies with a tone that remained unphased and stolid about how he has done this for fifty four years and is still capable of his daily tasks. His son was still starting to show a hesitant tone as he set the paper down on the bed and his father has a resounding tone that was detached from life as his life was over. The father rejected aging and the deterioration of his physical being because once the father lost his place in society, he lost everything as he had nothing left. This shows us how difficult it is to lose your place once one

"He will replace Jose, the hauler's son, who was run over yesterday." I choose this quote because I understood it well. There was no remorse over this Jose's death. The supervisor doesn' t even acknowledge the fact that Pablo has a name because he keeps referring him to "the child" or "the boy". The men in this reading appear to be sluggish and distraught. Considering the fact that their supervisor doesn't acknowledge them, he doesn't seem to care. I think that as long as the men were doing something (working), then that is all that mattered. As long as everyone was doing something productive, the supervisor was pleased. As I kept reading further and further, I think that both Jose and Pablo enjoy working

To begin with, Langelaan projects the physical justification in Andre’s suicide; he was had an incurable condition that would only lead to more pain. Langelaan’s “The Fly” describes Helen’s desperation to resolve the problem, unknowingly of the true nature of Andre’s condition;

This poem is full of sadness, with the narrator stating, “I Willed my Keepsakes” (9). “Making a will is the last and final way of ensuring the narrator's previously-owned possessions staying with loved ones after death” (Borus62). Most people fear death, the tone of the narrator is merely one of sad acceptance” (Borus62). At the moment of the revealing of the narrators will, “There interposed a Fly-,” This is telling us that the fly is again interrupting (12). The fly seems to come across as a noisy fly. Why is it representing as a noisy fly? Why did the fly appear at the end of someone’s life and at their last breathe? “The description of the fly changes in stanza thirteen as the narrator states, "With Blue- uncertain stumbling Buzz-," thus explaining the fly is no ordinary house fly but a metaphorical figure representing death” (Johnson173). The blue buzz in being

The relationship between a father and a son can be expressed in many ways. Many people think of “like father like son” or the silly father trying to make his kids laugh by making a fool of himself. They may also think of a dad as someone whom kids look up to as if he is Superman or the Incredible Hulk. Beyond these stereotypes though, father and son relationships are much more complex. This is illustrated in a contemporary poem by Li-Young Lee about a father and his connection with his son with the use of many different literary devices.

The message that am trying to convey about my character is the man feels that life is hopeless without the boy. Form the start, it’s clear that the boy is all the man worries about because he’s the only person that the man can depend and the only person that can comfort the man in the new world. The man believes that the boy is a source of light and he also believes that if there is any prove of God, the boy would be it. During their journey, the man feeds off of the happiness of the boy because in the book, when the man gives the boy memories of how the world was like before the post apocalypse, he would often times get caught in his thoughts and allow the memories feed on his emotions—bringing fourth happiness to fill the void within his heart. For example, in the grocery store, the man finds a pop machine that holds a single can of Coco-Cola, which he gives the boy to drink. This brings happiness to his heart because he’s able to give the boy a glimpse into the world that existed before. Another moment were the man feels happy is when they come upon a waterfall where he and the boy swam together and the man teaches the boy how to float. Its tender moments like this that prove that the bond between father and sons still exist in this new world.

Having read many pieces of literature through short stories, it is evident that each story has its own unique use of symbolism. Diverse characters in each work of literature are used to demonstrate these forms of symbolism. The boss and his inner conflict illustrate a great deal of symbolism in “The Fly” by Katherine Mansfield. The boss’s perception of the actions of the fly creates an interesting view of the comparison of his father-son, father-fly relationship. Katherine Mansfield, a famous realist, who uses concrete images, appeals to many readers because she incorporates her life into the stories she writes.

reveals the experience of his father. He explains his struggle, pain, and difficulty of communicating with his son. The

However, once more, “there interposed a Fly” (12), interrupting not only the silence but also the narrator’s mind which is trying to calm before the fear of death. This is because, the fly act as the last string the narrator can hold on to, or in other words, the last string that will connect the narrator and the world. With all her possessions assigned to others, the narrator does not own any physical possessions and she is also standing on the margin of losing her life. The sound of the fly buzzing and the sight of the fly flying around the room allow the narrator on the deathbed to know she is still alive and existing in the world as a human being. The fly, when seen from the positive or the optimistic point of view, can act as a symbol of hopefulness, for life existing in the same room with death can be interpreted as fly blocking and stopping the door of death from opening.