Creative Critical Response to The Fly: Mansfield's Short Story

This assignment presents a creative critical response to Katherine Mansfield's short story, "The Fly." The student adopts a unique approach by writing a letter from one character to another, Woodifield to the Boss, offering a personal perspective on the story's themes. The letter serves as a vehicle to dis...Read More

Running head: CREATIVE CRITICAL RESPONSE TO THE FLY
Creative critical response to The Fly
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1
CREATIVE CRITICAL RESPONSE TO THE FLY
“Letter from a friend to a friend”
To
My friend, The “Boss”
Subject: Cursed personality
Date: 28th August 2017
Dear Sir,
I hope you are in good health of mind of body. While leaving your room, I saw that you were
depressed. This made me concerned about you. In response to it, I am writing this letter to
express my guilt and sympathize with you. Firstly, let me tell you that your depression is
justified in terms of remembering the happy moments with your son. This depression is natural
and obvious in terms of the circumstances, which we are compelled to encounter in our daily
lives. Mention of the demise of our loved ones makes us sad and depressed, engulfing us within
the sea of obstacles (Harris). This entrapment makes it difficult for us to perform our basic tasks.
As far as your son’s demise is concerned, it fills me with sadness. I know it is very pathetic and
difficult for you to accept this harsh reality. However, I would like to say that if you think that
your son has died for his motherland, you might feel proud about the sacrifice which he has
given for his country. I am using might as this thinking is a little tough for you. However, once
you think it in this way and convince your family members, I think it would be easy for you to
accept the absence of your son (Kimber).
I have also experienced the demise of my son. It was very difficult for me to accept the fact.
However, I have convinced myself that in comparison to the harsh blows of fate, we are mere

2
CREATIVE CRITICAL RESPONSE TO THE FLY
human beings, lacking the capability to alter what is destined for us. Therefore, we do not have
any other option than to accept the events which occur in our life. In terms of this predicament of
ours, our names are just useless. Instead we become members of a class full of foolish people,
the puppets in the hands of the fate. Inability to alter our fate makes our existence meaningless,
questioning our position within the society (Mounic). Here, our predicament equalizes with that
of the fly, which is small in size but bigger in its capability. Its struggle to fight the blows of the
ink resembles our futile efforts to fight the harsh blows inflicted upon us by fate.
Upon the mention of your son’s death, you cancelled all your meetings. This might be for half an
hour but it made the freedom of your life into halves. For this entrapment, you refused to meet
anybody. These actions reflect your fear about the taunts and mocks of the people regarding your
inability to cope up with the events which occur in life. What they fail to understand is that
sudden occurrences can happen in anybody’s life and difficulty in accepting it is natural.
However, when it comes to the others, they just search for opportunities to make fun of others in
such a plight (Cross). Here, we should try to ignore these talks and do what is ethically and
morally right. You are a boss, if you get weaker like this, what example will your subordinates
get from you? But this does not mean that you should not have emotions. You are a man of flesh
and blood, you have your emotion, but you need to regulate them when you are in public. This
regulation would justify your designation as a boss.
Getting influenced by these suggestions and advice would distract us from the goals which we
have set for our future. This does not means that you have to forget your son. Instead, if you
move on in your life, your son would also be free in terms of taking rebirth as a good human
being. Herein lies the appropriateness of the statement that we should not get emotionally

3
CREATIVE CRITICAL RESPONSE TO THE FLY
attached with anybody, as this attachment would not remain forever. This is due to the difficulty
in life after death (Kimber).
I think at some point, I am responsible for this situation of yours. Had I not mentioned about the
visit to your son’s grave, you would not have become depressed and cancelled all your meetings.
Rather you would have performed your office tasks as in the normal other days. Along with this,
you would have conducted meetings with your clients, without getting distracted. This behavior
of mine makes me weak and questions the things, which I told to console you. I think this
dilemma is because of my aging. Now I forget most of the things which I say to the persons
around me. I seriously need to consult a doctor. See, I have started narrating my problems,
deviating from the aspect of empowering you in terms of the inevitability of the aspect of death.
I know the things which I have said are very meager in terms of the intensity of your grief
regarding your son’s death. However, life goes on. So you also need to convince yourself and
make yourself strong. I pray that that may the Almighty give you the strength to bear with all the
harsh realities, which comes in our life. If you need any help, I am always there to help you.
Yours Loving friend
Woodifield

4
CREATIVE CRITICAL RESPONSE TO THE FLY
Reflection
Katherine Mansfields’ The Fly is an inspiration for the people in terms of coping up with
the sudden circumstances, which come in their life. The boss’ character is a live example, which
conveys the message to the readers about the persistent struggles which they have to make in
terms of adding meaning into their lives. Woodifield is an epitome of how to move on in life
instead of being entrapped by old age and forgetfulness. Countering this, the protagonist of the
short story is the fly which enhances the awareness of the people to confidently encounter the
things which are stored for the people. Ink droppings on the fly resemble the impositions of
harsh blows by fate.
After going through the story, I express my pathos for the meaningless existence
experience by the people nowadays. The main reason for this is the incapability to cope up with
the harsh blows of the fate. In view of this perspective, I can state the plight of the boss to be like
the ordinary people, struggling to make their lives meaningful. Here, the identities of boss and
fly merge in terms of the incapability to adjust within the sudden circumstances. This perspective
fades away the differentiation between man and animal, keeping the struggle for life consistent.
The only difference is in the way of expression. Humans can express it in words, but the animals
lack the freedom of speech, which aggravates their suffering.
The letter written here is from a friend to another friend, consoling for sudden
remembrance of the son’s untimely death. I can say that writing letter to a friend is apt in terms
of enhancing the stability in the relationship between them. On the other hand, I think writing a
letter instead of having face-to-face conversation is a kind of hesitation and guilt, which
Woodifield undergoes upon the discussion of his son’s demise. I feel this kind of hesitation and

5
CREATIVE CRITICAL RESPONSE TO THE FLY
guilt is quite obvious and natural in case of people who perform acts without thinking the after
effects.
The subject of the letter, “cursed personality” attains peak position in the letter. The
adjective “cursed” is attached to the personality of individuals, when they do something wrong.
In other times, this adjective is imposed upon the predicament of the individuals, which most of
the times proves wrong. The incident, where the boss inflicts ink on the fly, its personality is
worth mentioning in terms of its struggle. On the contrary, mere mention of son’s demise makes
the boss depressed. Here the boss’ personality is weak in terms of incapability to cope up with
the sudden instances, which is quite natural.
One of the other issues, which can be pointed out is the relationship between father and
son. For the son, father is a source from where; they get power, strength and energy to struggle
for his rights. Absence of son or father generates the feeling of loss, which means a loss of
strength and power. In view of the boss’ perspective, son’s absence makes the father weak. This
connotation might be a distorted one; however, it makes the son, a protector of his parents and
sisters.
Concluding remarks
Here, absence and presence are like two sides of the life; similar to the phases of
happiness and sadness. The aspects of absence should not be an obstacle in the present life of the
people. This does not mean that people should not express grief at the loss of their loved ones.
Instead, they should try to cope up with the loss by engaging themselves in some other things.
Capability to do this would assist the people to move on in their lives with new vigor and
strength. The “people” in the earlier sentence generalizes the classification of the individuals into

6
CREATIVE CRITICAL RESPONSE TO THE FLY
a class of foolish people, who lack the basic understanding towards the partial capability for
coping up with the aspects of “loss”. Here, the curses, taunts and mocking attain a backseat, as
the injury inflictor also falls within the group of foolish people, searching the ways and means to
fight the blows of fate.

7
CREATIVE CRITICAL RESPONSE TO THE FLY
References
Cross, Ashley. "To “buzz lamenting doings in the air”: Romantic Flies, Insect Poets, and
Authorial Sensibility." European Romantic Review 25.3 (2014): 337-346.
Harris, Diana R. "Milk, blood, ink: Mansfield's liquids and the abject." Journal of New Zealand
Literature: JNZL 32 (2014): 52-67.
Kimber, Gerri. "Relationships." Katherine Mansfield and the Art of the Short Story. Palgrave
Macmillan UK, 2015. 53-56.
Mounic, Anne. "To tell and be told”: war poetry as the “transmission of sympathy." Études
anglaises 68.1 (2015): 70-83.