The Fly quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Which literary movement best describes "The Fly"?

   • Realism
   • Gothic Horror
   • Correct answer: Modernism
   • Naturalism
   • Romanticism

   Modernism is the best fit. Mansfield uses stream of consciousness, symbolic imagery, and psychological depth to explore how grief erodes over time — hallmarks of the modernist movement that emerged after World War I.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What disturbs the boss most after Woodifield leaves and he tries to grieve?

   • He worries that his son's grave in Belgium is neglected and poorly cared for
   • He fears that he too is growing old and feeble, like Woodifield after his stroke
   • He is angry at Woodifield for bringing up painful memories so casually
   • Correct answer: He discovers that he can no longer summon the tears he once shed so easily

   The boss is deeply disturbed to find that he cannot cry. In the early years after his son's death, merely saying "My son!" would trigger violent weeping — but now, six years later, the grief simply will not come, despite his conscious effort to summon it.

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3. 3

   Question 3. How many years have passed since the boss's son died?

   • Three years, and the boss still visits the grave regularly
   • Correct answer: Six years, and the boss has never visited the grave
   • Ten years, and the boss has only recently stopped grieving
   • Two years, and the boss is still in the first shock of loss

   Six years have passed since the son's death in World War I, and the boss has never been to Belgium to visit the grave — "For various reasons the boss had not been across."

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4. 4

   Question 4. What does "Cowed" mean in this story?

   • Correct answer: Intimidated into fearful submission, too subdued to act or resist
   • Angered and provoked into aggressive, defiant physical resistance
   • Confused and disoriented, unable to determine the source of danger
   • Exhausted from prolonged effort, physically drained but still willing

   Mansfield writes that the fly "seemed absolutely cowed, stunned, and afraid to move because of what would happen next" — the word captures total intimidation, the creature frozen by fear of further punishment.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What does the fly most likely symbolize in the story?

   • Correct answer: The boss's son and the young soldiers who struggled valiantly before being destroyed by forces beyond their control
   • Mr. Woodifield and the retired elderly men who are kept confined and powerless by their families
   • The boss's business empire, which appears strong on the surface but is rotting from within due to neglect
   • Macey the office messenger, who loyally serves the boss but is treated as insignificant and disposable

   The fly's repeated struggle against the ink drops mirrors the son's fate in the war — both fought courageously against overwhelming, destructive forces controlled by a more powerful entity. The boss's admiration for the fly's pluck ("That was the way to tackle things") echoes his pride in his son, while his cruelty unconsciously mirrors the generals who sent soldiers to die.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Why does the boss keep dropping ink on the fly even after admiring its courage?

   • He is bored and idle after Woodifield's departure and simply needs something to occupy his hands
   • Correct answer: He is unconsciously reenacting the cycle of destruction that killed his son, displacing grief into cruelty
   • He wants to prove that persistence always triumphs and expects the fly to survive every test
   • He sees the fly as a pest spoiling his blotting-paper and simply wants it gone from his desk

   The boss cannot access his grief directly — he tried to weep and failed. The fly gives him a way to unconsciously act out the cycle of hope and destruction that defined the war. His admiration and cruelty coexist because he is both the grieving father and, symbolically, the indifferent power that sent young men to die.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does the boss use to try to help the fly dry off between ink drops?

   • He places it near the electric heater to warm its tiny body
   • He dabs it carefully with the corner of his handkerchief
   • He fans it with the copy of the Financial Times from his desk
   • Correct answer: He breathes on it gently, thinking his warm breath will help

   In a moment of bizarre tenderness, the boss "actually had the brilliant notion of breathing on it to help the drying process" — a small kindness sandwiched between acts of cruelty, showing his confused mix of compassion and destructiveness.

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8. 8

   Question 8. How does Woodifield's reaction to the war graves contrast with the boss's reaction?

   • Woodifield is consumed by grief and cannot speak about anything else for the rest of the visit
   • Woodifield weeps openly over Reggie's grave, while the boss cheerfully pours them both more whisky
   • Correct answer: Woodifield moves quickly from graves to complaining about jam prices, while the boss is emotionally devastated
   • Woodifield complains that the graves are badly kept, while the boss brushes the news aside and goes back to his paper

   Woodifield transitions almost instantly from describing his son Reggie's grave to outrage over being charged ten francs for a pot of jam — a jarring shift that reveals how people compartmentalize grief. The boss, by contrast, is shattered by the mere mention of his son's grave.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What is the significance of the boss being unable to remember what he was thinking about at the story's end?

   • It suggests that the fly's death was so traumatic that it has replaced all other thoughts in his mind
   • It indicates that the boss is deliberately suppressing his grief to maintain his image as a strong leader
   • It shows that his memory is failing due to age, foreshadowing a decline similar to Woodifield's stroke
   • Correct answer: It reveals that time has eroded his grief so completely that even a direct reminder cannot sustain it

   The story's devastating final line — "For the life of him he could not remember" — confirms that time has done exactly what the boss swore it never would: worn away his grief. Minutes after trying to mourn his son, he has already forgotten. The fly episode has consumed and displaced the very sorrow he sought to feel.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does the contrast between the boss's comfortable office and the war graves reveal?

    • It demonstrates that Woodifield envies the boss's success and visits mainly to admire his possessions
    • It shows that material success provides genuine comfort and helps people recover from loss over time
    • Correct answer: It highlights the gap between the powerful older generation who sent young men to war and the sons who died
    • It suggests that the boss has used his wealth to avoid confronting grief by surrounding himself with luxury

    The boss sits in a "snug" office with new carpet, new furniture, and electric heating — the picture of comfort — while his son lies in a grave in Belgium. This stark contrast mirrors the broader WWI dynamic: the older generation of businessmen and leaders remained safe and prosperous while their sons were sent to die in the trenches.

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11. 11

    Question 11. Which of these events actually happened in the story?

    • Mr. Woodifield visits the boss's office on a Tuesday, his only allowed day out.

      Happened

      Since his stroke, Woodifield's wife and daughters only let him out on Tuesdays to visit the City.

    • The boss shares a glass of whisky with Woodifield from a bottle he claims came from Windsor Castle.

      Happened

      The boss says the whisky came "from the cellars at Windsor Cassel" — told to him "on the strict Q.T." by the man who supplied it.

    • Woodifield's daughters visited the boss's son's grave in France.

      Didn't happen

      The graves are in Belgium, not France. Woodifield specifically says "the girls were in Belgium last week."

    • The boss tells Macey he wants to see nobody for half an hour.

      Happened

      After Woodifield leaves, the boss orders, "I'll see nobody for half an hour, Macey," and adds, "Understand? Nobody at all."

    • The boss successfully weeps for his son after closing his office door.

      Didn't happen

      This is the story's central crisis — the boss "wanted, he intended, he had arranged to weep" but could not. No tears came.

    • The boss rescues the fly from the inkpot before dropping ink on it.

      Happened

      He initially rescues the fly with a pen and shakes it onto blotting paper — only afterward does he begin dropping ink on it.

    • The fly survives the boss's final drop of ink and flies away.

      Didn't happen

      The fly dies after the final blot. "The draggled fly lay in it and did not stir... The fly was dead."

    • The boss flings the dead fly into the waste-paper basket.

      Happened

      He lifts the corpse on the end of a paper-knife and flings it into the waste-paper basket.

    • The boss remembers his son clearly at the end of the story.

      Didn't happen

      The final line reveals he cannot remember what he was thinking about — his grief for his son has been completely displaced.

    • The boss's son had been learning the business for a year before the war.

      Happened

      The boss recalls that "the boy had been in the office learning the ropes for a year before the war" — they even commuted together each morning.

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