Appropriateness of the title "The Fly"

The title of Katherine Mansfield's short story "The Fly” is quite suggestive as it neither comes from the protagonist, nor from the situation, but from a little insect which occupies a considerable part of the narrative. The title clearly shows the importance of the fly episode in the story.

The narrative centres round the character of the Boss, who conversation with his friend Mr.Woodifield ,was reminded of his dead son, whose grave Mr.Woodifield's daughters had lately come across in Belgium. The reminder was a fresh injury on an old wound that caused the Boss's heart to bleed afresh. The whole past up the news of his only son’s death six years back came up to his memory to make him absolutely miserable.

At that moment, as if only to divert the Boss's mind, there was seen in his broad inkpot a fly trying desperately to get out of the ink. The Boss picked up that fly with his pen and put it on a piece of blotting paper. Slowly the fly recovered considerably and was preparing to fly off. But the Boss poured a big drop of ink with his pen on its recovering body. Though initially stunned by this new attack, it was able to recover from it. Now the Boss went on pouring drop of ink on it every time it seemed to recover. The third drop of ink was fatal to the fly and it stirred no more. It had died. The Boss threw the corpse of that little insect into the dustbin and started wondering what he had been thinking before.

The interest of the story is how the protagonist comes out his absolute wretched feelings with the help of the game with a fly. In the struggle of the little insect against the blots of ink the boss found something of man's struggle again destiny. The stamina of the fly moved him considerably and the more his game progressed, the more he tended to identify himself with the fly and shouting encouragement-"Never say die..." The acute absorption annihilated all other thoughts in him, even the memory of his son's death, at least temporarily, and helped him get over his miserable feelings.

The appropriateness of the title lies in its symbolic equation of the character of the protagonist with the tiny fly, suggesting the helplessness of the both in the face of a hosting fate

Comments

CHARACTER OF SUJATA.MOTHER OF 1084 BY MAHASWETA DEVI

As the title suggests, Mahasweta Devi's Mother of 1084 is the moving story of a mother who has to witness and identify the corpse number 1084 that of her son Brati, who has been murdered by the hooligans, actively supported by the police, because of his involvement the Naxalite movement. The play traces the development of the mother figure of Sujata from an apolitical stereotype into a politically aware entity, a woman who has become conscious of the life of significant action. The play reaches its culmination as Sujata finally bursts out in wrath against the cultured opportunism of her family, which again is a reflection of the society in total. Mother of 1084 begins with a phone call from Kantapukur police morgue asking Sujata to identify a corpse of number 1084- that of Brati, her son. Brati's involvement in the Naxalite movement is so deeply embarrassing to t...

Compare and contrast dickens and Thackeray:

Charles Dickens: one of the most prominent and influential novelists of the Victorian age, in fact the most popular of all English novelist so far. Some of his great novels are Pickwick Papers, Great Expectation and Bleak house in which his comic view of life, social criticism and power of storytelling are clearly reflected. Dickens seems to see things differently in an amusing and exaggerated way. As a novelist, Dickens is a social chronicler .he is found to have introduced social novels in a much bounder sense. His novels are full of pathos and there are many passages of the extravagant sentiments. His themes chiefly focus on mans thoughts, imaginations, affections and religious instincts. In spite of pain, dirt and sin with which his novels are full, they leave an impression and the reader of the firm optimism and an exaggerate temper of Dickens. All of his characters comes out of the pit of suffering and distress as better man, uncontaminated purer than before. Dic...

AZIZ-FIELDING RELATIONSHIP

A PASSAGE TO INDIA is built upon the relationship between Aziz and fielding is the most significant relationship established in the novel. In spite of so many barriers of race and characters, the two men succeed in creating a unique relationship that stands out as evidence off the power of goodwill and kindness. In their very first meeting when they are still strangers, their desire for genuine friendship brings them together. There is of course the contrast between fielding and Aziz, the easy going English man and the Muslim doctor. Dr. Aziz features as one of the central characters in Forster’s novel ‘A Passage to India’, who practices medicine at Chandrapore. He is a devout Muslim and happy with his job at the local hospital . on the other hand, Cyril Fielding, in E. M. Forster’s ‘A Passage to India’ is a simple yet extraordinary character. He is a significant deviation from the common Britishers in the ...

ENGLISH LITERATURE

Search This Blog