"The Fly"

Mansfield's short story "The Fly" is about a man who is referred to as "the boss" and the impact of his son's death on how it has affected him as a person. An old man by the name of Mr. Woodfield who works with "the boss" stops by on a Tuesday, which is noted because it is the only day he is allowed to go out in town since his wife and daughters try to keep him at home since he suffered a stroke. He goes to visit "the boss" and as they get to conversing, Mr. Woodfield tells him about how his daughters saw his son's grave the other day. This brings up old wounds in "the boss" as it has been 6 years since his son's death from fighting in the war, (WWI) perhaps. Not really knowing how to cope with remembering this memory, he has become a bitter, numb man and is unable to cry even though the thought of his son makes him want to. He had big dreams for his son one day, he was hoping his son would be able to take over the business for him. But since that dream was cut short, he was forced to move on and represses those memories he had of his son. After Mr. Woodfield changes the subject briefly, "the boss" says his farewells and ushers him out of his office. He starts to reminisce about his son and how he used to be before he went off to war and is flabbergasted that is has been 6 long years since he received the news of his death. All of a sudden he spots a fly, and begins dropping ink droplets on it. He does the four times and after each time encourages the little guy to make his way through the ink and get up again to try to survive. By the fourth and final droplet, the fly had sucumbed to death and the old man could not remember of what he was thinking of before his thoughts surrounded this fly.

Here is a lists of details from the story that I think reference to WWI:
- His son's grave was in Belgium, Germany which was a country that was involved in WWI
- When thinking about his son, he thinks of him being unharmed in his uniform
- The picture he had of his son was one in which his son had a cold, stern look in his face ( an expression he didn't have before the war)
- When receiving the news of his son's death, he recieved a telegram that read "we deeply regret to inform you..." ( that's how people found out about their loved one's death back then)