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The effects of war are far-reaching.

“The Fly,” like many works from the Modernist movement, explores how the tragedy of a massive event like a global war can create lasting grief. The boss’s son was a soldier, and his death disrupted not only the life of one man but the entire course of his business and damaged his ability to interact with others. The war did not just take the life of a young man but also the boss’s purpose. In losing his son’s future, the boss also lost his own, and his business lost its heir. The boss’s traumatic loss is a personal one but his experience is representative of countless parents in the aftermath of World War I. The casualness with which Woodifield mentions his family’s visit to see Reggie’s grave illustrates not callousness but how vast the loss of life from the war was. The cemetery Woodfield describes is massive enough to be surrounded by tourist traps, and the fact that it caters to tourists emphasizes that people from many different countries are laid to rest there. The narrative never specifies Reggie and Woodifield’s relationship but it is clear that Woodifield, like the boss, lost his son to the war. The fly that the boss torments symbolizes the countless individuals whose lives were snuffed out due to the conflict, and the suffering it endures symbolizes the widespread suffering experienced by those impacted by the war.

Tragedy is often senseless.

The senselessness of the tragedy the boss has experienced with the death of his son is paralleled through his cruel and senseless torment of the fly. The fly, like the boss and his son, finds itself a victim of circumstances beyond its control. Just as the fly is killed by the ink, the boss’s son is killed because of geopolitical maneuverings far removed from his daily life. Similarly, the boss’s life is ruined by the death of his son and he gains nothing from the hardship. Through his experiment with the fly, the boss attempts to find meaning in the death of his son but is unable to do so because there isn’t any. The cold and upsetting reality is that the boss’s intelligent and likeable son died like so many other soldiers, leaving grief and pain in his absence when there should have been hope and promise. For any parent who has lost a child, the unfairness of this tragedy is particularly harrowing. As the boss torments the fly with endless drops of ink, he metaphorically recreates the scene of his own suffering. The boss’s commands to the fly to work harder to overcome the ink drops are disconcerting because it is clear to the reader that the fly is enduring too much pain to survive. The scene creates a dramatic irony because the boss is unable to accept that the fly will most certainly succumb to the torture. Ultimately, the suffering the fly endures at the boss’s hands is just as senseless as the tragic death of the boss’s son.

There is more to a fulfilling life than success and material wealth.

The boss is successful by traditional standards, but he is not fulfilled. Though Mr. Woodifield observes the boss’s fancy office and expensive whiskey with envy, he is the happier of the pair. He can enjoy the pleasures left to him in life, and he can speak cheerfully and freely about his family. Though Mr. Woodifield feels limited by the restrictions placed on him by his wife and daughters, he speaks of them fondly and it is clear they care for him deeply. Woodifield’s family gives him a sense of purpose and hope for the future. On the other hand, the boss is admired and wealthy, but he thinks only of the past, unable to move on. The only other person we see him interact with is his employee, who is likened more to a pet than an acquaintance. Mr. Woodifield is defined by his relationships, while the boss is defined by his lack of them, however unfairly they were taken from him. 

The boss is tormented by his grief, unable to overcome the loss of his son with traditional measures of success. In fact, he defined his success by what he could do for his child, who is now gone. With that loss, the boss is left with what looks like a very accomplished life that even he recognizes as pointless. Success in society does not give meaning to the boss’s life the same way the promise and presence of his son did.

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