Character analysis
The author in the story at first talks about two characters, Mr. Woodfield and his employer, who is referred to as the Boss. The first character had stepped down from employment due to a medical condition as he suffered from a stroke. The writer brings up the notion of the Boss gloating of his position and consistently taking pride in being complimented upon his accomplishments. He insistently talks about the changes and refurbishments that he has undertaken to bring into perfection the current state of his office. The Boss is portrayed as being of older age as compared to Mr. Woodfield, and bragging to him about all his attainments is said to solicit a sense of satisfaction that warms him up. However, amidst all his boasting, he waivers from talking about the snapshot of his passed on son.
The author paints Mr. Woodfield as a retired employee. He retreated from work but has not since then been content with his lifestyle. He is restrained from leaving his house by his family every single day apart from on Tuesdays on which he is dressed up and allowed to roam the city for the day. He, however, longs for his olden days before the stroke and spends the day reliving his pleasures.
The metaphorical mention of “the fly” is used to symbolize the ongoing struggles of humankind with all the problems that no matter how much we seem to face them, they, in turn, double back and return with a more substantial implementation on our lives. The fly in this scenario falls into a bowl of ink and is not able to get out without the help of the Boss, who scoops it out with a pen and places it on a blotting paper. The fly immediately starts cleaning off the ink from its wings to fly away. Upon completion, the Boss splats another ink droplet onto the insect prompting it to start the scouring process once again but more feebly as compared to the first instance. The third time that the ink drop is, however, dropped; the fly does not move but instead lies in the pool of ink unable to stir. The little bug portrayed a display of courage as it struggled consistently to cleanse the ink from its body to enable it to fly. This figure of speech has been used to display two incidents in the story.
The first comparison is with the Boss’s life, where he seems to face the pain of losing his son. The loss of his kid can be compared to the fly falling into the ink bowl. He struggles with the pain without success for an extended period, with time being the only healer. Every time that his ally talks about the children visiting the boy’s grave to pay their respects, it opens up his heart to a jolt of pain, reminding him of his loss. This can be compared to him dropping ink on the fly upon it cleansing itself off. Every time the pain comes back, it seems more cumbersome than before, just like it was harder for the insect to shed off the ink after the first incident. With time, the pain subsided and died just like it happened to the fly.
The second similarity is about Mr. Woodfield. He seems to have fallen into alcoholism, which prompted the stroke leading to retirement. Every Tuesday, upon leaving home, he tends to relive his addiction. He complains to the Boss that his family does not allow him to drink whiskey at home before gulping the glass handed to him. The story of the fly can be compared to his in that with the continuous drop of ink on the fly, death was imminent, just like the stroke was forthcoming to Mr. Woodfield. The attempts of the fly consistently rubbing off the ink from its body even after being doused again and again can also show the unfailing and courageous efforts of this character attempting to relive his glory days even after the stroke.
In this article, the Boss seems to have undeniably gotten over the pain of his dead son. This brings out the idea that with due time, the hearts stops aching and grieving the loss of a loved one. This is contrary to what the Boss believed. He adamantly insisted that no matter how long it took, the death of his beloved son would never be okay to him, and he would not stop lamenting. This, however, does not happen as per his expectations as he cannot bring himself to mourn when Mr. Woodfield mentioned his girls visiting his son’s grave.