The Fly Short questions and answers

     Q. 1.  ‘His talk was over ……did not want to go’

     Who is the person referred? Why does he not want to go?

·        The person referred to here is old Woodifield, a character of Katherine Mansfield’s short story ‘The Fly’. After his retirement Woodifield is kept in a boxed up condition by his wife and daughters except on Tuesday. On that particular day he wants to derive as much pleasure as he can and he really does not want to go back to his prison like house. He is now in his former boss’s office chamber smoking a cigar and wants to convey a message which he has almost forgotten.

     Q. 2.  What did Woodifield do on Tuesday?

     —Woodifield is a frail old man who has retired from the boss’s office. Stroke has visited him several times and because of this he is cautiously kept up in a boxed up condition by his wife and daughters. On Tuesday he is  dressed and combed and allowed to cut back the city, a commercial part of London. His daughters and wife thought that  he made a nuisance of himself to his friends. However, Woodifield spends the day visiting his friends specially his former boss, sitting in comfortable rooms, smoking cigar and if chance permits drinking though forbidden.

     Q. 3.   We cling to our last pleasure …..last leaves’.

            Bring out the underlying metaphor of the line.

·        Old Woodifield is at his last pins. He realizes that death is knocking hard at the door. He, therefore, likes to suck pleasure as much as he can. He is allowed to enjoy freedom only Tuesday by his wife and daughters so with great delight he wishes to enjoy pleasure, however, brief it might have been. Katherine compares Woodifield’s preference to a tree which, it is thought, clings to its last leaves in the Autumn though it knows perfectly that the leaves will fall one day. It is universally true that we human being always casts a longing lingering look for that which we can not hold back.

     Q. 4.       How did the boss look like?

     — Katherine Mansfield presents boss as a strong, shout and rosy man, older than Woodifield but still going very healthy and still rolling in his office chair. He is energetic and he is able to steer his office smoothly. He is a source of inspiration for those who think themselves inactive due to old age. He is presented as a contrasted figure of old Woodifield. But under his strong vigorous figure there his a bleeding heart which is so fragile to receive any blow even a prick. He is strong in body but weak in will.

     Q. 5.       ‘He liked to have it admired…..old Woodifield’.

            Who liked what to be admired by whom and why?

     Ans. The boss liked his office room to be admired especially by old Woodifield, because it gives him a feeling of deep solid satisfaction to be planted there in the midst of it in the full view of that frail old figure in the muffler. It reveals one facet of the boss’s character. He desired his friend to feel humiliated from the standpoint of material gains.

     Q. 6.       Describe the office room of the boss.

     Ans. The boss furnishes his office room with expensive items. There is a big green leathered armchair to sit for, the floor is covered with new red carpet with a pattern of large white rings, a massive bookcase and a table with legs like twisted treacle. The decorated room is basically a contrast to the broken heart of the boss. He likes to conceal his bleeding heart under these glittering materials.

     Q. 7. ‘There was something I wanted to tell you’.

            Who is the speaker? What did he want to say?

     Ans. Old Woodifield is the speaker here.

 Woodifield has come to the boss’s office room to say something but he can not remember due to his infirmity. Basically Woodifield wants to report the boss about his daughters’ visit to Belgium to have a look to their brother’s grave and the grave of the boss’s son also. He likes to inform the boss about the hotel keepers who trade on our emotions and also of her daughter Gertrude who teaches the hotel keepers a lesson by taking away the pot of jam for which they charge ten francs.

     Q. 8. ‘That’s the medicine’ —Who is the speaker? What is ‘the medicine’?

     Ans. The boss is the speaker here.

 Old Woodifield has come to the boss’s office chamber. He wanted to inform the boss something but he could not remember. His hands began to tremble, and patches of red showed above his beard. The boss became sympathetic towards the old man who is on his last pins. He took a key off his watch-chain, unlocked a cup board below his desk and drew forth a dark squat bottle of wine. The boss describes the whisky a kind of medicine, a beautiful staff that would not hurt even a child. It will warm Woodifield and make him able to remember.

     Q. 9.       ‘I’ve got little drop……….do you good’

            Who is the speaker? What does the speaker mean to say?

     Ans. Like Q. 8.

     Q. 10. ‘The man from whom………..on the strict Q.T.’

            Who is the speaker? What is the meaning of Q.T.?

     Ans. The boss is the speaker here.

     Q.T. is the short form of the word ‘quiet’. On the strict Q.T. means in the strictest confidence, not to be repeated to anyone. The man from whom the boss has procured the bottle whisky informed him confidently that the wine has come from the cellars at Windsor castle. It means that the drink belongs to the royal storage.

     Q. 11. ‘He couldn’t have looked……….a rabbit’.

            Who looked surprised and why? What does the rabbit signify?

     Ans. Old Woodifield looked very much surprised when he saw the boss producing a bottle of whisky from a cupboard below his desk.

     A magician can easily surprise his spectators by producing a rabbit out of his empty hat. Woodifield feels more surprised at the sight of the whisky which the boss drew froth from a cupboard below his desk. Old Woodifield can not even believe his eyes when he sees it. It also suggests a kind of unnatural joy the boss got by treating his friend no better than a child titillated by a magician.

     Q. 12. ‘It’s sacrilege………stuff like this’

            Who said this and to whom? What is the meaning of ‘sacrilege’?

     Ans. The boss said this to his one time colleague old Woodifield.

     The word ‘sacrilege’ means disrespectful treatment of what is considered to be sacred. Generally whisky is tempered when water is added to it. Water helps to make the wine less strong. To boss as the wine has come from the cellars of Windsor castle; it is so rich, ancient and tasteful that any addition of water to it could not but spoil its quality.

     Q. 12. ‘But it warmed him…….he remembered’

            Who did remember what?

     Ans. See the answer of question No-8.

     Q. 13. ‘Only a quiver in his eyelids…….heard’

            —Explain.

     Ans. In course of the conversation Woodifield informed the boss about his daughters’ visit to Belgium where they had paid a visit to their brother’s grave as well as the boss’s son. The boss heard it but he made no verbal reply. Woodifield thought that perhaps the boss paid no attention to his information but the fact was otherwise. The reference of his son’s grave caused a great stir in him. The sore that he kept concealing got a prick and it started bleeding. Its stunning effect pained him beyond expression and this is clear from the quivering of his eyelids. The silence is more colloquial than words. It also suggests that while old Woodifield was able to get over the shock the boss could not.

     Q. 14. ‘The Girls are delighted……….place is kept.’

            —Whose girls are referred here? Which place is suggested and how is it kept?

     Ans. The girls of the old Woodifield are referred here.

     The place is the cemetery in Belgium where the graves of many soldiers who fell in the world war- I are kept.

     The graves are beautifully kept. The flowers grow on all the graves and miles of nice broad paths within the area. The whole place looks like as neat and clean as a garden.

     Q. 15. ‘Ten Francs! Robbery, I call it’ —Who is the speaker? What was called a robbery and why?

     Ans. Old Woodifield is the speaker here.

     The daughters of old Woodifield paid a visit to Belgium to have a visit to their brother’s grave. In one of the hotels in Belgium when Gertrude, one of Woodifield’s daughter took only a spoonful of jam from a jam-pot which was no bigger than a half-crown the hotel keeper charged her ten francs. The charging was too expensive for such a little amount of jam. To Woodifield it is nothing but a nasty trading on our feeling. The businessmen of Belgium know it very well that as the visitors come here due to sentimental reason they are ready to pay whatever they are to be charged without any bargain, without judging pros and cons. So Gertrude brought the pot away with her to teach them a proper lesson.

     Q. 16. ‘Gertrude brought……….them a lesson.’

            —Who is Gertrude? Why did she think of teaching them a lesson.

     Ans. See Answer of question No.-15.

     Q. 17. ‘It’s trading on our feelings’. Who is the speaker? What does the line signifiy?

     Ans. See answer of question No.-15.

     Q. 18. ‘He wanted, he intended……….to weep.’

            —Explain the line.

     Ans. Woodifield in course of his conversation unintentionally gave a tremendous blow to the boss by referring the grave of the boss’s son who had been snatched away some six years ago. It was a great shock to the boss. His old sore got pricked and he started bleeding. His old sorrow which was dormant so long revived again. The only thing which could make him relief is a violent sort of weeping so the boss in order to ease himself arranged to weep.

     Q. 19. “It was exactly as though the earth had opened…….standing down at him.”

            —What made the boss visualize this?

     Ans. It was a terrible shock to the boss when old Woodifield reported his daughters’ visit to Belgium where they had come across the grave of the boss’s son. This particular remark made the entire body of the boss shaking and he though not possible started visualizing that his son had been lying in his grave unchanged, unblemished in his uniform, asleep forever and Woodifield’s daughters were gazing at his boy with wide-open eyes as the earth had opened. This very improbable idea of the girls staring down at his boy wounded his soft feeling. It also indicates that slowly the boss is submerging in the unconsciousness and ultimate result of which would be the coming fly-episode.

     Q. 20. ‘For it was strange’ —What is strange and why?

     Ans. See the answer of question No.-19.

     Q. 21. ‘Time, he had declared………no difference.’

            —Who is the speaker? What did he declare? Did time make any difference?

     Ans. The boss is the speaker here. After the death of his only son in the battlefield the boss told everybody round him that other men perhaps might recover their loss and might forget the wounds of loss but not he. Time will not able to lessen his sorrow.

     After his son’s death six long years had passed away. Time had brought some changes in the boss. His sorrow had somewhat eased. The healing touch of time had already cured his sore. On that particular period the reference of his son’s grave pricked him. Now after six years he wanted to weep but to his utter surprise he could not. It appeared strange to him. He, therefore, arranged to weep for getting relief. It proves his declaration a failure.

     Q. 22. ‘He wanted………to weep’.

            —About whom is this said? —Explain.

     Ans. See answer of question No.-21.

     Q. 23. ‘And that promise……fulfilled’

            —What is the promise? How is it going so near to fulfill?

     Ans. The promise is the boss’s hope that his son will carry out his business where he would leave off.

     The boss had worked hard denied himself to establish his business for his son. His son had been in the office learning for a year before the war. He took the work marvelously. He was very popular among the staff. The boss felt proud of having such a son. His popularity did not spoil his qualities. He was able to maintain his bright natural self. Boss found that his hope was so near to be fulfilled as the boy was going very well with his works. But came the war which had snatched away such a promising boy. All the hope of the boss was nipped in the bud.

     Q. 24. ‘But all that was………it never had been’.

            —What was over and done with? How was that done?

     Ans. See answer of question No.-23.

     Q. 25. ‘He wasn’t feeling as he wanted to feel’.

            —Who is the person? Why does not he feel what he wants to feel?

     Ans. See answer of question No.-21.

     Q. 26. ‘The horrible danger was over’

            —Whose horrible danger is over and how?

     Ans. When the boss was lost in his thought suddenly he noticed that a fly had fallen in his big inkpot. The fly tried desperately to climb out but failed. Its struggling legs were asking for help. The boss took the pen and picked the fly out of the ink and shook it on to a piece of blotting paper. After a fraction of second it started cleaning itself. At first it cleaned one wing by passing a leg over and under the wing for a number of times and it cleaned the second wing in the same way. It finally succeeded in cleaning and thought that the horrible danger was over. The fly is now ready for life again.

     Q. 27. ‘But just then the boss had an idea’

            —When did the boss have an idea? What came out of his idea?

     Ans. The fly being saved from the inkpot was now ready for new life. Just then a peculiar idea came into the boss’s mind. In order to test the endurability and courage of the fly the boss let a drop of ink on the new cleaned body of the fly. The fly became absolutely cawed, stunned and afraid to move because of what would happen next. After a pause it started the immense task of cleaning itself once again. The boss felt a real admiration for the fly’s way of taking life so boldly.

     Q. 28. ‘The little beggar………afraid to move’

            —Why did the little beggar afraid to move?

     Ans. See the answer of question No.-27.

     Q. 29. ‘But such grinding feeling……..frightened’

            —Who felt wretched and why? Why did he feel positively frightened?

     Ans. The boss in the process of testing fly’s courage (giving repeatedly ink drops on the fly) killed it unintentionally. After the death of the fly the boss felt positively frightened. The boss is now haunted by the guilty conscience. He thinks himself responsible for the death of the fly. He like the fate brings the tragic end to the fly. He thought that in the same way his only son too faced the heavy odds before yielding to death in the war-front. This thought alarmed him profoundly and he felt frightened.

     Q. 30. ‘For the life……….he could not remember’.

            —Who could not remember what and why?

     Ans. The boss after killing the fly in a sportive way felt positively frightened and after that he wondered as he could not remember what he was thinking before. (He had arranged to weep for the sake of his dead son and to get some relief by shedding tears).

     The boss could not remember because of his guilty conscience and fear due to his killing of the fly.