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Katherine Mansfield, The Fly

Katherine Mansfield, The Fly

Read The Fly and check your comprehension by answering the following questions. Then “submit” your work.

1. Mr. Woodifield and the boss of his old firm

both drank whisky at work, but it cost only one man his job.

are both retired but like to visit the old office.

started working at about the same time.

lost their sons in the Great War.

2. The boss used to believe that

time could make no difference for his grief.

unlike Mr. Woodifield’s unfortunate boy, his son would still recover from his wounds.

time would relieve his grief.

his grief was greater than Mr. Woodifield’s.

3. The boss had worked to build up his business

merely to satisfy his own ego.

during the boom times created by wartime orders.

entirely for his boy, because the work held no other meaning for him.

so he could provide comfort and wealth for his family.

4. “He’s a plucky little devil, thought the boss,” refers to

Woodifield.

Macey.

the boss’s son.

the fly.

5. When the fly falls into the boss’s inkpot, he

rescues it because it seems doomed, like a soldier at the front.

tortures it and forgets his grief for his son.

believes the fly is symbolic of how he feels to still be working at his age.

does not notice because he is crying.