The symbol of the fly correlates to the war mentioned in the story “The Fly”. At the beginning of the story, the boss reveals his new office to an employee. However, he does not point out a picture of his son, who had passed away in the war: “he did not draw old Woodifield’s attention to the photograph over the table of a grave-looking boy in a uniform” (357). The author describes the son as “grave looking” in this quotation, which is ironic because the son is dead. The author also mentions that it is six years old, relating to the idea of being six feet under. Mansfield even uses the repetition of six later on to emphasize this point: “six years ago, six years” (360). The idea of the fly exposes the audience to the same death the son encountered. The boss drowns the fly in the ink on his desk, returning it to the ink after it tries to escape. The soldiers of the war were returned to the battlefield again and again after fighting, only to lose their lives. It was the generation above them, the boss’s generation that ultimately sent them to their death. They were unaware of the brutality they would face, just like the fly was unaware of the dangers of the ink. This story criticizes the ignorance of the boss’s generation for plunging their sons into the war without full knowledge of its consequences. “The horrible danger was over, it had escaped; it was ready for life again,” is a quotation that would describe the soldier’s point of view. The soldiers were not thinking they were going to war to die, they stepped into a unexpected fate. However, the fly could also symbolize the boss’s personal failure at succeeding to cope and move past his losses.
Similarly, the canary in Mansfield’s story “The Canary” is a metaphor for the failure and isolation of the protagonist, Missus. At the beginning of the story, the author uses repetition to expose the idea of the character’s feminism and isolation. She repeats “evening star” which is the planet Venus (370). Venus is also a symbol in itself because Venus is the goddess of femininity and love. When Missus states that she loved the evening star, but later forgot it, shows that she has given up hope on a relationship or love. However we can see the sadness around this subject by her statement, “something which is like longing, and yet is not like longing. Or regret—it is more like regret” (370). The character’s regret of not having a relationship, is highlighted through this. The Canary is her only love. The author hints at the explination for this. The canary is a metaphor for love and as the author describes Missus as “the scarecrow” (371). This explains that she scares away birds, or love. However, it is ironic because the literal connection between Missus and her canary is not that she scares it away, but rather draws it close, unlike men in her life.
Mansfield uses these two stories to contrast the happiness and sadness in the unfortunate situation of losing someone or something to death. As flies represent death more directly, the canary’s death also is symbolic for the death of the woman’s love and happiness. “The Fly” expresses death in the fact that the boss sent his son to die, and at the same time is dead in the fact that he is unable to move on. The limitations of the two main characters of the story are exposed to the audience through the author’s use of symbolism in the two short stories.
