Theme of the story The Fly by Katherine Mansfield
Theme of the Story The Fly
No doubt, this is quite established fact that the story “The Fly” is about the conquest of time over grief. This is the first theme of the story.
To show that time conquers grief the writer presents two characters, Mr. Woodifield and his ex-boss. Both of them lost their only sons six years ago. It was a long period and it had healed up their grief.
First, the writer tells us about the state of grief of Mr. Woodifield. He talks about his son and his grave, but does not feel any pang of grief. This clearly shows that the time has made him forget his grief.
Then the writer talks about the state of grief of the boss. The Boss believed that time would not make any difference to his grief. Now his present state of grief is different. After the departure of old Woodifield, he sits in the chair. He wants to feel the same pang of grief that he used to feel.
He wants to feel the pang of grief. As a last try, he decides to get up and have a look at his son’s photograph. However, a fly in the inkpot attracts his attention and he forgets about his son and the grief in a moment. He starts dropping drops of ink on the fly to enjoy its struggle. After the death of the fly, he tries to remember what he was thinking, but cannot. This clearly shows that time has conquered his grief.
Note: Historically, the emerging paradigm of education in Western European society is largely based on the practical orientation of education, education as a response to public demand for the development of specific spheres and areas of the economy, for example, in the early stages – the development and strengthening of the position of the Christian religion. While the oriental approach presupposes a greater degree of relation to education as a self-sufficient value, education is a goal that a person can devote to a lifetime. Thus, on the one hand, training for the sake of obtaining a profession, on the other – for self-education, self-development. At the same time, in different historical periods of the development of society, the interpenetration of these paradigms is not excluded. The process is possible, because in itself education, as a learning system, has the functions of both gaining knowledge and learning to use them. Hence, in the modern system of Russian education, in addition to training a specialist, a higher educational institution must deal with the upbringing of a person, a citizen of his country. In a polyethnic country, this means educating the qualities responsible for tolerant behavior, which in turn is based on knowledge of the principles of the historical formation of ethnoses, knowledge of the general and special in their cultures.
