Hello, my name is Ms. Grant.

I'm so glad you've decided to learn with me.

Today, we're in the world at war, short stories unit.

Today, we're going to be looking at Katherine Mansfield's "The Fly," and we're gonna debate some interpretations of this short story.

So there are some central arguments about what the short story's about, what Mansfield is trying to do, what her intentions are.

We're gonna consider what those arguments are, which we are most convinced by.

I cannot wait to hear all of your fantastic ideas and your excellent debating skills.

I'm gonna be your support and guide as we work through today's lesson together.

Let's get started.

So by the end of today's lesson, you're going to present a convincing argument about how to interpret Katherine Mansfield's "The Fly." Now, it's an incredibly rich short story.

It's really open to interpretation, so I'm looking forward to hearing different arguments coming forth and really well-selected evidence to prove your particular interpretation.

There are some key words which are gonna help us achieve our objective today, and they're gonna be referenced throughout today's lesson.

They are on the board now, if you want to pause the video so you can note down their definitions or read through them, just spend a bit more time with these keywords, please do so.

I'd like to draw your attention to two of these words.

The first one is vacuous, that's how you pronounce that word, the first keyword on the board, vacuous.

And it means empty, having no thought or intelligence.

And we're gonna look at some of the characters today, which some people argue, are presented as vacuous.

And the second word is complacent, which means smug, self-satisfied, uncritical of yourself.

And again, we're gonna look at characters in "The Fly," that are potentially presented as complacent or could be interpreted as complacent.

If you'd like to spend some more time with these keywords then pause the video now.

Our Lesson Outline for today, we're gonna start off by looking at the presentation of the older generation.

Now, grandparents, parents, children, they are all of different generations, generation as one of our key words for today.

So we're looking at people who are at different phases of their lives, and we're gonna look at the presentation of the older generation.

Mr. Woodifield, and the boss are examples of the older generation.

The younger generation, both of their sons, have passed away in World War I.

And we're gonna consider well, why did Mansfield focus on the older generation and how might she be presenting them? And then in the second learning cycle, we're going to flex our debating skills, so we are gonna debate some interpretations of "The Fly." Let's start off with the presentation of the older generation.

So Katherine Mansfield wrote "The Fly" in 1922, and this short story was written four years after World War I ended, and seven years after the death of her beloved brother, he died in 1915.

I'd like you to discuss how might Mansfield's experiences have motivated her to write "The Fly?" And referencing "The Fly," what can you infer about Mansfield's feelings towards these experiences? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

A nice discussion there, exploring potentially, Mansfield's motivations for writing "The Fly," and certainly, the grief for her brother's death seems to have impacted her.

We've got two characters in this story who are presented as mourning the loss of their sons.

They've got different ways in which they express their grief.

And certainly, the despair that the boss feels when he contemplates the loss of his son, is perhaps reflective of some of the despair that Mansfield herself, felt when she heard of her brother's death.

And it's not just this personal experience of loss that might have motivated Mansfield, but she experienced, of course, World War I, along with millions of other people, it was a worldwide conflict.

And perhaps "The Fly," is exploring some universal expressions of grief or loss.

So grief and loss felt by a whole, a number of people, a number of nations.

And so this is part of a body of literature about life after World War I.

Now, many people argue that "The Fly," is indeed, motivated by Mansfield's grief for her brother and universal feelings of suffering about World War I, just like you discussed.

However, other has argued that "The Fly" serves as a criticism of the older generation.

So an expression of judgement and expression of disapproval about the older generation, of which Mr. Woodifield and the boss are examples.

They argue that Mansfield presents the older generation as complacent, so smug or self-satisfied.

Infantile, childish, materialistic, so loving their possessions.

Cruel, so mean.

Vacuous, empty.

And I'd like you to discuss, what are your initial thoughts about this interpretation? So pause the video, consider our keywords, consider "The Fly," itself.

What are your initial thoughts about this interpretation, this argument about "The Fly?" Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, a really lively discussion there.

I can see that our debate, in learning cycle two, is going to be incredibly powerful.

So some people are saying, "yeah, I can absolutely see this, particularly in that opening.

The first paragraph we see Mr. Woodifield and the boss, both, in this office, it's described as snug.

We see Mr. Woodifield really enjoying all the possessions that the boss has, and the boss enjoying showing them off." So that idea of complacency, that idea of materialism, that idea of vacuity, of being empty is definitely presented there.

Others saying, "Yeah, I can see some examples of this presentation, but the raw expression of the boss's grief, the depths of his despair actually make me think that the presentation is quite sympathetic.

Yes, there's a man here being presented, perhaps he is flawed, but ultimately, he has lost his son.

And that is a true expression of grief, and that's what Mansfield is interested in exploring." So you don't absolutely have to agree with this interpretation.

As I say, the story is so rich, and one of the reasons it's so rich and why people return to it, because it is so open to interpretation.

Now, it's not uncommon for different generations to criticise each other so you might, and the most obvious example is children criticising their parents, parents criticising their children.

And I'd like you to discuss why do you think different generations criticise each other? And what examples have you seen in other things you have seen or read? Pause the video and discuss these questions now.

Welcome back, a fantastic discussion there, particularly for that first bullet point, why do different generations criticise each other? Lots of people saying, well, that the younger generation often feel that the older generation are stuck in their ways.

Are traditional, are not allowing them to live their lives in the way that they wish to live them.

They kind of want to escape from the clutches of the older generation, so maybe the mistakes that they feel, the older generation have made.

And different generations are experiencing a completely different world sometimes.

The world can move on, the technology can move on, ideas can move on, feelings can move on.

And so that is why maybe, people from different generations, they're experiencing the world in a slightly different way and that is why they're critical of each other.

I've got lots and lots of things to add to my reading list.

Lots of people reading things where you can see this kind of generational conflict.

And some people are saying, well, Shakespeare actually, seems really, really interested in exploring this idea.

And lots of the Shakespeare plays that I have read in school or seen in my own time, seem to explore generational conflict.

So fathers and daughters having conflict, for example, in "Romeo and Juliet," or sometimes, conflict between mothers and daughters in different Shakespeare plays.

So we do have this idea, this generational conflict is not just explored in "The Fly," but actually, across so many, many different texts.

Now, whilst it's not uncommon for different generations to criticise each other, many argue that Mansfield was particularly angry at the older generation for their part in World War I.

They believe the source of this anger is the idea, much debated then and now, that the older generation unthinkingly, led the younger generation into a brutal war.

So this idea is much debated, but it is one school of thought that the idea, the older generation led the younger generation into a brutal war and the older generation, of course, did not fight in World War I, the younger generation fought in World War I.

Now, Mansfield is not the only writer at this time period, to use her work to criticise the older generation.

Perhaps the most famous example is the poet, Wilfred Owen.

He was born in 1893, He died in 1918.

He died as a British soldier in the trenches.

And many of you might have read some of his poetry and seen some of his criticism of the older generation.

Now, Owen is mainly remembered of his poetry capturing the brutal realities of trench warfare.

And his poems are critical of war, critical of those who suggest war is noble, and critical of those he believed, led Britain into war.

So whilst you might say, well, "The Fly," is ambiguous, perhaps we can't see the criticism, the judgement of the older generation, perhaps that's open to debate.

With Wilfred Owen, it is much more explicit.

He's critical of war, he thinks it's terrible.

He's critical of those who suggest war is noble.

And he's definitely critical of those he believed, led Britain into war.

So here are some lines from a range of Owen's poems, which capture some of his criticisms. So in "Mental Cases," a poem about soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder, he calls war "human squander," which means waste.

In "Anthem for Doomed Youth," he speaks of soldiers who die "like cattle." In "Dulce et Decorum Est," a poem about a gas attack, he says the idea that it's noble to die if your country's a "lie," after describing a gas attack.

And Owen felt that patriotic ideas about the glory of war were created and maintained by the older generation, who would never experience trench warfare first-hand.

So there's some really powerful criticisms here, in a range of Wilfred Owen poems. You might have read some other poems as well, where you see some of this criticism coming through.

Now, I'd like you to discuss, I've highlighted some particular moments in these poems that we've just looked at, particular ideas from Wilfred Owen, and I'd like you to discuss how does Mansfield explore these ideas in "The Fly?" So how does she explore the idea of human squander? How does she explore the idea of soldiers dying like cattle? How does she explore the idea that it's a lie, that to die if your country is a noble idea? And how does she explore the patriotism, which Owen is very, very critical of? Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Welcome back, a really, really nice discussion there.

Quite hard to hold all those poems in your head and the idea of "The Fly," and the ideas of writers' intentions.

But you've done that really well, I'm gonna pick out some of the ideas that I heard, going around.

So these first two ideas from Wilfred Owen, "human squander" and soldiers who die "like cattle." Perhaps Mansfield is picking that up in her short story by using the symbol of the fly.

It could be interpreted as a symbol of the son, whose life has been squandered, that is one interpretation to war.

The fact that the fly dies at the end of the story, perhaps symbolic of the death of the boss's son.

And then this idea that it's noble to die for your country, Owen thinks this is a lie.

He directly, explicitly calls it a "lie," in "Dulce et Decorum Est," a poem about a gas attack.

And some people saying, well, potentially, Mansfield is looking at this idea by presenting the older generation in such a terrible way.

By presenting them as people who are complacent, who are smug, who are self-satisfied, who are empty.

The idea that you fought for your country, and these are the people that your country have produced, that could certainly lend or be interpreted as the idea that it is not noble to die for your country.

Because here's a presentation of the country, and it's not a positive one.

So certainly, we can see that there is some weight to this argument, that "The Fly," is a criticism of the older generation.

It's less explicit than Wilfred Owen's poetry, but it could still be there.

Now, check for understanding before we start to think about the presentation of the older generation in an independent task.

So here's the first sentence of "The Fly," and I'd like you to reread it and then answer the question, what could most accurately describe the presentation of the older generation in this opening sentence? So pause the video, reread that first line, and then select, is it A, B or C? This is going to test your knowledge of "The Fly," and also of our key words.

Pause the video and complete the check now.

Well done, if you selected B, infantile.

So we can see that Mr. Woodifield is the first character presented and he's described, sitting in an armchair, and he peers out of it as a baby peers out of his pram.

And infantile means, presented as childish, and certainly, Mansfield here, is presenting Mr. Woodifield as quite infantile because she's comparing him to a baby.

So I would like you to reread "The Fly." Always good to return to a text and get an even richer interpretation of it.

And I'd like you to find quotations which could prove each of these ideas about the way the older generation is presented.

So we've got this idea that they're presented as complacent, infantile, materialistic, cruel and vacuous.

Pause the video and complete this task now.

Welcome back, lovely to see people re reading "The Fly," and some people saying, "yeah, I'm really interested in this interpretation I can really see through the quotations that I've selected.

That actually, this is quite a powerful argument." and others saying, "I can see why people could interpret the story in this way, but I'm still not convinced that this is the main presentation that Mansfield wants to present." Let's do some feedback.

We are going to look at Andeep's table.

He has created a table here, and he's got quotations for just the first three ideas.

And I'd like you to discuss, do Andeep's first three quotations prove each point? And what quotations could you share so that he could complete his table? So you can see that for complacent, he's got the boss is "proud of his room; he liked to have it admired." Infantile, he's got Woodifield described "as a baby peers out of its pram." And materialistic, "The girls were in Belgium last week having a look." So the first question is, do Andeep's first three quotations prove each point? And the second is, what quotations could you share so that Andeep can complete his table? Pause the video and complete the discussion task now.

Welcome back, well done for helping Andeep complete that table and just having a little check that each of his quotations match the point.

You're certainly right, that complacent, so the idea that the boss is self-satisfied, is definitely proved by this quotation, he's "proud of his room; he liked to have it admired." And certainly, infantile, this was from our check.

So the idea that Woodifield is compared to a baby peering out of its pram.

But well done, if you identified that actually, this quotation, "The girls were in Belgium last week having a look," does not prove that the older generation are materialistic.

That the older generation are presented as materialistic in their love of possessions.

And so a better quotation would be "new carpet," "new furniture," "electric heating!" Or another quotation which shows that the possessions that they are looking at, that they're holding, that they really, really like.

So some people I know, looked at the whiskey, the fact that Woodifield and the boss both, seem to really admire or enjoy having the whiskey, a particularly fine example of whiskey.

For our quotations, cruel, and vacuous, we have, "he dipped the pen deep into the ink pot," in terms of his cruelty.

So one person selecting this quotation saying, "Well, this is just before he puts the ink on the fly," so that definitely exhibits his cruelty.

There might have been other quotations you could have selected.

And finally, vacuous, remember, meaning empty.

"D'you know what the hotel made the girls pay for, jam?" This is a quotation that I really liked.

So it was good to help Andeep out with his table, with this quotation, because Mr. Woodifield, at this point of course, is referencing the fact that his wife and children, his daughters, went to see his son's grave in Belgium.

And rather than focusing on his son, he actually makes a joke about the expensive jam that his family ate.

So rather than focusing on this mass graveyard and the kind idea of commemorating those who passed away in the war, he's actually focusing on something else, which perhaps, portrays that he is shallow.

Again, this is one interpretation of the presentation of the older generation in "The Fly," one you might be convinced by or one that you might want to argue against.

So we are now, going to turn our attention to debating interpretations of "The Fly." We've considered that there are a range of ways to interpret "The Fly," and expression of grief or perhaps, more critical of the older generation.

You are now, going to put forward what you think is the most convincing idea.

So Lucas states his interpretation of "The Fly." He says, "I believe we are to feel sympathetic toward the boss and Mr. Woodifield.

They're totally unprepared to deal with their loss, hence their poor physical and emotional health." So a powerful argument, and one which definitely does stand up to the reading of the text.

But Andeep disagrees with Lucas's interpretation.

And I'd like you to discuss what might Andeep's argument be? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

Really nice to see people already flexing their debating skills, and absolutely, people saying, "well, in contrast to Lucas, maybe Andeep is saying that it's a very unsympathetic portrayal or presentation of the older generation." And indeed, Andeep wrote, "Mansfield wants us to criticise the older generation's vacuity and complacency." So he's describing the older generation there, as empty and self-satisfied and smug.

So using those key words in order to help him create his argument.

Now, I'd like you to just discuss who do you agree with more, and why? So this is gonna set you up for the debate that we are gonna complete, later in this lesson.

Who do you agree with more, and why? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, we've got a sort of split in the room, about 50-50, some people saying, "yep, I'm really convinced by the idea of the fact that we're meant to feel sympathetic towards these two people." They have lost their sons, that is an absolute terrible thing to have had to endure.

They've had to endure the war itself and now, they're looking with despair into the future.

Maybe Mr. Woodifield is presented as infantile at points, but maybe that's just his reaction to the loss of his son.

And indeed, the boss's cruelty could also be attributed to this terrible shock that he has had.

But others saying "no, Andeep is absolutely right.

Looking at this text, we see an older generation who we cannot admire, and absolutely, I think, we are meant to be critical of them." So I'd now, like you to discuss how do you interpret "The Fly?" We've seen Andeep and Lucas present their arguments very carefully, and I'd now, like you to use these sentence starters on the board to discuss how would you interpret "The Fly?" I believe we are meant to feel, how are we meant to feel? And Mansfield wants us to? Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Welcome back, this is why I absolutely love this short story.

There were just so many different ideas there, about how we are meant to feel when we are reading this story, what we are meant to be focusing on, how we are meant to interpret Mansfield's intentions.

And I think this story, which obviously, was inspired by World War I, was inspired by feelings of grief for her brother.

And what she manages to do is step quite far back from it so we don't get her personal interpretation, and instead, we are allowed to explore and examine this story in the way that we might wish.

So Andeep and Lucas decide to debate their interpretations.

They came up with their argument, just like you have done, and now, they've decided to debate their interpretations.

Now, sometimes, it can be difficult to know how to respond to another speaker or develop the points being made.

So you might come up with your interpretation and think, well, I don't know what to do from here.

Well, a useful thing to do is using A, B, C, and this means you choose from the following.

You might agree with their comment, with the person you're debating with.

You might build on their comment or you might challenge their comment, A, B, or C.

And these phrases can help.

To agree with their comment, you might say I agree because, or I share this interpretation because.

To build on their comment, you might say, expanding on this, I would add that, or another aspect to consider would be.

And if you want to challenge their comment, you would say, I see it differently because it's worth questioning whether.

So A, B, C can help you when you are responding to an interpretation or a statement that another person has made.

Now, check for understanding before we flex our own debating skills.

Here, we've got three comments from pupils who have been debating their interpretation of "The Fly." I'd like you to label the comments, do they agree, build or challenge? So the first one is, "Expanding on this, Mansfield describes the boss as a 'broken man,' and that his life is in 'ruins.

'" The second one is, "I share this interpretation because the title suggests the boss's surprising focus on a fly, not his son." And the third one reads, "It's worth questioning if Mansfield's use of Mr. Woodifield as a character foil makes us see the boss as more vulnerable." Pause the video and label each of these comments, do they agree, build or challenge? Pause the video and complete the check now.

Welcome back, showing off your fantastic understanding of this idea of A, B, C.

So the first one, "Expanding on this," this is building.

So if you want to build on someone's comment, you might say, "Expanding on this, Mansfield describes the boss as 'broken.

'" So this person using some reference to the text to build on a previous comment.

"I share this interpretation because," that is agree.

So someone might say to you in an interpretation that you agree with, and you can say, "I share this interpretation," but crucially using that word, "because," so you can say why you share this interpretation.

And finally, "It's worth questioning if," and this is a challenge, so you should question if "Mansfield's use of Mr. Woodifield as a character foil makes us see the boss as more vulnerable." So you would challenge someone if they give an interpretation of "The Fly," that you think, I actually, do not agree with that interpretation.

So it is worth questioning if.

It's also really, really nice to see the close reference to the text that each of these statements gave, and sometimes, using this example of methods that Mansfield has used.

So in that final one, "Mansfield's use of Mr. Woodifield as a character foil." So really, making sure that your debate, your statement is really powerful by constantly referring back to Mansfield's methods, "The Fly," itself.

So we're now gonna do our practise task, we're gonna move into our debate.

The first thing you're gonna do is you're gonna select either Lucas or Andeep's argument.

And it doesn't matter which one, it doesn't matter if you agree with it or whether you disagree with it.

You're just gonna move to the one that you think, yeah, I want to focus on this particular argument.

And then the second thing you're gonna do is you're gonna respond to that argument, using A, B, C to structure your debate.

So you might select Lucas's argument, you think I actually agree with this argument and I'm going to use A, and B, in order to show how I agree with this argument.

Or you might select Andeep's argument and say, I actually want to challenge this and I'm gonna use these sentence starters focusing on the idea of challenge, in order to debate with Andeep.

So pause the video and work through these two steps so that you can have a debate about your interpretation of "The Fly." Pause the video and complete the debate now.

Welcome back.

That was fantastic to listen to lots of different interpretations of "The Fly." What I particularly liked is the use of A, B, C, but actually, the close reference to the text, so that if you agreed, if you built or if you challenged, your statement was really grounded in textual evidence or ideas about Mansfield herself, so that your statement really, really stood up to scrutiny.

Well done.

Now, let's have a look at another people who conducted this debate.

Here's an example of the type of discussion that Izzy had.

So she said, "I share Andeep's interpretation because Mansfield initially, presents Mr. Woodifield as both, materialistic and infantile," so childish.

"For example, he admires the boss's office and is described as a 'baby.

' This is not a sympathetic presentation.

Expanding on this, I would add that although the boss clearly grieves for his son, his grief doesn't extend to visiting the grave site." Now, I'd like you to discuss, what is powerful about her argument, about Izzy's argument? And the second thing is, do you agree with her interpretation? So pause the video and complete these two discussion tasks now.

Welcome back, really nice to see people able to praise another people's work and see what's really powerful about it.

And then we'll look at this idea, did people agree with her interpretation or not? There was a bit of a split in the room.

So what is powerful about her argument? Well, she's got those key phrases to structure her argument, "I share Andeep's interpretation," Andeep was saying that Mansfield is very critical of the older generation.

And she builds on Andeep's interpretation saying, "Expanding on this, I would add to that." But we also have really close reference to the text.

So Izzy has selected this moment where Woodifield "is described as a 'baby,'" and his admiration for the boss's office.

She's also picked up on the point that the boss has not actually visited his son.

Now, do you agree with this interpretation? Lots of people saying, "Yes, absolutely.

The older generation are vacuous, they're complacent, they're infantile.

Mansfield, like Owen, is being very critical of the older generation." Another saying, "Perhaps the boss didn't visit his son's grave because it is too painful.

And actually, this builds upon the idea that the boss is struggling with his grief and loss." So a really nice interpretation of "The Fly," from Izzy.

But it is possible to combat that if your interpretation differs.

In summary, you could argue that Mansfield is critical of the older generation in "The Fly." At points, Mansfield seems to present the older generation as complacent, infantile, and vacuous.

These criticisms could stem from the idea that the older generation were not impacted by war as deeply as those younger than them.

However, there is no one correct interpretation of "The Fly." It has been such a pleasure to hear you debate your interpretation of "The Fly," and I look forward to seeing you next time.