Hello, my name is Ms. Grant.

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

We are in the World at War: Short Stories unit.

Today we're going to read a fantastic short story by a writer called Katherine Mansfield.

The short story is called "The Fly," and she wrote it in the early 1920s following World War One.

I cannot wait to read through this story with you and hear all of your fantastic ideas.

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 be able to explain what happens in Katherine Mansfield "The Fly," including exploring some of its major themes.

So we're gonna read the whole of the short story.

Short stories are often designed to be read in one sitting, and then we are gonna consider what some of its major themes are, what are some of the big ideas that Mansfield wants to explore.

And I am really excited both to read "The Fly," because I love the short story.

I like to reread it as often as I can.

I'm always seeing new things in it.

But also to hear your ideas about what you think Mansfield is exploring, because "The Fly" is quite ambiguous in lots of ways.

And whenever I read it with students, I always hear new interpretations that are really, really exciting.

Now, today, there are gonna be some keywords which are gonna help us achieve our objectives.

There are five of these keywords.

Some of them you might have come across before, but I'm gonna draw out two that you might not have.

So modernism, the first key word, which is a literary movement in which writers rejected traditional ideas about what poetry and other forms of literature should look like, and "The Fly" is an example of a modernist short story.

And Katherine Mansfield was very important to the modernist movement.

So we're gonna explore this in a little bit more depth.

We're gonna see how "The Fly" rejected some traditional ideas about what literature should look like.

So this is a key term we're gonna come back to in today's lesson.

And then I'd like to pick out the last word as well, because it's quite hard to pronounce, nihilism.

I'm gonna say it again, nihilism.

And it's the idea that life is meaningless, and one of the characters in "The Fly" feels nihilistic at one point, so he feels that life is meaningless.

The rest of the key words we're gonna reference throughout today's lesson.

They're gonna help us achieve our objective.

But if you'd like to pause the video and spend a bit more time with them or note them down, then you can do so now.

So our lesson outline for today.

In learning cycle one, we're gonna read "The Fly." I can't wait to read "The Fly." As I've said, it's a fantastic short story.

Really pleased that we'll be able to read the whole of it in today's lesson in one sitting.

And then in the second learning cycle, we've got "The Fly," a thematic exploration.

So we're gonna start to consider what are some of the big ideas that Mansfield is exploring.

So let's start off by reading "The Fly." So I'd like you to consider the opening of the short story that we're going to read today.

I'm gonna give you the first paragraph.

It says, "'Y'are very snug in here,' piped old Mr. Woodifield, as he peered out of the great, green leather armchair by his friend the boss's desk as a baby peers out of its pram.

His talk was over; it was time him to be off.

But he did not want to go.

Since he had retired, since his stroke, the wife and the girls kept him boxed up in the house every day of the week, except Tuesday.

On Tuesday, he was dressed up and brushed and allowed to cut back to the city for the day.

Though what he did there, the wife and girls couldn't imagine.

Made a nuisance of himself to his friends, they supposed.

Well, perhaps so.

All the same, we cling to our last pleasures as the tree clings to its last leaves.

So there sat old Woodifield, smoking a cigar and staring almost greedily at the boss, who rolled in his office chair, stout, rosy, five years older than he, and still going strong, still at the helm.

It did one good to see him." So there's our opening paragraph.

We've got our two essential characters established, Mr. Woodifield and the boss.

Now I'd like you to discuss, what can you infer about the two main characters? No wrong answers here.

We've just got the opening paragraph.

So have a look at that opening paragraph again.

What are your best guesses about what we can infer about these two main characters? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

A really lively discussion there about these two characters.

I'm gonna start off with some of the ideas that I heard about Mr. Woodifield.

So lots of people notice Woodifield's fragility, that this seems to be really emphasised by Mansfield through her description of him as old, through her reference to a major medical event, his stroke.

And also to that similarly, which lots of people noted, he's likened to a baby, also quite fragile, someone who needs to be looked after.

We can see that looking after with his wife and daughters.

Some people said it seems a bit like maybe he resents that because of these words "boxed up" and he's not allowed out, except Tuesdays.

So maybe he does feel a little bit resentful of that, and that's certainly emphasised with his envy of the boss.

So he looks at the boss, he seems to be very robust, in good health in comparison to Mr. Woodifield, even though he's a bit older than Mr. Woodifield, and Mr. Woodifield can see that the boss is still leading the company where he used to work, and maybe there's a little bit of envy there.

So we've got two characters, lots of things draw them together, their age, where they work, their careers.

But actually we've got a contrast here in terms of their physical health certainly and the trajectory of their lives now, where Mr. Woodifield is retired and the boss is still working.

Really, really nice discussion about this opening paragraph.

So we're gonna learn a little bit more about Katherine Mansfield herself before we return back to "The Fly" and read the rest of the short story.

So "The Fly," it was published in 1922, and it's a short story by Katherine Mansfield.

And Mansfield, she was born in 1888, she died in 1923, and she was a New Zealand writer and critic.

Now, Mansfield was part of the modernist movement, so here's one of our key terms for today.

And a reminder this means she rejected traditional ideas about what literature should look like.

Instead, she was experimental, so she tried new things.

Now "The Fly" is a very good example of this experimentation and rejection.

In this short story, she explores the depths of human emotion and experience, but in a non-traditional way.

And once we've read the short story, you're gonna start to think, well, what are these non-traditional ways? How is she exploring the depths of human emotions? What emotions is she exploring? And how has she done this in a slightly innovative new way that I haven't seen before? Now in "The Fly," we see two men, both of whom have lost their sons in World War I.

Now, this story, which explores grief and loss, was perhaps motivated by Mansfield's own experience of loss during World War I.

Mansfield's only brother to whom she was very close was killed in 1915, so she definitely grieved for her brother.

He was very beloved by her, and he died in an accident when he was training as part of the armed forces.

Now I'd like you to reconsider the opening of "The Fly." Here's that paragraph that we read earlier in the learning cycle.

Knowing some context, knowing some context about Katherine Mansfield, what else can you infer from this opening paragraph? Are there things that you could add, additional things that you might see? I would really encourage you to reread the paragraph again.

It is incredibly rich.

Mansfield has a very light touch in her writing, often using understatement, but in that we can really read depth and depth.

So pause the video and knowing some context about Mansfield herself, is there anything else you can infer from this opening paragraph? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, a really nice discussion there.

Bit tentative in terms of, well, what else could we infer? We've only got this first paragraph.

But some really, really nice ideas.

I'm gonna focus on Mr. Woodifield first again.

So people suggesting that maybe this fragility, he's described as old, he's described as having this major medical event, the stroke, maybe that was brought on by his grief and loss.

So maybe he is really intensely feeling the loss of his son.

We know that both of these characters, the boss and Mr. Woodifield lost sons in the war, and maybe we're seeing the effect of that in terms of Mr. Woodifield's health.

Another saying, well, it's interesting, you know, I've read a lot of war literature, and there have been lots of explorations of grief and loss.

But this is coming at a slightly different angle because we have two characters who are in an office.

We're not in the trenches, for example.

And the opening is that the office is very snug.

We're in this comfortable position, we've got this powerful boss.

So how is Mansfield going to explore the depths of human emotion? How is she going to explore grief and loss when we've got this opening paragraph with these two characters fully established? So we're starting to see this idea of experimentation.

It was also really nice to hear some people referencing the title saying, why is this short story called "The Fly?" As we're starting with these two kind of powerful old men sitting in their office in the city.

We've got the boss, who is referred to as the boss throughout.

We're never actually given his name.

So how am I going to be able to connect this idea of the fly into this story? What significance is it going to have? And again, that's speaking to perhaps the modernist movement thinking, we're gonna come at this at a slightly experimental angle and see if we can explore the idea of grief and loss, the idea of grief and loss from World War I, which is of course explored in lots and lots of literature.

We're gonna see if we can do that in a slightly different way.

So even though we've got this opening of this story where we seem quite stable, we've got two men in an office talking, we actually know we're going to be taken on this quite remarkable journey.

So a check for understanding before we move on and read the rest of this story together.

So is it true or false? The boss and Mr. Woodifield run a company in the city together.

Pause the video and select a response now.

Well done if you selected false.

Now, I'd like you to justify your answer.

Is it, A, the boss runs the company and Mr. Woodifield works for him, or B, the boss runs the company and Mr. Woodifield is retired? Pause the video and select your justification now.

Well done if you selected B.

Mr. Woodifield is retired.

We know that he's only allowed into the city once a week on a Tuesday, but the boss is still running the company.

He is at the helm.

Now I'd like you to read "The Fly." This is found in the additional materials.

And after reading, I would like you to answer these six questions.

One, how does the boss feel as Mr. Woodifield admires his office? Two, what features of the office does Mansfield draw our attention to? What do you think is the most important object and why? Three, what did the Woodifield girls see in Belgium last week? Four, why does the boss believe he will never recover from his son's loss? Five, what happens between the man and the fly? And six, this story is about loss and grief following World War I.

In what ways might we think of it as an experimental way to explore these ideas? We're gonna start thinking, how is this part of the modernist movement? How is this story part of the modernist movement? How is it a new and innovative way to explore these ideas? So you're going to read "The Fly," really enjoy it.

Take your time.

As I say, Mansfield is the master of understatement, so it's an incredibly rich story, but often seems to be quite simply told.

And then answer these six questions to show off your fantastic understanding, particularly thinking about question six, how is Mansfield exploring the ideas of grief and loss in an experimental way? Pause the video and complete the task now.

Welcome back.

It was lovely to see people reading "The Fly," some people reading it out loud in pairs, some people reading it in their head.

And already some really interesting ideas coming up, especially for that final question, for question six.

Well done for showing your thorough understanding of the story by answering those five comprehension questions.

We're gonna have a look at question six now in a little bit more detail.

So here is Alex's answer to question six.

This story is about loss and grief following World War I.

In what ways could we think of it as an experimental way to explore these ideas? Now, here is Alex's first response.

He said, "Whilst the boss's grief for his son is explicitly mentioned," there's that moment where we seem to go inside the boss's head and we seem to hear his thoughts about how his life was ruined by the loss of his son.

He felt broken.

But, "the main focus is the interaction between the boss and the fly." So it is experimental because we do get this exploration of grief, but the main focus is this interaction between the boss and the fly.

That's the main action of the story.

And to Alex, that seems quite experimental.

Now I'd like you to discuss, how could you help Alex develop his idea? 'Cause he's just got one sentence there.

This is quite a big question.

Is there anything else that you talked about or you made notes about when you were reading "The Fly" which would help Alex? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

So many fantastic ideas in order to help Alex develop his response.

So some of those that I had were that the boss forgets that he was thinking about his son during and after this interaction, but we are clearly getting an insight into his sadness.

So at the end of the short story, the boss says he couldn't remember what he was thinking about before his interaction with fly.

Now that's quite strange because he was thinking about the loss of his son, this major event in his life.

But even though he has forgotten about his son, we are getting a real insight into his sadness, into his confusion.

So it's interesting that Mansfield is able to do that through an interaction between a man and a fly.

The boss doesn't cry, instead his grief comes through in a more unexpected way.

So the boss actually mentions like, I prepared to cry, I arranged to cry, but I didn't actually cry, and that's a contrast to how he responded when he first heard of his son's death.

So maybe talking about the stages of grief here, the idea that, yeah, he had a violent fit of weeping is how Mansfield described it when he first heard of his son's death, but that was six years ago.

And so now we're getting a different stage of the boss's grief and he's not crying anymore, but instead his grief seems to be coming out in a more unexpected way with this interaction with the fly.

And finally, the initially powerful presentation of the boss is undermined by something as insignificant as the fly.

So you'll remember that we read that first paragraph with the boss and Mr. Woodifield, and we were saying Mr. Woodifield seems quite fragile in comparison to the boss.

But actually the boss's robustness, his strength seems to be undermined by something as tiny as a fly, and that's quite experimental.

That's quite new, that's quite innovative, and it's a very, very clever way in order to explore the depths of the boss's emotions.

So really, really helpful way to help Alex build his response there.

Okay, we're gonna move on to learning cycle two, "The Fly," a thematic exploration.

Now, as I say, every time I read "The Fly," I see another idea that Mansfield wants to explore, and I'm always really interested to hear different pupil interpretations of this short story.

So I'm excited to move into this second learning cycle after reading "The Fly" with you just now.

So Aisha and Laura evaluate "The Fly," and Aisha says, "I think this short story is all about cruelty.

More specifically, Mr. Woodifield is unthinkingly cruel to the boss when he mentions, almost in passing, seeing his son's grave, and this short, sharp shock destabilises the boss whose eyelids quiver and then requires to be left alone.

Ultimately, the interaction with fly, another example of cruelty, represents the cruel world in which the boss lives." Lovely idea from Aisha there.

Really powerfully stated.

"I think the short story is all about cruelty." I love the way she backs it up, particularly that very well chosen short quotation, the fact that the boss's eyelids quiver.

So she's obviously read the short story really, really carefully.

And then coming to this conclusion, "Ultimately, the interaction with the fly, another example of cruelty, represents the cruel world in which the boss lives." So a really nice interpretation there.

But Laura disagrees and she says, "I think the short story is all about feelings of nihilism." So she has used that key word from the beginning of the lesson.

It's all about nihilism, all about the idea that a certain character, or the story's exploring the idea of the meaning of life and finding it meaningless.

"More specifically, Mansfield emphasises the boss's success with a close description of his office, and the envy of Mr. Woodifield.

However, this success is shown to mean nothing to the boss now that his son is dead.

'It had no other meaning if it was not for the boy.

' Ultimately, Mansfield shows a man who is in despair and his interaction with the fly is an expression of this despair." So Laura has a completely different idea for Aisha.

I'm also convinced by this one, a really lovely close reading of the text.

Well chosen quotation, again, just like Aisha, but to prove a different point that the story is about nihilism and the boss's feelings of nihilism.

Now, Sam disagrees with Aisha and Laura arguing, "I think this short story is all about universal feelings of grief and loss the world felt after World War I." So universal was one of our key words.

It means a feeling that everyone might experience regardless of time or circumstance.

So this story is not about the boss's feelings of grief and loss, not about Mr. Woodifield's feelings of grief and loss, not about Mansfield's feelings of grief and loss, but everybody's feelings of grief and loss after World War I.

It was a worldwide conflict.

So she's really, that's what Sam thinks Mansfield is exploring these universal feelings of grief and loss.

Now, I'd like you to discuss what might have led Sam to this argument.

What can you recall from "The Fly," which we read in learning cycle one, what might have led her to this argument? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

A really lovely discussion there, showing off your careful reading of "The Fly." And I absolutely agree that this kind of universality of grief and loss is found through the characterization of the boss.

So his despair, his despair about the future maybe characterises how lots of people were feeling, lots of people of the older generation were feeling after World War I, where they saw that so many young people had been killed, and weren't quite sure what the future would hold without this younger generation.

And what Mansfield very cleverly does is she seems to capture all of this in this interaction with "The Fly." So leaning on Laura's idea about the meaninglessness of life.

The boss seems to be thinking without my son, my life is broken and my life is in ruins, and he concentrates all of his energies into this interaction with the fly.

So all this material wealth and success, which is presented at the beginning of the story, actually cannot overcome the feelings of grief and loss that the boss is feeling.

And maybe Mansfield is talking about, even though the world is recovering from World War I, this short story was published in 1922, remember.

So four years after World War I has ended, still people are feeling the confusion, the chaos, and the despair that was created by this worldwide conflict.

So those were some of the ideas which might prove Sam's idea about what is most important to Mansfield in the short story "The Fly." Now, let's recall these three arguments.

We've got Aisha saying the stories about cruelty, Sam, universal feelings of grief and loss, and Laura, feelings of nihilism.

Do you agree with any of these pupils or do you interpret the short story's main theme differently? Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Welcome back.

A really nice discussion there.

Lots of people saying, yeah, I can see how Aisha, Laura, how Sam came to those particular arguments.

I can see other examples from the short story, which would support these ideas.

But actually I interpret it slightly differently.

So some people saying, I really wanted to, or I really think Mansfield is exploring kind of father-son relationships and the idea that this bond, this particularly special bond that the boss had with his son.

What does that mean to him when it is gone, when it is taken away? Other people saying, I actually think that Mansfield is really exploring the idea of the future.

What does the future look like if a war has decimated a lot of the younger generation? And others saying, actually, I completely disagree.

I think what Mansfield is doing here is presenting quite a negative presentation of the older generation.

And what we should really be focusing on is the boss and Mr. Woodifield and their characterization.

They are representative of an older generation that Mansfield is criticising, seeing that they actually have quite a negative presentation, even though we might feel sorry for them for their loss.

And so lots and lots of different ideas here.

Some people saying it's actually an exploration of memorialization.

What does it mean to remember people who have passed away? Because of Mr. Woodifield's reference to the war graves, which, of course, the boss has not yet visited.

So there is so much in this short story, and it is pretty short, only about four pages, but so much that Mansfield is managing to explore here.

And whatever spoke to you in this first reading, really go with that and really think, how is Mansfield exploring this? And how can I present that argument in the same way that Aisha did, the same way that Laura did? So we're going to consider what a major theme is in "The Fly," and then you're going to do a bit of thinking about the theme that you particularly care about.

So what is a major theme in "The Fly?" Is it A, envy, B, the fly, C, grief, or D, universality? Pause the video and select your response now.

Well done if you selected grief.

So that is a major theme.

It's an idea that comes up time and time again in the text.

Although we do see Mr. Woodifield's envy of the boss, that's really dislocated to the opening of the short story, so we wouldn't call it a major theme.

The fly is not a theme, it's a sort of character, I guess, in the story, and it's a symbol, and we might consider what that symbol is, but it is not a theme.

It is not an idea that is explored in the story, because the fly physically exists in the story.

And universality, so a theme can be universal, it can be an idea that affects everybody, so grief, even though Mr. Woodifield and the boss are feeling particular feelings of grief for the loss of their son in World War I, grief is a universal feeling that everybody can feel at some point in their life.

But the word universality is not a theme itself, it's not a big idea.

So grief is the major theme in "The Fly." So I'd like you to use the three sentence starters below to write an answer to this question.

What is "The Fly" all about? So we're really thinking about its major themes.

You can use the people's ideas if you wish, so cruelty, universal grief and loss, or nihilism.

But you can also use some of your ideas that you were discussing earlier in this learning cycle.

There's no right answer here.

It's what you think "The Fly," what speaks to you in "The Fly" in terms of its major themes.

I've got some sentence starters there to help you.

So, "I think the short story is all about," you're gonna put in your idea.

"More specifically," and that is going to push you to refer to the fly itself.

And "Ultimately," drawing together your arguments.

Give this activity the time that it deserves.

I've heard all of your brilliant discussions, so now we're gonna put that to paper, or your laptop, or whatever it is that you are writing on.

Pause the video and complete this task now.

Welcome back.

Well done for giving that activity the time it deserved.

Lovely to see all those discussions that we had captured on the page.

Now let's do some self-assessment, and we're gonna use Laura's response in order to guide us.

So we can consider Laura's response.

She has that first sentence, "I think the short story is all about feelings of nihilism." So a very, very clear idea.

Then she's got this large section of her paragraph, "More specifically," and then she refers closely to the text.

And then finally she has this final sentence, which is a focus on Mansfield's intentions.

"Ultimately, Mansfield shows a man who is in despair." So what I would like you to do is self-assess and make sure that your response meets this criteria.

Have you got a clear idea in your first sentence? Have you made some close reference to the text? And have you finished off by thinking about writer's intentions? Pause the video and complete the self-assessment now.

Welcome back.

Well done for giving that self-assessment the time it deserves.

Saw some people thinking, oh, I just need to return to that first sentence.

Make sure my idea is really, really clear.

Some people thinking, oh, I could put in another reference to the text actually.

And then some people think, no, it's my final sentence where I want to just draw the idea that Mansfield is doing something in this short story.

I'm gonna use her name and consider what she is doing, what were her intentions in this story.

In summary, Mansfield, born 1888, died in 1923, was a New Zealand writer and critic.

Mansfield was part of the modernist movement.

She rejected traditional ideas about what literature should look like.

"The Fly" presents two men, both of whom have lost their sons in World War I.

And "The Fly" 1922 was perhaps inspired by her own experiences of loss in World War I.

Her brother was killed in 1915.

It has been such a pleasure to read through this short story and hear all of your fantastic ideas about what "The Fly" is all about.

I'm looking forward to seeing you next time.