Deep Depression In Ernest Hemingway's The Fly

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Throughout the short story of The Fly, the boss is going through a deep depression from his son’s death. It’s as if the boss has come to the end of a road not knowing what to do with his life. He was lost, considering everything he had done was for his one and only son who is now no longer with him. As the boss is experiencing the mourning of his son, he feels as if there is no point in living anymore. As the days pass, the boss begins to move on with his life. However, he does not realize this. Then, one day as the man is sitting in his office at work, the office that had been remodeled for his son; he notices a fly that resembles himself and his feeling towards life. As the boss is going through tough times, he feels as if he is not getting anywhere in life and that there is no point in living anymore. While the man is going through the grieving process, he appears to find a “medicine” that helps …show more content…

In actuality he is slowly recovering. However, it is taking time. The boss ends up having his whole office redesigned as if to begin a new start. This is proof of how the boss is moving on with his life. The boss states, "I 've had it done up lately, new carpet, new furniture, electric heating!" Following the decision of the boss to kill the fly, he attempts to write down his thoughts about his son. However, after the event with the fly, the man forgets what he was thinking about before killing it. The man states, “And while the old dog padded away, he fell to wondering what it was he had been thinking about before. What was it?” The man had been thinking about his son, but forgot. It was a giant step in a positive direction as the author states, “For the life of him he could not remember.” Perhaps the man is moving on after all. How else could he forget that he had been thinking about his one and only son? Maybe this is a sign that he is finally starting to let go of his