Themes in The Fly

The major symbol in the story, the fly can be interpreted as representing the struggle to live and the inevitability of death. Like the transitory nature of memory and grief, the inevitability of death is a major theme that permeates the story; memory, grief, and life itself do not endure.

The boss is confused by his inability to weep for his dead son, since he had once been overwhelmed with weeping while remembering him. Grief, like memory, is transitory and does not endure.

The image of his son in death that has lived in the boss’s memory has been destroyed by a realistic image of his son in his grave, suggesting the transitory nature of memory, a theme in the story.