MCQs from “The Fly” by Katherine Mansfield
Quiz: “The Fly” by Katherine Mansfield
1. What is Mr. Woodifield’s physical condition at the start of the story?
A. He is blind
B. He has suffered a stroke ✅
C. He has a limp
D. He is bedridden
2. Who does Mr. Woodifield live with?
A. His wife only
B. His son and daughter-in-law
C. His nurse
D. His wife and daughters ✅
3. On which day is Mr. Woodifield allowed to go out?
A. Monday
B. Wednesday
C. Tuesday ✅
D. Friday
4. Where does Mr. Woodifield go on his day out?
A. To the park
B. To the club
C. To the countryside
D. To the City ✅
5. Who does Mr. Woodifield visit during his outing?
A. His son
B. His brother
C. His old friend, the boss ✅
D. His doctor
6. How is the boss described?
A. Tall and thin
B. Weak and fragile
C. Stout and rosy ✅
D. Pale and aged
7. What recent changes had the boss made to his office?
A. Installed a new coffee machine
B. Bought new curtains
C. Renovated with new carpet, furniture, and electric heating ✅
D. Painted the walls
8. What hangs above the table in the boss’s office?
A. A painting of a horse
B. A map of Belgium
C. A photograph of his son in military uniform ✅
D. A certificate
9. How long had the photograph of the boy been in the office?
A. Two years
B. Four years
C. Over six years ✅
D. One year
10. What does the boss offer Mr. Woodifield to drink?
A. Rum
B. Tea
C. Whisky ✅
D. Coffee
11. Where does the boss claim the whisky came from?
A. Buckingham Palace
B. Windsor Castle’s cellars ✅
C. A French vineyard
D. An old Scottish distillery
12. What key does the boss use to unlock the whisky cabinet?
A. A cabinet key
B. A drawer key
C. A safe key
D. A key on his watch-chain ✅
13. How does the boss react to Mr. Woodifield mentioning his son’s grave?
A. He starts crying
B. He shouts
C. He shows no verbal reaction, but his eyelids quiver ✅
D. He leaves the room
14. What reason does the boss give for not visiting his son’s grave?
A. He forgot where it was
B. He is too ill to travel
C. He gives no specific reason ✅
D. He didn’t know it existed
15. What complaint does Mr. Woodifield make about the hotel in Belgium?
A. Poor service
B. Noisy guests
C. Expensive jam ✅
D. Dirty rooms
16. What does Mr. Woodifield’s daughter do about the overpriced jam?
A. Demands a refund
B. Writes a complaint
C. Steals the jam pot ✅
D. Tells the manager
17. What phrase does Mr. Woodifield use about the overpriced jam?
A. “It’s criminal!”
B. “They’re crooks!”
C. “Trading on our feelings” ✅
D. “A bloody rip-off”
18. What does the boss do after Woodifield leaves?
A. Takes a nap
B. Weeps openly
C. Covers his face and tries to weep but cannot ✅
D. Starts working again
19. How did the boss used to react when saying “My son”?
A. He smiled
B. He became proud
C. He felt overwhelmed with grief ✅
D. He shouted
20. What had the boss hoped for his son?
A. That he would become a poet
B. That he would move abroad
C. That he would take over the business ✅
D. That he would work in politics
21. How did the boss find out about his son’s death?
A. A letter from the army
B. A newspaper article
C. A telegram ✅
D. A phone call
22. How does the boss feel about the photograph of his son?
A. He treasures it
B. He avoids looking at it because the expression seems cold ✅
C. He shows it to everyone
D. He wants to frame it
23. What happens to the fly initially in the boss’s office?
A. It flies into the boss’s face
B. It drowns in water
C. It falls into the inkpot ✅
D. It flies out the window
24. What does the boss do after rescuing the fly from ink?
A. Throws it away
B. Places it on blotting paper ✅
C. Puts it in a jar
D. Kills it immediately
25. How does the fly behave after being saved the first time?
A. Dies immediately
B. Refuses to move
C. Cleans itself and seems joyful ✅
D. Bites the boss
26. What does the boss do to the fly multiple times?
A. Traps it in a jar
B. Feeds it sugar
C. Drops fresh blots of ink on it ✅
D. Blows it with air
27. How many times does the boss drop ink on the fly?
A. Two
B. Four ✅
C. Six
D. Five
28. What is the boss’s final action toward the dead fly?
A. Buries it
B. Flushes it
C. Throws it in the waste-paper basket ✅
D. Keeps it as a reminder
29. What emotion does the boss feel after the fly dies?
A. Triumph
B. Indifference
C. A grinding, wretched feeling ✅
D. Amusement
30. What does the boss do immediately after the fly’s death?
A. Goes home
B. Calls his wife
C. Orders fresh blotting paper ✅
D. Begins to cry
31. What does the boss fail to remember at the end of the story?
A. His son’s age
B. What he had been thinking before the fly episode ✅
C. His friend’s name
D. His own name
32. What action shows the boss’s physical discomfort at the end?
A. He coughs
B. He stands up and paces
C. He wipes his neck with a handkerchief ✅
D. He drinks more whisky
33. What theme does the story “The Fly” primarily explore?
A. War strategy
B. Commercial success
C. Suppressed grief and emotional numbness ✅
D. Political rivalry
34. What does the boss’s failure to cry after Mr. Woodifield’s visit suggest?
A. He has moved on entirely
B. He never truly loved his son
C. He is emotionally hardened and numb ✅
D. He is distracted by work
35. Why does the boss avoid visiting his son’s grave?
A. He doesn’t know where it is
B. He fears breaking down emotionally ✅
C. He was forbidden by his wife
D. He dislikes cemeteries
36. Why does the boss dislike the photograph of his son?
A. It’s damaged
B. The frame is broken
C. The son’s expression looks cold and stern ✅
D. It was painted, not photographed
37. What does the fly’s repeated efforts to clean itself represent?
A. Military discipline
B. The futility of effort
C. The resilience of life ✅
D. Scientific curiosity
38. How does the boss initially feel about the fly’s struggles?
A. He is indifferent
B. He admires its courage ✅
C. He is disgusted
D. He calls for help
39. Why does the boss drop ink on the fly multiple times?
A. He wants to punish the fly
B. He is testing its strength and endurance ✅
C. He’s unaware of what he’s doing
D. He thinks it’s fun
40. What deeper truth does the boss fail to recognize through the fly’s death?
A. That life is just a game
B. That flies are important to nature
C. That he too has lost his will and resilience ✅
D. That the fly could have survived
41. What does the waste-paper basket symbolize in the final scene?
A. The office routine
B. The throwaway nature of life and death ✅
C. A secret hiding place
D. A place for lost objects
42. What does the boss’s act of wiping his neck with a handkerchief show?
A. He’s about to fall sick
B. He’s getting ready to leave
C. His inner discomfort and agitation ✅
D. He is overheated due to the weather
43. What does the boss forget at the end of the story?
A. His son’s name
B. The ink incident
C. What he was thinking before the fly incident ✅
D. His schedule for the day
44. What can the boss’s actions toward the fly be compared to?
A. A scientist and a specimen
B. A writer and a critic
C. A god testing human endurance ✅
D. A soldier following orders
45. Why is the story’s title “The Fly” significant?
A. The fly distracts the boss
B. The fly represents business struggles
C. The fly symbolizes human struggle, resilience, and eventual defeat ✅
D. The fly ruins the ink
46. What does the boss ultimately do with the dead fly?
A. Saves it in a box
B. Shows it to Macey
C. Throws it into the waste-paper basket ✅
D. Writes about it in a letter
47. What emotion dominates the boss at the very end of the story?
A. Joy
B. Triumph
C. Confusion and dread ✅
D. Satisfaction
48. What does the inability to remember his earlier thoughts suggest about the boss?
A. He’s senile
B. He is emotionally overwhelmed and detached ✅
C. He is dishonest
D. He never cared in the first place
49. What literary device is used in the repetition of ink drops on the fly?
A. Irony
B. Flashback
C. Symbolism ✅
D. Dialogue
50. What does the fly ultimately represent in the story?
A. A soldier from the war
B. A symbol of fate
C. A symbol of human resilience crushed by meaningless suffering ✅
D. The boss’s employee
51. What does the boss’s admiration of the fly’s struggle suggest about his inner world?
A. He is cruel by nature
B. He envies the fly’s will to live ✅
C. He wants to train the fly
D. He dislikes life
52. What is ironic about the boss’s intention to cry?
A. He cries too much
B. He cannot cry despite wanting to, showing emotional deadness ✅
C. He forgets he ever had a son
D. He laughs instead
53. How does time affect the boss’s grief?
A. It heals him completely
B. It intensifies the pain
C. It leaves him confused and emotionally numb ✅
D. It makes him forget his son
54. How does the fly’s death parallel the boss’s emotional state?
A. Both are indifferent to life
B. Both are physically weak
C. Both suffer repeated trials until they break ✅
D. Both are ignored by others
55. Why might Mansfield have chosen a fly as the central symbol?
A. To show dirtiness in the office
B. To mock the boss
C. To reflect the smallness and fragility of life ✅
D. To focus on insects
56. What does Macey’s obedient response (“Very good, sir”) represent?
A. Rebellion
B. Workplace tension
C. Mechanical routine and hierarchy ✅
D. Personal affection
57. Why is it significant that the boss built the business for his son?
A. It shows the boss’s ambition
B. It highlights a generational dream destroyed by war ✅
C. It explains the firm’s success
D. It emphasizes business values
58. What kind of tone does Mansfield use in the final scenes with the fly?
A. Comic and light
B. Detached and clinical ✅
C. Romantic
D. Philosophical and cheerful
59. The boss’s repeated tormenting of the fly may also reflect what?
A. A desire for justice
B. Sadism
C. A subconscious replay of grief and powerlessness ✅
D. Scientific curiosity
60. The line “he had fallen into the habit of referring to his son as if he were alive” shows:
A. Denial ✅
B. Acceptance
C. Memory loss
D. Forgiveness
61. What does the fly fail to do after the final drop of ink?
A. Escape
B. Clean itself
C. Move ✅
D. Bite the boss
62. The boss breathes on the fly to:
A. Make it fly again
B. Help it dry and recover ✅
C. Kill it
D. Show sympathy
63. Which emotion is absent in the boss’s final reaction?
A. Joy
B. Grief
C. Anger
D. Tears ✅
64. The fact that the boss forgets what he was thinking about suggests:
A. He has resolved his pain
B. He is mentally unstable
C. He is disoriented and emotionally repressed ✅
D. He is getting old
65. What could the ink symbolize?
A. Death, darkness, and trials ✅
B. Wealth and business
C. Creativity
D. Authority
66. What does the fly’s cleaning behavior symbolize?
A. Vanity
B. Natural instinct to survive ✅
C. Intelligence
D. Confusion
67. The boss’s killing of the fly can be interpreted as:
A. A final act of compassion
B. An unconscious reflection of how life destroys effort and hope ✅
C. An experiment gone wrong
D. A playful moment
68. What does the fly’s slow recovery and death remind the reader of?
A. A business failing
B. The cycles of nature
C. The futility of struggle in a harsh world ✅
D. The life of a soldier
69. Why does the story not give the boss a name?
A. To keep him mysterious
B. To universalize his experience of grief ✅
C. To avoid historical details
D. To make it easier to write
70. What is the best summary of the message in “The Fly”?
A. Time heals all wounds
B. Human suffering and struggle are often crushed by fate, and time numbs even deep grief ✅
C. War makes people stronger
D. Business is more important than emotions
