Point of View

"The Fly" is written from a third person omniscient point of view, meaning that the narrator provides access to both main characters' thoughts throughout the story. At the beginning of the story, readers receive insight into Woodifield's consciousness. "So there sat old Woodifield," says the narrator, "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" (1). Here, the narrator adopts Woodifield's perspective as he observes his friend, and suggests that Woodifield is envious of the boss's apparent youthfulness and strength. Later on in the story, the narrator also provides readers with the boss's perspective as he thinks about the remarks Woodifield made about his son: "Life itself had come to have no other meaning. How on earth...