Creative writing in the third person inspired by Katherine Mansfield's 'The Fly' | English

Starter quiz

Match each character from Katherine Mansfield’s ‘The Fly’ to what we know about them.
- the boss
  
  ⇔
  
  a successful businessman in the City ✓
- Mr. Woodifield
  
  ⇔
  
  a retired and frail gentleman ✓
- Mr. Woodifield’s wife and daughters
  
  ⇔
  
  care for Mr. Woodifield ✓
- unnamed son
  
  ⇔
  
  the boss’s son, deceased ✓
- Reggie
  
  ⇔
  
  Mr. Woodifield’s son, deceased ✓
- Macey
  
  ⇔
  
  an office employee ✓
The character of Macey is in Katherine Mansfield’s ‘The Fly’. What best would define the type of character Macey is?
- a main character
- an insignificant character
- a minor character ✓
- a third person character
- an omniscient character
In Literary perspectives from the First World War, the texts we read use a range of narrative perspectives. Match the narrative perspective to its definition.
- First person
  
  ⇔
  
  the narrator is, or pretends to be, a person in the story using ‘I’ ✓
- Second person
  
  ⇔
  
  the narrator talks directly to the reader using ‘you’, ‘your’ ✓
- Third person
  
  ⇔
  
  the narrator isn’t a character in the story; uses ‘she’, ‘he’, ‘they’ ✓
Starting with the first, put these plot points all relating to the character of Macey in Katherine Mansfield’s ‘The Fly’ in chronological order.
- 1
  
  ⇔
  
  Macey sees the boss staring into nothingness after Mr. Woodifield leaves.
- 2
  
  ⇔
  
  The boss orders Macey to keep everyone out of his office.
- 3
  
  ⇔
  
  Macey makes sure no-one disturbs the boss.
- 4
  
  ⇔
  
  The boss rings the bell to order Macey to come to him.
- 5
  
  ⇔
  
  The boss orders Macey to get him more blotting paper.
In Katherine Mansfield’s ‘The Fly’, how did Macey feel towards the boss’s son?
- He didn’t like his attitude when he worked for the boss.
- He preferred him to the boss.
- He resented his popularity.
- He admired him. ✓
- He felt he was “spoilt” but didn’t mind working with him.
In Katherine Mansfield’s ‘The Fly’, what is Macey, the boss’s employee, compared to?
- to a “baby”
- to a “fly”
- to a “dog” ✓
- to a “soldier”
- to “Mr. Woodifield”

Exit quiz

Katherine Mansfield uses a third person omniscient narrative voice in ‘The Fly’. Match each part of this phrase to its meaning.
- third person
  
  ⇔
  
  the narrator isn’t a character in the story; uses ‘she’, ‘he’, ‘they’ ✓
- omniscient
  
  ⇔
  
  the narrator is ‘all-knowing’ about the events and characters ✓
- narrator
  
  ⇔
  
  the person telling the story ✓
Which adjective best describes how Macey feels towards his boss in ‘The Fly’?
- devoted ✓
- resentful
- indebted
In Katherine Mansfield’s ‘The Fly’, Macey is described as “the ______ office manager”.
- 'grey-haired' ✓
In Katherine Mansfield’s ‘The Fly’, Mansfield writes Macey “dodged in and out of his cubby hole like a ______ that expects to be taken for a run”.
- 'dog' ✓
In Katherine Mansfield’s ‘The Fly’, the boss orders Macey to get him more blotting paper. Mansfield writes: “the ______ dog padded away”.
- 'old' ✓
Katherine Mansfield writes ‘The Fly’ in the third person. Which of these sentences uses the third person?
- Macey was proud of his desk in his own way. ✓
- I was proud of my desk, in my own way.
- The boss was proud of my desk, in his own way.
- I was proud of Macey’s desk, in my own way.

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Lesson Details

Key learning points

Katherine Mansfield’s 'The Fly' is written using a third person omniscient narrator.
A third person narrator uses 'she', 'he' and 'they' rather than 'I'.
A third person narrator might focus more on one or more character’s experiences.
Using third person means that the reader often has to interpret why a character does something rather being told why.
We learn little about the character of Macey, but there are suggestions of his devotion to the boss.

Common misconception

If you are writing in third person, then you can't know the internal feelings of characters because you are not inside their head.

Writers that use a third person narrative voice can still explore and present the internal thoughts and feelings of one or more of their characters. You can develop their psychology without having to use the pronoun 'I'.

Keywords

Devotion - love, loyalty
Internal - inside
Omniscient - all-knowing
Third person narrative - the narrator is not a character in the story, and uses pronouns like 'she', 'he', 'they' rather than 'I'
Blotting paper - absorbent paper that soaks up excess ink from a pen