Setting

Physical setting

The short story “The Fly-Paper” by Elizabeth Taylor takes place on a Wednesday afternoon, in summer, probably in a small town in the UK. It should be noted that the main setting is "the outskirts of the nearest town" (l.1). Sylvia has music lessons there, but she does not live there. The time setting is probably contemporary to when the story was written (the late 1960s), as indicated by the fact that Herbert is smoking on the bus (smoking on buses was allowed until the late 1980s) and the reference to Myra Hess, a famous UK pianist who died in 1965. The weather is hot, and there are a lot of insects: “The lane buzzed in the heat of the late afternoon - with bees in the clover, and flies going crazy over some cow-pats on the road” (ll. 17-19). The author’s repeated references to insects are a way of reminding the reader of the title. Sylvia is overdressed for the pleasant weather, as she wears a winter coat, which her grandmother insisted on her wearing, and in which she feels hot and uncomfortable. This could suggest that, in a broader sense, she is ill at ease with her surroundings, and poorly equipped to deal with the outside world.

The action takes...