"Death of a Pig"

E.B. White’s organization in “Death of a Pig” is clever. He introduces it with an intriguing hook; the first paragraph announces a significant death, because we know it’s a pig’s death the reason for its significance isn’t obvious. The author admits he’s a bit disoriented by it all and the order of events, convincing us he was affected by this death. Then he goes on to speak of the butchering intentions he had with this pig and the way he expresses the intended process makes it seem like it’s the most humane routine he knows. For that I want to trust him and believe every feeling he describes in the essay to come.

White compares the process of raising a pig to butcher to a play. He mentions an “original script” they have always used on pig farms and to him it seems so sacred and beautiful. I can empathize with him when he explains that if anything were to go wrong it would be as gut-wrenching as it would be to a cast if an actor failed a line. White makes a good image for farmers and ranchers in the essay. Especially when he later describes how a sense of equilibrium is natural between a man and his livestock. He says that if a pig receives his meal with enthusiasm then man will do the same. His insight is a crucial voice in bringing us back down to understand the foundation of life again.