“Death of a Pig”

This essay written by E. B. White didn’t really feel that much like an essay to me. To me, it just seemed like a story being told. The essay brings multiple things to my mind. One of them being that it was nice and a little heartwarming how much the farmer cares for this pig. Another thing would be a little confused as to his thoughts on the matter of animals. This is because it seems that the farmer has slaughtered pigs in the past and they have not seemed to have had much of an effect on him, yet his one did. My question is, why did he become so attached to this pig in particular rather than the other pigs he actually had slaughtered?

An interesting style choice for “Death of a Pig” was that it basically gave a sneak peak of the ending right at the beginning. The burial of the pig also seemed very dark and dismal. It seemed as though they all thought of the pig as a person, or at the very least as something important. Even he whole community felt the same way and were very sorrowful upon hearing the news of the pig’s death.

Even living in an area with a lot of farmers I personally don’t have experience in this kind of situation. However, I still sympathize with what the farmer is going through. I said earlier that I was wondering why he got attached to this pig in particular. I ended up thinking about what I would do in that situation and why. I figured I would probably act similarly. The reason is I feel it was a more pressing and immediate matter for this pig than the others. Additionally, the slaughter of the other pigs was abrupt, while this one suffered over time. The time here is probably the main reason he go to become attached to the pig.