"Death of a Pig"

I thought the story E.B. White told in  “Death of a Pig” was very dark and sad. Not only was it tragic like Kim said, but also used very dark, heavy, and foggy diction. What I mean by this is; it took me a few reads to catch everything the farmer was saying. I was unsure if White was trying to get across a different message or if this was solely to show the relationship between a farmer and his pigs. I agree with what Jason said about the setting of this story. There aren’t many people around and so maybe the farmer is truly lonely and grows such a strong connection with his pig.

 I also thought it was interesting how we know everything that will happen in the story just by reading the first paragraph. We find out the pig dies in four days sometime in the middle of September and that the farmer is narrating. That really is all we needed to know if we didn’t care about the details. I think his point of view adds to the strength of the story, because we can know what he is feeling. After reading the story our hearts feel heavy just like his.

 Another thing that caught my attention was how personified the farmer made the animals seem, like they were truly human beings or even his kids who lived with him there. He kept comparing the pig to the way of a child which made me wonder if the farmer has had a family once before? Is he married now? The story makes me wonder so many things about the farmer because White only delves into one area of his life, his pigs. He seems so familiar with death and it sounds like he has grieved the loss of many things. Was the death of the pig a metaphor to someone he has loved and lost before?