This notion, immediately suggested in the title, describes time as being round. Right away, readers can infer that time is a prevalent motif throughout the passage. In the first paragraph, White sets the scene of the story. He is at the circus watching a performance. White describes the trainer - a woman in her forties - as being caught up in the “desultory treadmills of the afternoon.” This metaphor shows how adults get trapped in the mundane cycle of life. Just as a treadmill is stationary, adults work their whole lives, but they often fail to move in a meaningful direction. Because of this, their actions come across as unnatural, and their lives lack a …show more content…
In the essay, White is a farmer that raises pigs for meat. Except, when one of his pigs gets sick, White becomes the caretaker. Many farmers would not think much about a sick pig; it is only going to get slaughtered anyway. However, White thinks of the pig as more than just an animal. He views the sick pig as a child, like his own son. His emotional connection with the pig is shown when White states, “when a pig (or a child) refuses supper a chill wave of fear runs through the household.” The parentheses blatantly articulate how White feels about the pig’s sickness. He compares the pig to a child and shows how the sickness negatively affects the farm. Parents never want their children to die from a disease and neither does