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Short Fiction · Chapter

Chapter X explained

A picador mounts a wounded white horse in the bullring, its entrails hanging as it is goaded forward.

What happens

A picador mounts a wounded white horse in the bullring, its entrails hanging as it is goaded forward. The bull hesitates to charge as the horse bleeds and trembles.

Themes in this chapter

  • The Absurdity of Authority and Religion

    The ritualized violence of bullfighting highlights the absurdity of institutionalized cruelty.

Characters to notice

  • Picador

    Mounts the wounded horse and prepares to face the bull

  • Monos

    Whack the horse and hold its bridle

Key passages

  • “They whack-whacked the white horse on the legs and he kneed himself up.”

    They struck the white horse repeatedly on its legs, causing it to struggle to its knees and then stand.

    Describes the brutal goading of the horse.

  • “The horse’s entrails hung down in a blue bunch and swung backward and forward as he began to canter”

    The horse's intestines dangled in a bluish mass, swaying as it started to trot.

    Graphic depiction of the horse's injury.

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