# The Ethics of Pig explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by O. Henry.

## What happens

Jeff Peters recounts his attempt to find an honest partner for his 'unillegal' graft operations. He meets Rufe Tatum in the remote town of Mount Nebo, a man with a habit of stealing hogs. Jeff hires Rufe to work as his capper in a shell game, but Rufe's old habits resurface when he steals a pig from a circus sideshow. Jeff discovers a reward advertisement for the pig and attempts to claim it, only to find the ad was a fake. He kicks the pig away and reflects on the difficulty of finding a trustworthy partner, while defending his own moral code of 'legitimate speculation.'

## Themes in this chapter

### Deception and Appearance vs. Reality

Jeff's shell game and the fake reward ad both hinge on trickery and false appearances, while Rufe's pig-stealing habit reveals the gap between his reformed image and his true nature.

### Crime and Consequence

Rufe's theft of the pig and Jeff's attempt to claim the reward illustrate petty crime and its ironic consequences, as the reward turns out to be a fake.

### Humor and Irony

The story is filled with ironic twists: Jeff's search for an honest partner leads him to a habitual thief, and the reward for the pig is a hoax.

## Character check-ins

### Jeff Peters

The narrator and protagonist, a 'reducer of surplusage' who seeks an honest partner for his graft operations.

### Unknown Narrator

The listener on the train who prompts Jeff to tell his story and questions his ethics.

### Rufe Tatum

A hog-stealing mountaineer from Mount Nebo who becomes Jeff's partner but cannot resist stealing a circus pig.

## Key lines

> Mine was a legitimate and moral attempt at speculation. Buy low and sell high—don’t Wall Street endorse it? Bulls and bears and pigs—what’s the difference? Why not bristles as well as horns and fur?

Jeff defends his actions as morally equivalent to stock market speculation, arguing that there is no difference between trading in pigs and trading in stocks.

_Jeff's rationalization of his graft as a form of legitimate business._

> In my line of business, the hardest thing is to find an upright, trustworthy, strictly honorable partner to work a graft with. Some of the best men I ever worked with in a swindle would resort to trickery at times.

Jeff laments that even the most skilled swindlers are often dishonest, making it difficult to find a reliable partner for his schemes.

_The ironic opening of Jeff's tale, highlighting the theme of deception._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_41_se/chapters/the-ethics-of-pig
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_41_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_41_se/chapters