Project 6: Creative Writing: Do pictures read us?

FLOATING SAUSAGES

This is a picture in which we see three men attempting to save their pigs from the flood.

By   Iñigo Lowe

This is how these men have to transport their pigs from the danger zone to a safe place. This action means a lot in itself, it is an attempt to save that which is most precious to them, their own lives. The reason why they do this is not because of any type of affection towards these animals- as could be the case with a dog- but because these pigs are their only means of moving ahead in life now they have lost everything else. These animals mean food. All we can capture from this scene is what is shown to us by the camera, but who knows what they are leaving behind- notice the resentful look in their eyes- or what they are heading towards- very likely the unknown -. Their houses have probably been flooded with foul water, permanently damaging their belongings, their crops destroyed, as seen in the background, etc. For these people, everything has lost significance. What they are focused on is in surviving, so they strive to keep the boat afloat, which is dangerously leaking, knowing that if they fail, the sinking boat will drag into the water, not only the pigs, but their own future down with it.