The Horse - “In the Village”
Bishop explains, “The horse is the real guest, however. His harness hangs loose like a man’s suspenders; they say pleasant things to him; one of his legs is doubled up in an improbable, affectedly polite way, and the bottom of his hoof is laid bare, but he doesn’t seem to mind. Manure piles up behind him, suddenly, neatly. He, too, is very much at home. He is enormous. His rump is like a brown, glossy globe of the whole brown world." The horse's appearance indicates that it is well-tended to and healthy. Furthermore, the horse is an indicator of the prevalent pastoralism in the village. There is sufficient space there to permit the rearing of forces. The horse feels comfortable at the village because it finds adequate food there which is contributory to its contentedness.
Miss Gurley’s House - “In the Village”
Bishop explains, “Her house is littered with scraps of cloth and tissue- paper patterns, yellow, pinked, with holes in the shapes of A, B, C , and D in them, and numbers; and threads everywhere like a fine vegetation. She has a bosom full of needles with threads ready to pull out and make nests with. She sleeps in her thimble. A gray kitten once lay on the treadle of her sewing machine, where she rocked it as she sewed, like a baby in a cradle, but it got hanged on the belt.” The house bids an environment of tailoring. The threads and cloths present in the house surmise that she engages in tailoring as an economic activity. Besides, the house doubles up as Miss Gurley’s residence for she sleeps there.
Elephants - “Efforts of Affection”
Bishop concludes, “She (Marianne) was quite right; the elephants adored stale brown bread and started trumpeting and pushing up against each other to get it. I stayed at one end of the line, putting slices of bread into the trunks of the older elephants, and Miss Moore went rapidly down to the other end, where the babies were. The large elephants were making such a to-do that a keeper did come up my way.” The elephants consume the bread regardless of its staleness. Evidently, they find it delicious, unlike humans who would not, Marianne has in-depth knowledge concerning the elephants’ food preferences. In the case of humans, they would not consume the bread because they would be concerned about the implication of the staleness on their health. Feeding the elephants with stale bread is an impressive sight for the circus attenders.
