Horses Can Wear Diamonds Too

So my diamond is completely different than everyone else. I found the short story about the horse Johnny to be reminiscent of Groundhog Day. The horse is stuck in the mill, walking round and round hopeless, not knowing anything more than that of a circle. Finally he is brought out into the world, but what happens? He see King Billy's statue and does the only thing he knows how to do, make circles. The repetition of everyday life, and everyday events monotonously taking over this pour pathetic horse Johnny, it's poetic, and yet tragic. Perhaps Joyce put this in his story for nothing but to move his story along, and have one entertaining part for the readers. Or perhaps it is a reference to the title The Dead. And pointing out that we are dead even in life, because of the everyday routine. We don't think we just do. I feel for Johnny, more than any other depressing character in the story. I feel sorry because, it was not his choice to be turned into a circle. He had no understanding of squares, triangles, trapezoids, and even squiggles. He simply lived his life one day at a time, one circle after the other, falling deeper into living death.

~L.