The picture depicts a man with “worn and torn” overalls and a yellow hard hat; it is to be assumed that he is a construction worker. The construction worker has a sealed mouth and his eyes are sewn shut. This illustrates that the construction worker is disconnected from his total body as a result of being blind and mute. The pig has a top hat, a huge grin on his face, a gold tooth and earring. Pigs can reference the animal and in other cases characteristics of a pig are used describe a person’s actions or character. Pigs are characterized as being greedy and selfish. The pig on top of the construction worker’s head represents him “being on top”, indicative of him having power over the worker. With the pig having power over the worker, the owner seeks to gain profit from the construction worker’s labor. This description also symbolizes the class system which exists in society, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The pig represents the bourgeoisie those who determine the means of production, while the construction worker represents the proletariat, those who produce the products.
Being a construction worker he is conducting manual labor. His manual work may consist of laying street pavement, constructing a house, working in a mine, or any other labor intensive work. His head tilted down is a sign of shame and despair since he feels isolated. He separates himself from the process of work. The importance placed on his work convinces him that work causes suffering and is detrimental towards his life outside of work. This separation occurs since the greedy pig is only concerned with the labor that is being done. The process of work is seen as one entity while the construction worker is seen as another. With the activity of labor being done, the ending result will be a product. His look of despair also relates to him isolating himself from the product of his work; he separates himself from the product. Not only is the product seen as an object, but the worker is seen as one too. Although the construction worker produced the product, the product itself does not belong to him. The product design and manipulations are not controlled by him but by the owners. This separation occurs since the materialistic pig is only concerned with the product from the work.
During the process of work towards making a product, the construction worker creates goods and services with other workers. Naturally, man works together with others when participating in an activity; relationships are then formed between these individuals. The desirous pig is concerned with the amount of work an individual worker is capable of completing. Meanwhile, in an effort to gain more wages, the construction worker isolates himself from the other workers to complete more work in the same length of time as the others. The pig desires the entitlement of labor, causing the construction worker to separate himself from his entitlement. He isolates himself from the very title that gives him livelihood. Conclusively, estranged labor is rooted in exploitative and alienating relationships between individuals who own and those who produce. The pig remains happy (grinning) while the construction worker remains hopeless.