Many stories touch (even vaguely) to the concept of life and death, but Barthelme does so in a way that is both obvious and in a way cliche, yet makes it completely new and interesting. We all have learned in school the general idea of life and death, and we have also seen in other forms of entertainment (television, plays, etc) how it is this mysterious thing that nobody knows much about. Barthelme combines these two common places for the discussion in an interesting way, as a teacher who is questioning why this is happening, if there is some sort of otherworldly force that is causing these. He also shows how this concept isn't something that we actually pay too much attention to, almost like we are attempting to keep our focus away from it. As soon as the children were presented with something new their attention went toward that. The gerbil also can represent birth, the joy surrounding it and how it can be unexpected.