Metaphor

Beyond the obvious story that King tells, there are metaphorical meanings in Scott’s condition that make the novella a comment about living life well. Scott’s lightness comes from a condition that causes him to lose weight but not mass. The things that would generally weigh other people down do not make any impact on Scott’s weight. Scott realizes that the things he misses most as he sheds things in his preparation for the end of his life, that it is relationships that are most important.

Just like people are weighed down by their physical bodies, people are also weighed down by emotional and physical burdens. In Scott’s case, one of his emotional burdens was his spat with his neighbors about their dogs pooping on his lawn. Once Scott began losing weight, the dog poop became less of a problem to him. When...