Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
White discusses his particularly bleak view of the world with Black:
"It's that the world is basically a forced labor camp from which the workers—perfectly innocent—are led forth by lottery, a few each day, to be executed. I don't think that this is just the way I see it. I think it's the way it is. Are there alternate views? Of course. Will any of them withstand scrutiny? No." (122)
Chipper take on the human existence, right? Yeah, not so much. But then again, dude is suicidal, and this passage helps us understand why. Interestingly, though, despite being firmly anti-God, White is actually echoing the words of the French philosopher, theologian, and devout Catholic, Blaise Pascal:
Imagine a number of men in chains, all under sentence of death, some of whom are each day butchered in the sight of the others; those remaining see their own condition in that of their fellows, and looking at each other with grief and despair await their turn. This is an image of the human condition. (Source)
For Pascal, there is an escape hatch built into this situation: becoming a Catholic. However, for White, the escape hatch is merely death, which he would prefer sooner rather than later.