Posted by Amerson Suson on June 06, 1999 at 20:32:16:
The black horse in this story represents death. The significance of Tova bearing Jeff toward the black horse in a way is preparing herself for Jeff's death. From the reading, we know that Jeff is very sick and does not have a lot of time left. But Jeff does not know that he is sick at all. So this is preparing Tova for the worse to come. Tova needs to be strong when that time comes and Jeff is not there anymore. When Jeff saw the carousel and wanted to ride in it, he never wanted Tova to go with him like he knows what is going to happen (his death) to him in the future. It seems like Jeff is hinting Tova that everything is going to be alright when he goes away.