Pacing in His Cage

Pacing in His Cage is a comparison that renders Jimmy Hoffa’s imprisonment as a kind of public enclosure. Like a tiger at the Philadelphia Zoo, he spends his time moving back and forth while people watch, an image that makes confinement both physical and exposed.

The Image of Confinement

The comparison is specific: Hoffa is likened not simply to a captive animal but to a tiger at the Philadelphia Zoo, pacing all day and looking at the people outside its cage. The repeated movement suggests a life narrowed to restless routine, while the watching crowd marks the distance between the confined figure and those free to observe him. The passage presents this as an image of Hoffa’s condition, not as a literal visit to the zoo.

Narrative Context and Effect

The image follows the account of Bill Bufalino walking out on Hoffa during a prison visit and not returning, as far as the narrator knew. The text then shifts from that personal rupture to the broader spectacle of confinement: Hoffa is pictured as isolated and on display. The phrase’s force lies in that contrast between his former reach and the repetitive motion of a man held behind bars.