The Pigman By: Paul Zindel
Book Summary: The Pigman by Paul Zindel is the story of John Conlan and Lorraine Jensen, two best friends in their sophomore year of high school and the most unlikely pairing. The novel explores the pairs experience with Mr. Angelo Pignati, an older gentlemen who collects pigs and really just wanted someone to talk to.The trio first met because a prank call that went out to Mr. Pignati just trying to get a laugh instead they found an old man who was still looking for adventure and excitement. The novel is expressed in the two perspectives of John and Lorraine switching point of views every chapter while they describe the chain of events that led up to writing the memorial epic!
Discussion of the novel: The Pigman tells a story of learning to try and understand others who may seem complete different from oneself. However, the overall message does not a positive influence for young adolescents as it sets examples and uses language that are not appropriate. Lorraine and John are sophomores in high school, only minors who spend majority of the time with an old man while not informing their guardians of this new relationship, and in terms of an example to young adolescents it does not send the best message (stranger danger). Another reason that this might not be the most effective and relevant tool for teaching is because it can explore hard to talk about concepts in the classroom for young adolescents. Lorraine's mom makes comments about her weight often "because you might as well know I am not exactly the most beautiful girl in the world. I'm nit Venus or Harlow. Just ask my mother. "You're not a pretty girl, Lorraine"(95). It does not set the best example of positive relationships especially how to communicate to others/ family. It also can be that students are not ready to talk about things like self image, or weight which can be triggering to some while around others, and creating safe space for that conversation is most important.
A Different way to teach the text: I think different ways to teach this text would be to open the door for students to read in the point of views of two different narrators. As a style choice it can be a different approach for students to see in a text, and I think having this novel as a supplementary text for a lesson would be helpful. The text touches on themes loss, identity, family relationships, and isolation which are common occurrences within student lives, so I believe using these as topics to lead discussions with students would be a useful way to explore the text, however, this might not be the most current way to look at this text. I also think using it to compare with a current novel that explores similar ideas would be interesting to have students compare similar themes/ concepts in two or three novels with The Pigman. Especially the concept of loneliness as we have come a long way as a society since this novel was published (1968), it can still be seen that as people within our society we have grown further away from each other as the years have past. Or it would be interesting to see if we have grown as people in our treatment of others since the novel has been published, and compare/ contrast how we treat each others, our friends, and families now in contrast to how these roles looked in The Pigman.
Thematic Elements:
Treatment of Others/ Intent: John and Lorraine do not start off with the best treatment of Mr. Pignati, trying to trick him to donating to their fake charity the "L & J Fund" while playing a prank of who can keep the person talking on the phone the longest. There is disregard that both John and Lorraine feel about others an example being John calling his father "Bore" to start. John is a bit more aggressive because things like his want to include swear words while writing, using "retarded" to describe people who at first seem to be his friends, or his willingness to get the ten dollars from Mr. Pignati and much more. Even the family relationships show a type of distance between mother and daughter, father, and son etc. Lorraine feels sorry for her mother "it was easy to feel sorry for her, to see how awful her life was-even easy to understand why she picked on me so. It hadn't always been like that though" (887), but it doesn't justify giving Lorraine as little attention possible, and making her feel such negative things about herself as a young adolescent. On the flip side both John and Lorraine treasured their relationship with Mr. Pignati because he made the, feel seen, and even would kill for him when John said "And always with a big smile so you know he meant it. That was the Pigman, and I knew I'd kill Norton if he tried to hurt the old man"(1080). This shows just show complex these relationships are, but also how much the two really care for the old man even though it doesn't always seem like it.
Family Relationships: John and Lorraine both have quite a complex family dynamic. Lorraine was raised by her mother after her father left at a young age, and then died years later. Her mother is very critical being a nurse for the elderly she's also surrounded by death lingering around her. Her mother works hard and is as miserable as she sounds usually taking out frustration most of the time on her daughter. Lorraine would welcome her mother's attention if she came off more welcoming, instead it's almost just monitorization of her daughter "she always makes me tell the same story over a week or so later to see if I slip up on any details" (1122). While John's family is his mother, father, and older brother Kenneth who is the prized possession of their family. John refers to his father as "Bore" and their relationship is complicated to say the least. His father is the no nonsense type while John would prefer nothing else than to just be himself. While conflict is common between the two of them his mother tends to distance herself from their interactions playing the good housewife role within the home almost avoidant specifically of her husband.
3. Isolation/ Loneliness: Our trio is quite a lonely bunch, with Mr. Pignati losing his life and spending most of his time alone or with a Baboon, he has no one to actually talk to. Lorraine is a little more to herself, and is very self conscience making it hard for her to make new friends especially when she first moved to New Jersey. Lorraine feels completely alone and doesn't want to show it saying"anything not to let on how lonesome I felt inside" (110). The main feeling of being alone affects Mr. Pignati the most as when he fell ill after putting in all the work to see Bobo, "he looked sick, just worn out and sick, even though he was trying to smile, you could tell he was feeling low" (1138). Although, it can feel very immobilizing to be alone or feel as though no one is there for you it is what brought the three of them together. Signifying that idea that however alone we might feel, others will be there who understand or are going through those same feelings.
4. Mortality: The novel has death littered throughout starting with learning that Lorraine's father is dead, and then we learn of the death of Mr. Pignati, "if you ask me, I think he would have died anyway. Maybe we speeded things up a little, but you can't say that we murdered him. Not murdered him" (203). Also John and Lorraine are commonly hanging out at the cemetery and drinking there with Dennis and Norton, and even learn after a while that Mrs. Pignati had died. Then towards the end when Mr. Pignati and Bobo die which is quite tragic, it shows how quickly death can surround us and serves to remind us to treat others with kindness because we can lose them as fast as they came into our lives.
Ties to Current Events: The idea of loneliness has been a common theme, and with the COVID-19 pandemic I think everyone got to have a taste of that in our own way. Right now it can seem like a hard time to connect to one another again, and build on feeling not so isolated which is important for young adolescents to know. Otherwise there was a movie produced about the text in 2001 which is a little more recent named "The Pigman. Another supplementary text to The Pigman is The Pigman's Legacy published by Paul Zindel in 1980 which further explores the characters, and story within The Pigman. Lastly The Pigman & Me was published in 1990 as an autobiography about Paul Zindel which provides insider information on the author.
Community ties into class: I think talking about grief with a specialist is a great way to have young adolescents understand these concepts more, and it might seem a bit morbid but these are the realities of our world, and I think having someone who can communicate about death/ loss from an expert position would be interesting for students. Another major plot point of the novel was Bobo the Baboon, and I think including in some ties to the zoo, or to Bobo in some way would get students more engaged with the text, or having them learn more from a zoologist would be exciting, and a lot lighter or an approach. Another major help to provide students with is more information of grief and loss. This article https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/someone-died.html covers the topic with attention specifically to teens/ young adolescents, and would be good to go over with students to ensure they are equipped to talk about these topics.
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