The Pigman

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The Pigman is a book for young adults written by Paul Zindel, first published in 1968.

This novel tells the story of two high school sophomores, John Conlan and Lorraine Jensen, who are disenchanted with their parents, school, and life in general. However, their lives change when they meet an eccentric old man they nickname "The Pigman".

[edit] Summary

The story is told from a dual point of view; John Conlan and Lorraine Jensen take turns narrating, alternating each chapter between them.

John is a consummate practical joker. Along with Lorraine, and his two other friends, Norton and Dennis, they play what they like to call a "telephone marathon", in which one of them closes their eyes, points at a random name in a telephone book, and calls them, trying to keep the talker on the line as long as possible. Lorraine cheats by sneaking a peek into the book and locating a name that interests her. She calls Mr. Pignati, or "The Pigman", and eventually gets $10 from him by telling him that she is part of a charity. John gets very excited by this, but Lorraine feels guilty about lying to him.

The next day John and Lorraine go to meet Mr. Pignati and collect the $10. Originally, they'd decided not to, but John convinced Lorraine into doing it by telling her that Mr. Pignati may be suicidal, and she'd never know. They stay a while, and he invites them to explore his house. In passing, Mr Pignati says that his wife Conchetta is in California visiting his sister, but later, we find that his wife is dead. His treasured memories of her are preserved in her collection of miniature pigs.

Mr Pignati takes them to his favorite places, including the zoo, where they find his "best friend" is Bobo, a baboon. The kids dislike Bobo, thinking there are more beautiful primates in the zoo, but Mr. Pignati sees Bobo as a person.

They go to Mr. Pignati's house every afternoon, especially in the winter, to spend time with him. At some point, John and Lorraine tell him that they're not really part of a charity organization, and he then confesses that Conchetta is dead, although they had found out beforehand from the statements.

They engage in a roller skate game, using the wooden roller skates that they bought at Beekman's. John runs up the stairs, and the Pigman follows, suddenly suffering a heart attack on the way up.

John and Lorraine are scared, but they find out that he will be all right after some time in the hospital. They now have the house to themselves, by permission of Mr. Pignati. His one request is for them to feed Bobo while he's in the hospital.

John wants to have a party, inviting only a few friends, but of course they bring their friends and eventually the house is jammed with over forty people. Norton arrives uninvited, becomes very belligerent and gets into a physical fight with John, during which Conchetta's pigs are smashed. Lorraine and another girl try on some of Conchetta's dresses, and one of them gets ripped. At the end the Pigman and the police arrive, and John passes out.

John and Lorraine are brought home by the police. Loraine's mother, a sexually repressed termagant who has overprotected her daughter, is shocked and furious. Assuming the worst, she slaps Lorraine a few times, but Lorraine finally explains the situation to her.

That evening, Lorraine and John invite the Pigman to the zoo. The Pigman seems exhausted and sad and feels that John and Lorraine have betrayed his trust. The three of them meet the next day, Mr Pignati looks exhausted, but still looks foward to seeing Bobo. When they get to the zoo an attendant tells them that Bobo has died. Mr Pignati drops to the floor,unable to take what has happened in the last couple of days, suffering another painfully short and fatal heart attack.

John and Lorraine feel responsible for his death, but tell themselves that it wasn't their fault. They realize that their attitudes toward life and toward themselves have been changed forever by the experience.

The novel is widely taught in American schools, and also made it on to the list of most frequently banned books in America in the 1990's, because of what some deem offensive language, although most of the "cursing" in the book is rendered as punctuation symbols. The book currently appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 at number forty-four. [1]

ISBN 0-553-26321-8

[edit] Characters

John Conlan - A drinker. He believes life isn't interesting, and lies to make it interesting. In freshman year, he set up bombs in the boy's bathroom.
Mr. Conlan - Nicknamed "The Bore" by John. He works at the Exchange. He is a former drinker, and is the reason why John has become a drinker.
Mrs.Conlan - Nicknamed the "Old Lady". She is an obssesive cleaner, and normally darts out of any confrantations John has with her husband.
Kenneth Colan (mentioned briefly) - John's brother, who works at the Exchange. He's the son that John's parents want him to be.
Lorraine Jensen - She reads psychological books like Freud, as well as articles. She's paranoid, and notices 'omens' that's she's convinced were pointing to the death of Mr. Pignati.
Norton Kelly - An aquantance of John and Lorraine. Usally gets "Five-finger discounts" or shoplifts. He is nicknamed The Marshmellow kid because he was caught shoplifting a bag of marshmellows. He used to play with dolls as a kid. He did telephone Marathons with John, Lorraine, and Dennis.
Conchetta Pignati - Mr. Pignati's late wife. She collected porcelain pigs, the first one given to her by Mr. Pignati. She only liked one picture of herself.
Mr. Angelo Pignati - A lonely old man whose wife resently passed away-- and he won't admit it. His best friend is a Baboon named Bobo and he makes regular trips to the zoo. Befriends John and Lorraine.
Mrs. Jensen - Lorraine's single hardworking mom. She is a nurse who dispises men. She constantly puts down Lorraine, but is working more for her sake.
The Cricket - Also known as Miss Reillen, the librarian at Franklin High School. She wears tight clothes, so when ever she walks, she makes a scratchy noise, like a cricket. She thinks John and Lorraine are using the typewriter to type a report for there english teacher, but in reality, they are writing the epic novel about the Pigman.
Dennis Kobin - An aquantance of John and Lorraine. He did telephone Marathons with John, Lorraine and Norton. He currently holds the record of 2 hours and 26 minutes on the telephone.
Jane Appling - A tall classmate of Lorraine. She is the only girl who doesn't have a telephone, and usually begins her sentences with "Saaaaaaaay".

[edit] Sources

• The Pigman Summary-- Character section was used.