The Pigman
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| Author | Paul Zindel |
|---|---|
| Original title | Pardon Me, You're Stepping On My Eyeball! [1] |
| Language | English, Malay |
| Genre | Young Adult literature |
| Publisher | Harper Trophy |
Publication date | 1968-10-12 |
| Publication place | USA |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 166 pages |
| ISBN | 978-0-06-075735-9 |
| OCLC | 58968588 |
| LC Class | CPB Box no. 2360 vol. 13 |
| Followed by | The Pigman's Legacy (1980) The Pigman & Me (1990) |
The Pigman is a young adult novel written by Paul Zindel, first published in 1968.
Plot summary
The novel begins with an "oath" signed by John Conlan and Lorraine Jensen, two high school sophomores, which pledge that they will report only the facts about their experiences with Mr. Angelo Pignati.
While John, Lorraine and their peers are making prank phone calls, Lorraine picks out Mr. Pignati's phone number and pretends to be calling from a charity called the L & J fund. Mr. Pignati offers to donate ten dollars, and John and Lorraine travel to his house to collect the funds. From the first meeting, the two teenagers and the old man become close friends. Mr. Pignati finds new vitality and happily takes on the role of father figure for the two just to help them out.
The next day, Mr. Pignati takes John and Lorraine to the zoo to meet Bobo, a baboon he has taken a liking to. The animal is vicious and ill-tempered, but Mr. Pignati doesn't seem to mind, speaking lovingly to the baboon and feeding it peanuts. He liked the peanuts.
John and Lorraine's visits to the Pigman become increasingly frequent, and during one such visit they discover documents that show that Mr. Pignati's wife is dead, not just on vacation as he had previously told them. Soon they are visiting him every day after school, and he showers them with gifts, food, wine, and most importantly the love and attention they do not receive in their own joyless homes. They reveal to him that they were never affiliated with any charity, and he reveals what they already know: that his wife is dead.
The true betrayal comes, however, when John invites friends over to the house. The situation quickly turns into a drunken, boisterous party during which Mr. Pignati's house is ransacked and his late wife's collection of porcelain pigs is smashed by Norton Kelly, a juvenile delinquent.
Mr. Pignati returns to find his house ransacked, and is incredibly hurt when he finds out John and Lorraine are responsible for the incident. They both feel terrible, and offer to take him to the zoo to help make up for it. At the zoo, they discover that Bobo the baboon has died from pneumonia. Mr Pignati, overcome with grief, succumbs to a heart attack, leaving John and Lorraine grieving and reflecting on the fragility of life.
Characters
Main characters
- Mr. Angelo Pignati (The Pigman)
- John Conlan
- Lorraine Jensen
Other characters
- Norton Kelly
- 'Bore' Conlan, John's father
- 'Old Lady Hyper' Conlan - John's mother
- Conchetta Pignati - the Pigman's late wife
- Dennis Kobin
- Bobo the Baboon
- Mrs Jensen, Lorraine's mother
- Helen Kazinski
- Melissa Dumas
- Nick Cahill
- Bobo (aka Bryan)
Trivia
- In an interview, Paul Zindel said that he was going to name the book Pardon Me, You're Stepping On My Eyeball!.[2] However, his publishers preferred The Pigman. Zindel would later go on to use the title on another unrelated book.
- In his autobiography, Zindel revealed that the titular character is based on his housemate's father and personal Pigman; John's was based on a teenage delinquent he met while minding a house; and the model for Lorraine was based on a student who was in one of his chemistry classes.
See also
References
External links
- Paul Zindel (Fall 1994). "Journey To Meet the Pigman". The Alan Review. Retrieved 2010-03-05.
- Study Guides