The Pigman By: Paul Zindel
This story is about two friends John and Lorraine that try to scam an old man out of $10 by pretending to be a local charity. The old man agrees to give them money and this starts an unusual friendship. John and Lorraine begin to skip school to hang out with Mr. Pignati. Mr. Pignati has a room full of pig ceramics which is what earns him the title of the Pigman. They begin to grow attached to the old man and and start hanging out and doing a variety of activities together like the zoo, and rollerblading. The old man really enjoys their company since he seems rather lonely since his wife died. Mr. Pignati really grows fond of John and Lorraine and takes the to the zoo and to buy roller skates. Their adventures though seem to be what led to Mr. Pignati's heart attack and ultimately his death.
This book may seem very irrelevant in todays society because of the time that it was based in. Students would not be able to get away with skipping that much school without the school notifying their parents. They also used payphone rather than having cellphones so the communication that was lacking in the novel wouldn't be relevant in todays society. I think mostly what seems irrelevant would be that when they were lying to the cops about that they were the children of Mr. Pignati they didn't question it or anything which is very different than today's society. At the core of this novel though I think that it shows a great lesson about how elders are kids at heart and about finding friendships in unexpected places .
Whenever students see a book labeled as a "classic" students tune out. They think it will be boring, and un-relatable. At the core of this book it is about friendship and having fun with your friends. This book can be taught in a way about friendship and feeling lonely and how reaching out to someone can surprise you. I think that this novel can teach the importance of not taking advantage of a situation. This can be a novel to talk about the future with students about making sure they embrace this time and not taking it for granted. This novel also discusses social issues about economic status.
Themes:
Guilt & Blame: In the novel after Mr. Pignati buying the three of them roller skates they start rollerskating throughout the house. Mr. Pignati shows that he can keep up but it ultimately leads to him having a heart attack that leads to John and Lorraine blaming each other that they murdered him. They also show a lot of guilt after trying to scam the old man from money. This can be a great lesson to discuss about doing the right thing and to not lie about who you are.
"You shouldn't have gone upstairs with the roller skates on" (pg. 131)
"He's crying, if you really want to know. The old guy's crying." (pg. 167)
Feeling guilty about doing something really is something that people are struggling with. I think this story can be related to real life situations by referencing the pandemic. In the beginning there were (and still are) people who are not taking this seriously. There are stories that are coming out from the pandemic about people giving family members COVID-19 because they weren't taking the virus seriously and then the family members passing. This led to survivors guilt in many Americans. The story can be read here.
A way that this can be implemented in the classroom would be having the students think about a time that they did something that they had a moment of guilt or blamed something on someone else ect. have them think though a way they could have done it different. This could be a moment of self reflection for the students but it wouldn't be something that they had to share necessarily but just use it as a way for them to look at their behaviors etc.
Deception: From the start John and Lorraine pretend to be someone that they are not around Mr. Pignati. They play into their characters that they are adults working for a charity, they even drink wine with the old man but are very much underage. When the police come to the house after the old man has a heart attack they lie to the police officers about their identity and to the nurse in the hospital in order to see him. They also lie to their parents about where they are so that they can skip school and stay out late.
"Because it's wrong to take money from an old man, thats why" (pg. 33)
"This is Miss Truman of the Howard Avenue Charities. Perhaps you've heard of us and our good work?" (pg. 25)
Deception can be relevant to teach in the classroom when it comes to the idea of "fake news." I feel like when talking about the media lately all you hear is talk of fake news and how one media source is lying or deceiving its views to believe on thing or another. This was really a popular topic when President Trump was in office, he was constantly calling out fake news and saying that the people are being deceived by the media. You can read about how Trump impacted the media with the idea of "fake news" here. This could be a lesson on how it is important with so much access to media to make sure that you check all the facts before believing something to be true.
A lesson that could be implemented in the classroom could be something like a internet scavenger hunt with stories that are real and fake and have the students figure out which ones are which.
Friendship: The main theme of this novel is friendship and making friends with unlikely people. Their friendship really started out from a deception but turned into a friendship that they all depended on. John and Lorraine got experience having things being bought for them and the old man was able to have company and feel like a kid again. I think that the friendship intensifies as they discover more about the old man and see the room of ceramic pigs that represents all of his happy memories.
"Would you mind not laughing because people think I am sitting with a lunatic" (this was the start of their friendship)(pg. 16)
"You see Mr. Pignati we're not charity workers" (pg. 117) (this was in regards to them being honest about who they were which honesty is a great quality for friendship.
To relate this book to real life one could look at the "war" that is going on between millennials and boomers with the generational gap. I think constantly there is something that each generation doesn't like about the other which can be shown here. I think this book can demonstrate that each generation can learn from each other.
A lesson for this could be to have students work with a different grade level on an assignment to recognize that you can easily be friends with people outside of your grade level.
I think a way that this book could be implemented into the classroom would be to have the students write letter to a nursing home or hospital as a pen pal. By actually writing to a nursing home it will help with writing skills while maybe making a friend with someone older. This book also talks about how John wants to be an actor so I could invite someone who acts in a local theater. To practice communication and public speaking skills I could have the students get into groups and demonstrate one of the themes that they experienced in the book to make it more real life and relevant.
While this book is considered in the classics category I think that this book doesn't read like it and can still be enjoyed to this day.
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