The Story of The Pigman

The Pigman is a story about John and Lorraine, high school sophomores who, not getting what they need from their families, must surreptitiously seek love, reassurance, and meaning on the outside. In each other and Mr. Pignati (the Pigman), owner of a porcelain pig collection, they find love and reassurance; the meaning they find in themselves, in the unfolding of their relationship with Mr. Pignati and the drama leading to his death.

John, a handsome and wild boy, drinks and smokes excessively; and, as Lorraine points out, only his good looks have kept him out of reform school. Lorraine, a shy girl John's own age, has low self-esteem and mild paranoia. John becomes attracted to her because he sees in her the same spontaneous, crazy quality that he has and no one else seems to share.

John and Lorraine meet Mr. Pignati via a phone game to see who can keep a stranger on the line the longest. They get a $10.00 donation for a bogus charity and feel guilty about it, since they perceive how lonely the Pigman is. To make up for taking the money, they take Pigman to feed his only friend in the world, Bobo, an incredibly bad-tempered baboon.

Mr. Pignati, as he shows them his pig collection that once belonged to his deceased wife, gives John and Lorraine the run of his house. Soon, Lorraine and John become close friends with the Pigman, who takes them to Beekman's, a large department store, where he buys them rollerskates and gourmet food. They play games together. They are like the three monkeys that they see in the pet department at Beekman's, hugging each other to be loved, and all the while the cold, indifferent world goes about its business ignoring them.

One day during a game of rollerskate tag in his house, Mr. Pignati has a heart attack while chasing John up the stairs. He is taken to the hospital, and in his absence John and Lorraine use the house to throw a wild party. Mr. Pignati returns unexpectedly at the height of the commotion. John and Lorraine are taken home by the police; the Pigman cries alone in his room.

John and Lorraine feel remorseful for betraying Pigman's friendship and for the destruction of his precious pigs by their uninvited friend, Norton, a thief, looking for money. To smooth things over, they convince Mr. Pignati to join them to see Bobo at the zoo the next day. But Bobo is dead. Poor Mr. Pignati cannot take the heartbreak. His wife is dead. The pigs are destroyed. His best friend Bobo is dead. Mr. Pignati dies, too.

John and Lorraine know they are partly to blame for his death. They know now they are also responsible for what happens in their lives.

"The Promise" and Ch. 1

1. What do certain people believe John and Lorraine did to the Pigman?

2. Why are John and Lorraine writing this book?

3. What does John call the first book he and Lorraine wrote?

What is the meaning of this term?

4. What books does John like to read?What things does he say he doesn't like to read?

5. Does John ever misbehave? Explain.6. Could he be termed a "wild boy" like the poet Rimbaud?

7. What does John say you have to know about in order to understand this book?

Ch. 2

1. What is Lorraine's area of expertise?

2. What does she say about Lady Macbeth?

3. What time does she say comes "in everyone's childhood"?

4. What is "a pigman"?

What are some of the examples Loraine gives of "a pigman" coming into people's lives?

5. Where do John and Lorraine live?

6. Explain what happens one day on Howard Avenue.

Ch. 3

1. Explain who Dolly Racinski is and what she means to John and Lorraine. How is she different from other adults in their lives?

2. What I Lorraine's mother like?

3. What are John's parents like?

4. What does John mean by saying that all of life is "adolescence"?

5. What does John say happens when someone you love dies?

6. In what way did John love Mr. Pignati?

7. What does the last line of the chapter foreshadow?

Ch. 4

1. What do Lorraine and John find as they enter Mr. Pignati's house?

2. What happens when they call to Mr. Pignati?

Ch. 5

1. Who really is in the house?

2. Who is he hiding from?

3. Who or what does Lorraine think the old man is?

Why does she think he's there, for what purpose?

4. Why does she want to go back to the house? What does she believe she and John are being given?

5. What does the old man say when they return to the house?

Ch. 6

1. What attitude does the old man take towards John and Lorraine?

2. What is he wearing around his neck?

3. What does he tell them about the Colonel?

4. What is the Game of Life?Why does it remind John and Lorraine of Mr. Pignati?

5. Hoe does Lorraine feel about John?Does he seem to feel the same about her?

6. Why hasn't Lorraine become closer to John? What does it have to do with her mother?

7. What has Lorraine resolved to do?8. How is Mrs. Jensen changing?

9. What things do we learn about John from his playing the Game of Life?

Ch. 7

1. Where do John and Lorraine go with Gus?

2. What happens there?

3. What does John think about Mr Pignati on p. 50?

4. What did Gus used to do for work?Who is Gus, really?

Ch. 8

1. Who is the real "Gus"?

2. What must have happened to him?

Ch. 9

1. How do John and Lorraine let "Gus" know that they realize he's the Colonel?

2. How is the Colonel acting when they get back to Howard Avenue?

3. What probably made the Colonel leave the townhouse in the first place?

4. What happens as John and Lorraine are cooking and cleaning for the Colonel?

5. What do John and Lorraine pretend at the hospital?

6. What does the Colonel do at the hospital?

7. What does John say about his parents and the Colonel?

About his teachers?

About Lorraine?

Ch. 10

1. What are the reasons the kids ask Dolly to visit with the Colonel?

2. Do Dolly and the Colonel get along? Explain.

3. What medical problem does the Colonel have?

4. What does Lorraine think about as she and John are walking?

5. How does Lorraine feel about sex?

Ch. 11

1. How dangerous is the Colonel's condition?

2. Where did the Colonel get the money to take to Atlantic City?

3. What does Dolly do when she gets to the Wall in the Game of Life?Why?

4. How successful are Dolly and the Colonel at gambling?

5. What does the Colonel want to do with the money?

6. What eventually happens to the money? Why?

Ch. 12

1. What is Dolly's reaction to John's having lost all the money? Why?

2. Why isn't the Colonel angry about losing his money?

3. What does the Colonel tell Dolly on p. 101?

4. According to the Colonel, which people go to their graves full of regrets regrets?

5. What does the Colonel do with his fossil?

6. What secret have Dolly and the Colonel evidently been keeping?

7. As the Colonel gets sicker and Dolly comforts him, what does Lorraine regret?

What does she do about it?What has Lorraine learned from psychological journals?

8. What does she realize about John's gambling?

9. What realization about his past life does the Colonel come to on p. 104?

Ch. 13

1. What secret was Dolly keeping?

2. Why does the Colonel love Lorraine and John?

3. What does the Colonel announce he wants to do?

4. What is "serendipity?

How does it play a role in the story?

Ch. 14

1. How does Lorraine react to the Colonel's death?

2. What does she say about being weak?

3. What happens when John and Lorraine look at the babies in the nursery?

4. What did the Pigman leave John and Lorraine?In what two ways did they make use of the gift in this story?