The Pigman Theme Essay

“In your opinion, can this book be justifiably taught at your grade level, or not?” In fact, yes. I feel that most of the students in my grade can handle the content, but some of them will think of it as an inappropriate novel. All grades above 8th should be mature enough to read this book. The Pigman is an exciting novel by the author Paul Zindel. This novel always left me in suspense. The two main characters in the novel, John and Lorraine, were hilarious, kind, sneaky and generous. Some parents may think this book would be not appropriate for their kids. There are a couple of themes that would indicate why theses parents would not like The Pigman. Themes such as Drugs, Alcohol, Mortality, and Guilt are described in detail throughout

The parents may totally disagree with the ideas captured in The Pigman by Paul Zindel. Whereas, I believe my fellow classmates are mature enough the handle this novel.

The first theme of The Pigman is drugs and alcohol. For Instance, In the book one of the two main characters tries to get money so he can buy alcohol. His name is John Conlan. John is a guy that is always causing conflicts. In fact, I think he is that way because he doesn’t get along with his father. For example, the contributors for BookRags explains ¨ Both John and Lorraine have poor relationships with their parents, who regard them as disturbing burdens…” (http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-pigman/themes.html#gsc.tab=0 ) Further, after John’s long day with his dad, he decides to go buy some alcohol and hang out with his friends. Another reason why john always drinks is because his father is a heavy alcoholic. John probably does not know better. Also Shmoop Editorial team gives example “Lorraine says that John's father was "a compulsive alcoholic," but has since

Death is expressed throughout this whole novel. First off, I don't want to be a spoiler, but Mr. Pignati (pigman) dies. The Pigman was very old. The Pigman wife also died but since he was depressed, he told John and Lorraine that wife went to California for a couple of months. But throughout this novel there was evidence witnessed that The Pigman’s wife died. Many clues made it clear that she died. Including her name on the newspaper saying she died, her whole closet was full, and all of her makeup and jewelry was still there. The pigman always had a sad voice when John and Lorraine brought up her. Later on he told them that she had died. Considering the Editorial team of Shmoop says “Death is everywhere in The Pigman. Mr. Pignati dies; his wife is dead; Bobo dies; Lorraine's mother tends dying patients; John fears that his father will die soon; John and Lorraine drink above a tomb in the cemetery, where John thinks about the bodies underneath them. Mr. Pignati is so distraught at his wife's death that he cannot even admit that she is dead, but the thought of his own death doesn't seem to bother him.” (http://www.shmoop.com/pigman/mortality-theme.html). Parents who has someone close who died would not want their children to read the book. If a Parent got in a car wreck or died somehow, I would definitely not want my kids to read this book. Ho or she who has read the book may be sad and have emotional problems like the