The Pigman

Lorraine shares the role of narrating the story with John and offers a sensitive and psychological foil to his headstrong, foolhardy tendencies. Though they are both outcasts, Lorraine lacks John’s charm and wit, and she finds herself socially isolated and easily led by others. Her internal monologue displays a surprisingly self-assured teenage girl despite her reclusive nature and the cruel abuse she receives from her mother: “If I made a list of every comment she’s made about me, you’d think I was a monstrosity. I may not be Miss America, but I am not the abominable snowwoman either” (9). Lorraine lives in fear of her mother and is careful to follow her strict rules for behavior, but her growing relationship with John causes her to push the boundaries of her mother’s iron rule. Soon, she finds herself in a complex web of lies and rebellion.

Lorraine is obsessed with psychology and mental health disorders. She even appears to self-diagnose herself as a person with anxiety or a panic disorder: “I had all of them—but most of all I had paranoia. That’s when you think everybody’s making fun of you when they’re not” (12). Though she does not see the need for help for herself, she thinks her mother and others like John could benefit from therapy or psychological intervention. When alone, she is an astute observer of others, and her assertions about their character are usually correct; however, her character changes when she is with John. She becomes more confident, but his presence also weakens her resolve: “I used to be afraid to have people look at me, but ever since I met John I seem to wear little things that make them look. He wears phony noses and moustaches and things like that. He’s even got a big pin that says ‘MY, YOU’RE UGLY,’ and he wears that once in awhile” (48). She tries to sway him away from poor decisions, but the effort is small and shallow, and before she can even realize it, she follows him into disaster. Aside from her cerebral nature, Lorraine is also attuned to the mystical and supernatural. Her chilling omens and a looming sense of dread foreshadow a somber outcome for the story. In the end, the author provides no resolution for Lorraine’s character as John narrates the final chapter, and the last image of Lorraine is of her sobbing hopelessly, being led away from the body of a man she believes they murdered.

Angelo Pignati is a lonely widower who befriends John and Lorraine after they prank call him disguised as charity workers asking for money. Mr. Pignati, or “the Pigman” as John and Lorraine call him, is a tragic character who is in denial of his wife’s death and has made his house a shrine to her memory, yet he is kind and exudes a simple childlike innocence: “And always with a big smile so you knew he meant it. That was the Pigman” (85). Mr. Pignati has kept all of his wife Conchetta’s clothing and jewelry, along with their shared collection of ceramic pig figurines, and lives alone, surrounded by reminders of his grief. Having developed an unhealthy attachment to a baboon named Bobo at the zoo, Mr. Pignati is desperate for a connection, someone to love and nurture. Even when the teenagers reveal their deception, he quickly forgives them, eager for them to remain in his life. When Lorraine is mistaken for his daughter, she, not him, corrects the stranger as he whisks them through the department store, keen to spoil them as if they were his own. Sadly, other than knowing his wife Conchetta is dead, the reader learns little else about Angelo Pignati because John and Lorraine do not ask him about himself or his life. This lack of detail adds to the tragedy because when he dies, the reader, like John and Lorraine, is left feeling as though they never truly knew the lonely man.

For John and Lorraine, Mr. Pignati represents the family they each long to embrace. Each time they visit, the Pigman greets them with a joyous smile, invites them into his home, and offers them hospitality and a sense of familial love. John explains, “He said we were delightful, and if there’s one way to show how much you’re not trying to make believe you’re not behind the times, it’s to go around saying people are delightful” (14). In contrast to the wounding criticism Lorraine and John receive at their homes, they feel accepted and free when they are with Mr. Pignati. This allows them to explore the childlike nature they each had hidden away to survive in their households and placate their parents. Unfortunately, tapping into their youthful, foolish nature leads them to take advantage of Mr. Pignati’s kindness, causing him much pain and potentially leading to his early demise. The relationship with Mr. Pignati offers the teenagers a chance for character development and moral growth, but they selfishly exploit the relationship for their foolish desires. They are left standing over his dead body, wondering if their carelessness caused the innocent man’s death.

Lorraine’s mother appears at first to be a callous, cruel woman who verbally abuses her daughter and is unsympathetic to the dying patients for whom she cares as an in-home nurse. She is not only strict but obsessed with the notion that Lorraine is having sex or being mistreated by men. However, as the story unfolds, through her narration, Lorraine explains that her mother has had a hard life, and her mistrust of men is well placed. Forced to raise her daughter as a single mother after her husband’s infidelity ended their marriage, Ms. Jensen works long hours at an emotionally and physically demanding job and struggles to make ends meet. She lacks the physical and emotional resources to parent Lorraine properly. Though her condemning and demeaning attitude toward her daughter is inexcusable, the reader can empathize with her hopelessness and lack of trust in men. Lorraine even has compassion for her mother when she sees her crying alone at night: “It was easy to feel sorry for her, to see how awful her life was—even to understand a little why she picked on me so. It hadn’t always been like that though” (70). Lorraine tries to empathize with her mother, but she cannot fully understand the situation, and ultimately, her relationship with her mother manifests in trauma as Lorraine struggles with a poor self-image and lives in abject fear of her mother’s physical and emotional abuse.

When she lets her hair down, Lorraine sees traces of the woman her mother once was, though as soon as she opens her mouth, the beauty dissipates. Lorraine’s mother symbolizes the power of words, especially toward a teenage girl. Ms. Jensen is a woman betrayed by her husband, who now sees the world as her enemy. She thinks she is toughening up Lorraine and preparing her to survive in a world that is dangerous and unforgiving to females, but instead, she harms her daughter by withholding love and acceptance and making Lorraine feel shameful and alone. Her parenting strategy backfires when Lorraine fights back against the abuse and repression with rebellious lying and deception. In John and Mr. Pignati, Lorraine looks for the love and acceptance she does not have at home, which leads to disastrous consequences. The final images of Ms. Jensen are of her epiphany that she has completely lost control of her daughter. Finding words inadequate to exert her hatred, she slaps her daughter on the face in front of law enforcement and then again when they are inside the house. She then dissolves into tears, and Lorraine ends up comforting her mother, a sad and tragic scene of the abused consoling the abuser.