Censorship in a Day No Pigs Would Die

Censorship in A Day No Pigs Would Die

Robert Newton Peck was born in the late 1930's in Vermont. Haven Peck, his father was a "quiet and gentle man whose work was killing pigs." (dedication of novel). Peck grew up on a farm and worked as a lumberjack, in a paper mill, and in a slaughterhouse before he wrote his first book. He was first inspired to write by his first through sixth grade teacher, Miss Kelly, a well-loved lady who filled Peck with dreams about what he could do, if he wanted to. Peck was also inspired by an incident at a cocktail party. " I watched people ram goose liver into their maws and then announce how opposed they were to violence." Peck went on to serve in World War II for two years, and afterwards, graduated from Rollins College and went to study at Cornell University.

Furthermore, Peck grew up during the aftermath of the great depression, WWI, and WWII, when times were tough and kids had to grow up quickly. Robert also grew up with a father who slaughtered animals for a living, and at times seemed cold and cruel. The Pecks grew up in a small town where the main industry was butchering animals.

The novel, A Day No Pigs Would Die, is mostly about Peck, with a little bit of fiction. The book starts of with Robert Peck being made fun of because of the way that he dresses, and Robert imagined that the bully would "bleed like a stuck pig." He then tried to save a fleeing cow during it's delivery.

"I beat her so hard I was crying... the thorns were chewing up my hands real bad. But it only got me madder. I kicked her again one last time, so hard in the udder that I thought I heard her grunt... I stretched my fingers up into her throat... Somebody told me once that a cow won't bite. That somebody is as wrong as sin. (Peck p.8)

He was brutally attacked and passed out from the pain. When he wakes up his father is furious that he had skipped school, but the cow lived to give birth to twins, and Robert receives a pig as a thank you gift. The two become best friends. After work one day, in extreme and gory detail, they watch an eagle hunt and kill a rabbit. Later that night there is a commotion in the town about an affair, and then find Mr. Hillman, a neighbor, digging up a grave. He is digging up the baby from a love affair that he once had with one of Robert's relatives, so that he can expose his sin to the town. After that, they all head back to the Peck's for breakfast.

Next, Robert and Pinky were able to go to the county fair and Pinky gets a ribbon for being best behaved. That night, a weasel killed one of the Peck's chickens. Mr. Peck catches it and lets his neighbor "test his dog against it." They throw the dog and weasel in a barrel together. In the end, Robert makes the dog's owner put the dog out of