The Pigman by Paul Zindel

The Pigman By Paul Zindel

John, in the novel The Pigman by Paul Zindel, was a very dynamic character. Many aspects of his character were displayed throughout the course of the novel. He starts off as this heartless kid who manipulates people and is very self-centered, but by the end of the novel we see that he is also very energetic and craves attention.

John had this amazing ability to make people do whatever he wanted them to do. He was a good manipulator and his charm and cleverness were pretty much why he always got his way. Lorraine was someone he was very good at coercing. When John and Lorraine were going over to visit the Pigman for the first time Lorraine hesitated. She decided it was wrong to take money from a helpless old man and she did not want to go, no matter how much the Pigman needed companionship. Lorraine was going to stick with her decision but John convinced her into going. He knew that when he "could see her biting her lip. She does that every once in awhile when she doesn't know what to say. That's when I know all I have to do is push her a little further and I'll get what I want." (p. 30) John was very good at controlling people. He influenced Lorraine all the time. With a little more convincing, Lorraine agreed to go and they went to visit the Pigman. John was very good at influencing people.

One of John's less appealing qualities was his self-centeredness. He often thought of only himself and not others. When John planned to have the party at Mr .Pignati's he didn't consider that Mr. Pignati might not like a bunch of drunken teenagers stumbling around his house and touching his things. John would lie to himself so he wouldn't feel as guilty. When John said, "I really did think Mr. Pignati would have wanted us to have a few friends over" (p. 118) he was lying. Although he never asked, John should have known that a party would have been out of question. He was very self-centered for having the party and not caring how Mr. Pignati would feel about it.

John was someone who really enjoyed attention. Not only did he enjoy it, he also sought it. When John, Lorraine and Mr. Pignati went shopping at Beekman's department store on the fifth floor of the mall they decided to buy roller-skates. Instead of leaving the store with the roller-skates in a bag, John insisted on wearing them.