Effects Of The Pigman Essay

Environment Effect The environment affects how people will behave in a specific situation. They can act like a different person because of the physical condition they are in and how it makes them feel. In The Pigman, by Paul Zindel, John changes his personality when he is placed in different scenarios. John acts differently when he is in school than when he is out of school. In school, John doesn't care about of his grades and usually does not do his homework. He does pranks such as setting off pocket-sized bombs in the bathroom to gain attention to himself. He could care less about what he is learning at school. The first few sentences of the book are, “I used to really hate school when I first started at Franklin High. I hated it so much the first year they called me the Bathroom Bomber. Other kids got elected G.O. President and class secretary and lab-squad captain, but I got elected the Bathroom Bomber” (Zindel 1). He says “hate” multiple times to emphasize how much he truly dislikes school. It gives the reader a negative connotation with his experiences of school. He is nicknamed and
elected “bathroom bomber” as an insult. He does not have importance because is “in charge” of the bathroom, which illustrates that peers don’t think highly of him. Other classmates get major titles, while he has a silly and unimportant title. This illustrates the the way kids see him at school. He is jokes around is and overhyped, and he does pranks to convince other students to accept him. At school, he is being a prankster, and childish, but in different situations he can act differently. When he is out of school, John wants to be thought of as tough and intimidating. Lorraine said “He has these gigantic eyes that look right through you, especially if he’s in the middle of one of his fantastic everyday lies. He drinks and smokes more than any boy I ever heard of” (Zindel 8). By drinking and smoking, he is attempting to make kids believe that he is cool. This would change how they would see him because he is being adventurous and taking it to the max. Lorraine said, “more than any boy I ever heard of” to demonstrate that he does it more than other people making him the best. At school, he is thought of as being childish, so smoking and drinking would make him act as if he is an adult. She uses the wording “fantastic everyday lies” to emphasize that he lies all the time and that they are convincing. Lying is making make someone else believe something when you are telling them an untruthful statement. He would lie to people to cover parts of his identity that he does not want others to know about. This supports that he has weaknesses that he does not say to anyone and keeps them to himself. By lying, he is showing that he does not have self-confidence and that the smoking and drinking is something that makes up for the lack of confidence. Therefore, he has differnt personalities from when he is in school, and when he is out of school. When Mr.Pignati was having a heart attack, John acts differently than expected. He is expected to act childish and have over confidence, but in this scenario he is being mature. While Mr.Paganti was having a heart attack, John thought, “I knew it was a heart attack right away. Lorraine almost passed out, but I knew enough to call the police….I answered all the questions he asked, and when I didn’t know the answers, I made them up”(Zindel 111.) He calls the police, so they can solve the problem instead of being irresponsible and thinking he could do it himself. He understands what he is cable of doing and understands when he needs others use their specialties that he doesn’t have.. The police and ambulance would be able to have a better chance of saving Mr.Pignati's life than John and Lorraine by themselves. He answered the questions proudly, and wanted to show that he had control and was able to stay was calm. A sense of independence and knowing how to behave is what John shows at this moment. It is because Mr.Pignati is in danger, which is why he is not fooling and around and instead apportioning the situations seriously. This could possibly be the last moment he has with Mr.Pignati, and John does not want to him to die, and he is under pressure to behave. If he does not behave than it could be what causes him to die from wasting time that he does not have. In The Pigman, by Paul Zindel, John has different personalities based on the situation that he is put in .
People have an urge to be a different person depending on whom they are with and where they are. These variables affect how they behave because they want to have a different reputation based off of their environment. They would be more mature when they are with someone else that they respect and think of being greater than they would be more mature. If someone is with people than they feel does not have as much respect for someone, then he would be childish and let loose due to that they do not think highly of this/these people. Everyone has differnt amounts of respect for differnt people and this is a factor of how they interact with them. The location also affects them because the place can bring back memories and they can have a positive or
negative.