The Pigman Youth Quotes
How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter)
Quote #1
[John:] But I gave up on all that kid stuff now that I'm a sophomore. The only thing I do now that is faintly criminal is write on desks. (1)
Ironically, John tells us that he is more mature this year, but writing on desks is hardly indicative of maturity.
Quote #2
[Lorraine:] The reason John gets away with all these things is because he's extremely handsome. I hate to admit it, but he is. An ugly boy would have been sent to reform school by now. He's six feet tall already, with sort of longish brown hair and blue eyes. He has these gigantic eyes that look right through you […] (2)
Lorraine begins this description with the objective statement that John is extremely handsome. However, in the last sentence, the tone shifts, and her description of his "gigantic eyes that look right through you" hints that she is attracted to him.
Quote #3
[Lorraine:] I had moved into John's neighborhood at the start of my freshman year, and he and a bunch of other kids used to wait for the same bus I did on the corner of Victory Boulevard and Eddy Street. I was in a severe state of depression the first few weeks because no one spoke to me. It wasn't that I was expecting the boys to buzz around and ask me out, but I was sort of hoping that at least one of the girls would be friendly enough to borrow a hairpin or something. I stood on that corner day after day with all the kids, and nobody talked to me. I made believe I was interested in looking at the trees and houses and clouds and stray dogs and whatever—anything not to let on how lonesome I felt inside. (2)
Lorraine describes her misery at being "the new girl" and feeling unpopular. She also, unwittingly, reveals her very shy nature, saying that she wished people would talk to her. But she never talked to them.
Quote #4
"An actor?" Bore blurted as if it finally got through to him. "Thank God Kenneth isn't a lunatic."
"Dad, it's the only thing I'm really interested in doing. I want to go to acting school right after graduation. Everyone says that's what I should be, with my imagination—"
"Try eating your imagination when you're hungry sometime."
"I just don't want to wear a suit every day and carry an attaché case and ride a subway. I want to be me. Just me. Not a phony in the crowd."
"Who's asking you to be a phony?"
"You are."
"I'm asking you to try working for a change. At your age I was working hard, not floundering around in a fool's dream world." (7)
This conversation between John and his father is a typical "generation gap" conversation. John's father doesn't understand his son, or try to, even calling him a "lunatic."
Quote #5
[Lorraine:] There's one picture of my mother and father in an album, which is how I like to remember them. He's wearing a football uniform—a handsome young man—with his arm around her. She's wearing one of those funny raccoon coats. They're smiling at each other in a grass field somewhere in Stapleton. (10)
Lorraine's parents were young, in love, and happy once. Here we see a glimpse of the happy young woman Lorraine's mother once was. (Stapleton is a waterfront neighborhood on Staten Island.)
Quote #6
"Dinner is served," she [Lorraine] announced, carrying this big plate of congealed spaghetti. We each sat at opposite ends of the table with the candles burning away. I [John] poured us some wine in these long-stemmed glasses, and for a few moments we just sat looking at each other—her with the feather in her hair and me with my moustache.
"To the Pigman," I said softly.
"To the Pigman."
She lifted her glass, and she was lovely. (11)
Lorraine and John seem to be playing a more grown-up version of "dress-up," practicing to enter the adult world. Their costumes and roles seem to have freed them to show their attraction to one another. This scene takes place immediately after their first kiss (also in costume) and it is the first time John tells us that he thinks Lorraine is "lovely."
Quote #7
[Lorraine:] Monday when we had the spaghetti dinner and put on those costumes was a lovely evening. It really was. I think when we looked at each other in the candlelight, it was the first time I was glad to be alive. I didn't know exactly why. It was sort of silly I suppose—him with his moustache and me with the feather in my hair—but somehow it was as if I was being told about something, something wonderful, something beautiful waiting just for me. All I had to do was wait long enough. (12)
Lorraine's memory of this evening is equally happy. They have created the Hollywood version of the "romantic dinner," complete with candles, wine, and fancy clothes.
Quote #8
[Lorraine:] This particular mood in John had been building up ever since the night that he kissed me in the bedroom. I don't know whether he had just started thinking about our relationship—that I might possibly be something more than his straight man. I really don't know. But suddenly we had become slightly awkward in front of each other. Of course I had always been clumsy around him, but at least I knew I had been in love with him for months. I also knew he liked me a lot but only as a friend or a dreamboat with a leak in it. But now suddenly he was wearing shaving lotion, combing his hair, and fighting with me. There was something about all that which made me smile as I scraped the Sloppy-Joe sauce off his plate. (12)
We see more of Lorraine's feelings about the early stage of their romance. Interestingly, Lorraine sees John's picking fights with her as romantic. Huh? In their world, it seems that bickering is taken for granted as an aspect of romance.
Quote #9
[Police officer:] "This where you live?"
[Lorraine:] "Yes . . . please. . . ."
"Do you kids always get your kicks picking on old people?"
"Please just let us go. I promise we won't do anything like this again. We won't go over there any more." I was ashamed of myself because I was beginning to plead.
"Let's just talk to your family a minute," the skinny one said, opening his door. I burst into tears as the cold air rushed into the car. […]
The policeman took me up the steps.
"My mother's going to beat me."
"You should have thought about that a little earlier, young lady." He rang the bell. (14)
We suddenly see Lorraine and John's involvement with Mr. Pignati from the point of view of the police, who think they are bad kids "picking on old people."
Quote #10
[Lorraine:] "I didn't do anything wrong," I said slowly, unsure of what her next move would be. I wanted to scream the thoughts that were flashing through my mind at her. I wanted to tell her how she didn't know anything about me—how she hadn't noticed that I happened to be a human being myself . . . that I wasn't still the little girl that waved from the window when she stood at a bus stop. Look at me, I wanted to yell, can't you see I'm growing up and that I've got to have friends? That I want to have friends—that I need other people in this world besides you!" (14)
Like John wishes his father understood him, Lorraine wishes her mother understood her and treated her like a separate person with rights and desires.