What is John like according to Lorraine in Paul Zindel's The Pigman?

Lorraine's perspective of John is sweet and kind. She feels like he portrays himself worse that he really is. For example, John writes the first chapter and talks about him smoking, swearing, drinking, bombing bathrooms, and rolling fruit to scare substitute teachers. He basically shows his rebel side and Lorraine clarifies in chapter 2 that he isn't as bad as he portrays himself to be. She says that he gets away with all of the rebellious things he does because he's "extremely handsome" (7). When they first met on the bus, he seemed very odd to her, too, because he just laughed and laughed at nothing whatsoever, and he made her laugh, too. So, he's probably goofy as well. She also gives a more direct characterization of John in the following passage:

"He's six feet tall already, with sort of longish brown hair and blues eyes. He has these gigantic eyes that look right through you, especially if he's in the middle of one of his fantastic everyday lies" (8).

She even goes on to say that the source of the problem is his family. His dad used to give him alcohol to drink, which can never be a good message to send; but, his parents are older and don't seem to know how to bond with him in a loving way. Aside from that, however, John is compassionate and fun. He makes immature mistakes, but he honestly cares for people like Mr. Pignati and he likes to have fun. For example, he doesn't mind skating around the house, making fun of mall floorwalkers, and and throwing parties. 

One of the best descriptions of John that Lorraine makes is as follows:

"John has made an art out of it (making prevarications). He prevaricates just for prevaricating's sake. It's what they call a compensation syndrome. His own life is so boring when measured against his daydreams that he can't stand it, so he makes up things to pretend it's exciting" (27).

Basically, he's a liar; but that's a fun way to say it. Lorraine turns out to be John's proverbial Jiminy Cricket, though; so they even each other out in the end.

What are John and Lorraine like in the novel "The Pigman"?

John is an artistic, talented, misunderstood, ingenious, and oppressed teen who does what he can to add a little color to his life. He lives under the control of his father and obsessive mother who neither understand him or value his talents. He spends his days playing pranks on his parents and teachers in order to feel as though he controls some part of his life and has even developed a drinking and smoking habit to escape his dreary life. John is also very sensitive and compassionate, especially to Lorraine.

Lorraine is John's best friend. She is intelligent, thoughtful, shy, insecure, paranoid, and emotionally abused by her mother who says she is ugly and clumsy. She is as sensitive and compassionate as John, and she often writes moving stories about those around her. Her passions are psychology and writing.

In Paul Zindel's The Pigman, how does Lorraine justify John's behavior?

In Chapter 2 of Paul Zindel's young adult novel The Pigman, Lorraine uses the fact that John is "extremely handsome" to justify how often John gets away with his rebellious behavior. As she explains, John feels the need to "do something unusual all the time," such as type a letter in Miss Stewart's typing class so that the margins are in the shape of an hourglass. As Lorraine further explains, if John had been ugly, he wouldn't be able to get away with his rebelliousness and would have been shipped off to "reform school."

Lorraine also briefly asserts that "analysts" would blame John's rebelliousness on his need to "assert his independence." Lorraine particularly blames John's behavior on his family. In fact, she states, "We both have families you wouldn't believe," but refuses to go into further details in this particular chapter.

Later, in Chapter 9, from John, we learn that the reason he behaves rebelliously and drinks and smokes so much is simply because his family doesn't care what he does. He further tells a story from when he was a child: his father was a heavy drinker, and John used to attract attention by emptying his father's beer cans. Hence, his father is guilty of influencing John's drinking. However, when his father was diagnosed with liver illness and quit drinking, nobody seemed to notice that John did not quit drinking too. Nobody cares what he does so long as he doesn't bother his father. He also reports that his older brother Kenny is the one everyone admires, and the only thing John can do better than Kenny is drink beer.

In Zindel's The Pigman, what is the first thing Lorraine notices about John?

John and Lorraine are buddies in high school. They sit down to write The Pigman, after their sweet friend, Mr. Pignati, dies from a heart attack. Each chapter is either written solely by John or Lorraine. John writes the first chapter and Lorraine writes the second. The pattern continues throughout the book. Lorraine begins Chapter Two by talking about John, but it isn't until the middle of this chapter that she says how she first notices him. Lorraine first says that she moved into John's neighborhood at the beginning of their ninth grade year. She first notices the trees on the block, but she says the following about the first time she notices John:

"I noticed him the very first day mainly because of his eyes. As I told you, he has these fantastic eyes that take in everything that's going on, and whenever they came my way, I looked in the other direction. His eyes reminded me of a description of a gigantic Egyptian eye that was found in one of the pyramids I read about in a book on black magic . . . That's what John's eyes remind me of. I knew even from the first moment I saw him he had to be something special" (14).

Lorraine and John meet first at the bus stop on the first day of school. They become friends a little bit later, though, when there is one day that there aren't enough seats for him to sit by his friends, so he sits by Lorraine. The two end up laughing for some unknown reason and they are friends from that point on.