Mr. Pignati’s collection of pig figurines symbolizes Mr. Pignati’s trust in John and Lorraine. The pig collection also tracks the evolution—and eventual dissolution—of the teens’ friendship with Mr. Pignati. Mr. Pignati first shows the teens his pig collection on their initial visit to his house. Though John and Lorraine don’t yet consider the elderly widower their friend—at this point, they’re still going by phony names and pretending they’re charity workers as part of a prank—this initial visit is the catalyst that initiates the development of their friendship with Mr. Pignati. Mr. Pignati’s pig collection is really important to him because it belonged to his late wife, Conchetta, who collected the clay, porcelain, and glass pigs from all around the world. Mr. Pignati’s decision to show the teens something so important to him shows that he trusts them and wants to invite them into his life. Lorraine, in particular, recognizes the significance of Mr. Pignati’s gesture; indeed, she never messes with the room where Mr. Pignati keeps his pigs, considering it “almost religious” and believing it contains Mr. Pignati’s “spirit.”
The teens’ friendship with Mr. Pignati grows until they consider him among their favorite people. But all that changes when John invites a bunch of his and Lorraine’s classmates over for a party at Mr. Pignati’s house while Mr. Pignati is at the hospital. The party itself is a massive betrayal of Mr. Pignati’s trust, and when notorious troublemaker Norton Kelly arrives uninvited and systematically destroys all the pigs, it takes things to a whole new level. When Mr. Pignati returns home early and finds his house in disarray and his pig collection destroyed, he’s totally crushed—both by the destruction of his pigs and by John and Lorraine’s betrayal. Though the teens try to apologize to Mr. Pignati—and though Mr. Pignati seems willing, albeit cautiously, to forgive them—he dies of a second heart attack before any of that can happen, leaving John and Lorraine’s relationship with him just as irreversibly broken as the pig collection.
Pigs Quotes in The Pigman
The room was very dark though I could make out the shapes of pigs all around me. But instead of being on a table the pigs were arranged on a long black container, and as I started to realize what it was the fingers propelling my legs tightened and moved me closer. I felt the same horrible force taking control of my arms, and I couldn’t stop my hands from moving down to the lid of the box. When I touched it my hands went cold, and I knew I was about to open a coffin. I started to cry and plead and call to God to stop me as the lid began to rise.
Several other broken pigs were laying all over the floor, and the only thing I could think of at that moment was the proud and happy look on Mr. Pignati’s face when he had shown us the pigs that first day.
I wanted to phone him and say, Mr. Pignati, we didn’t mean things to work out like that. We were just playing.
Playing
Pigs Symbol Timeline in The Pigman
