A Message from the Pig-Man Essay

Eric is a six year old boy, he is an only child who is going through a though time, because his parents have gotten a divorce. Eric thinks it‘s a bit odd that his Dad can’t live with him, his mother and Donald, his stepfather, because the spare room is empty and no one has used it in a long time. Eric feels like people can’t explain things to him that he does not understand. For example the Pig-Man. For him the Pig-Man sounds like a monster because no one of the grownups wants to tell him about the Pig-Man. One evening Eric’s mother asks him to go out with a paper carrier full of potato-peelings and scraps. Eric Does not want to go, but his mother says he can scrape out the basin, which she had made some cake mixture in. When he gets outside the trashcan is gone. But his mother sends him to run after the Pig-Man. When Eric sees who the real Pig-Man is, a big relief runs through his body, because the big man is ordinary man and not how he had imagined him to look like. Author: Poet, critic and novelist. John Barrington Wain was born in Stoke-on-Trent, the son of a dentist, and educated at Newcastle-under-Lyme Grammar School, Staffordshire, before going on to St. John’s College, Oxford. From 1949 until 1955 he lectured in English at Reading University before turning to freelance writing full-time. From 1973 to 1978 he was Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford. For most of his life, John Wain worked as a freelance journalist and author, writing and reviewing for newspapers and the radio. He died in May 1994 at Oxford. From 1974 his literary manuscripts have been deposited at Edinburgh University Library. Setting: The story is taking place at Eric’s home, in the dining-room and in the Kitchen. Also outside where the bucket is standing, and then where Eric meets the Pig-Man. The time of the story is about 2 days. * Day 1. Where you hear everything about Eric’s life. When Eric is dreaming about the Pig-Man and his dad going on a train together. * Day 2. When Eric is going to bring the paper carrier to the Pig-Man. Characters: Eric: He is nearly 6 years of age and has difficulties adapting to the new circumstances. The complicated grown-up world is taking over. He is very proud that the grown-ups also see him as a responsible young man. There are many questions he would like to ask the grown-ups but is afraid to do so. Eric does not understand why his father had to leave just because Donald moved in. He is worried about being left alone and he does not have anyone he can trust and open his feelings to. Eric’s mother: Is a caring mother. She told Eric that nothing was going to change when she and his father got a divorce and Donald would move in with them. When she wants Eric to go out with the paper carrier, she tells Eric that he can scrape the basin of cake-mixture. That is a way for her to get Eric to do things and that tells us much about how the mother is.