What is the riddle in the Pigman book?

Answer 1

The conflicts in the story are: Man vs. Man

Lorriane vs. Her Mom

Lorriane vs. John

John vs. Bore

John vs. Norton aka Marshmallow kid

Pignati vs. John & Lorriane

John's mom vs. John's dad

Lorraine's mom vs. Men

John vs. Mom

John vs. Kenith

Answer 2

Plot Summary

Told in chapters alternating from Lorraine's and John's point of view, The Pigman opens with an "Oath," signed by both John and Lorraine, two high school sophomores, in which they swear to tell only the facts, in this "memorial epic" about their experiences with Angelo Pignati, whom they later refer to as the "Pigman."

Harmless Pranks Accelerate

John, one of two protagonists who act as narrator, explains that he hates school, in fact hates "everything," and tells about his past escapades, in which he set off firecrackers in the school bathroom and organized his whole class to roll damaged apples across the classroom floor when the substitute teacher had her back turned. Intelligent, charming, and bored, he's not a bad kid, but is pent-up and restless, with parents who don't understand him and don't want to try.

Lorraine, the other protagonist and narrator of the book, is similarly alienated from her family, which consists only of her mother. Her father, who left when her mother was pregnant with her, is now dead, and her mother works as a private nurse to try and make ends meet. Like John, Lorraine is very intelligent; she wants to be a writer. A keen observer of people, she is compassionate and sensitive. She and her mother moved into John's neighborhood at the beginning of freshman year, and Lorraine and John, perhaps drawn by their mutual restlessness and alienation, have since become good friends.

Lorraine and John, with two other friends, play more pranks outside of school. They devise a game in which the challenge is to call strangers on the phone and keep them on the line for as long as possible by telling outlandish stories. Picking numbers at random from the phone book, Lorraine eventually calls Angelo Pignati, an old man who lives in their neighborhood. He's only too happy to talk to them, and when Lorraine tells him they're calling from a charity and asking for money, he unwittingly offers to give them ten dollars.

Lorraine thinks the joke has gone too far and wants to end the phone call, but John gets on the line and makes arrangements to pick up the money from Mr. Pignati at his house. John tells her Mr. Pignati is probably lonely and will welcome their company.

They Meet Mr. Pignati

Mr. Pignati is thrilled to see them. His house, though messy, smells warm and inviting, and he offers them wine and food, and invites them to come to the zoo with him. He explains that his wife, who usually goes with him, is out of town. He shows them his collection of porcelain pigs, plays a game with them, and gives them the ten dollars.

The next day, they go to the zoo with him and visit his "best friend," Bobo, a vicious baboon. Mr. Pignati seems oblivious to the baboon's nasty personality, and he talks lovingly to the animal and feeds him peanuts and other treats.

Lorraine and John continue visiting Mr. Pignati, lying to their families about where they are going. He tells them to make themselves at home and, while exploring his house, they find funeral documents that show that Mr. Pignati's wife, Conchetta, is actually dead, not on vacation. Her clothes are still in her closet, and Mr. Pignati misses her so much that he can't stand to admit she's really gone.

They Experience Joy in Life

Mr. Pignati takes them on a shopping spree for gourmet delicacies, which his wife loved, and buys roller skates for all three of them. Carefree, they eat the food, drink wine, and listen to his jokes. All of this is a sharp contrast to their own homes, which are depressing and humorless. In John's house, everything is so neat and clean that no one can relax, and his father is always lecturing him about responsibility and trying to force him to be someone he's not, urging him to get a job on Wall Street.

In Lorraine's house, her mother hassles her about hanging out with boys, asks her to stay home from school to clean the house, won't let her use the phone, makes derogatory comments about her appearance, and occasionally hits her. John and Lorraine end up going over to Mr. Pignati's house every day after school for wine and conversation, and become the children Mr. Pignati never had. Eventually they confess that they were never affiliated with any charity, and that they like him more than anyone else and want to be honest with him. In response, he tells them what they already know, that his wife is actually dead, not on vacation.

John begins roller-skating in Mr. Pignati's house, and soon Mr. Pignati and Lorraine join in, but the exercise is too much for Mr. Pignati, who has a heart attack. They call an ambulance and, at the hospital, pose as his children so they can get in to visit him. He tells them to make themselves at home at his place while he's in the hospital, and they do, but they begin overstepping boundaries: Lorraine dresses up in some of Conchetta's clothes, John wears some of Mr. Pignati's, and they pretend to be adults. The fancy evening clothes awaken their awareness of each other as sexual beings, and they tease each other and kiss, but this change in their relationship makes both of them uncomfortable, so they stop and put their own clothes back on. However, they can't take back what they've begun to feel for each other.

A Betrayal and Its Consequences

John decides that while Mr. Pignati is gone, it can't hurt to have a few friends over for a quiet party. Neither of them can have friends over at home, so it's tempting. The quiet party grows into a huge, rowdy, loud, and drunken revel, with about forty teenagers. Norton Kelly, a delinquent, steals an electrical apparatus from the house, and other kids, including Lorraine, get dressed in Conchetta's clothes. John goes after Norton for stealing, and in revenge, Norton smashes Mr. Pignati's precious collection of pigs, which belonged to his wife.

In the midst of this chaos, Mr. Pignati comes home and finds his house in a shambles and the people he loved and trusted, John and Lorraine, at the center of the chaos. They feel horrible, apologize, and try to make amends by asking him to go to the zoo with them to see Bobo. However, when they get there, the cage is empty, and a bored attendant tells them Bobo is dead.

The accumulated shocks and losses prove to be too much for Mr. Pignati, and he suffers a second heart attack and dies immediately. The two young people are left with the realization that his death may be their fault, and with an awareness of the sadness of his life and death, and life and human mortality in general. They realize that time is passing, that someday they, too, will die, that they may spend their later years alone and lonely, and they better grow up and get moving. As John says at the end of the book, "Our life would be what we made of it - nothing more, nothing less."

Answer 3

This riddle is supposed to see what you value based on a story. The Pigman notes that it tells "what kind of person you are." Let's see how you do.

Note: You can either draw this out or just speak it to a crowd.

Here is the riddle verbatim from the book:

"I'm going to tell you a murder story, and your job is just to listen.

There is a river with a bridge over it, and a WIFE and her HUSBAND live in a house on one side. The WIFE has a LOVER who lives on the other side of the river, and the only way to get from one side of the river to the other is to walk across the bridge or to ask the BOATMAN to take you.

One day the HUSBAND tells his WIFE that he has to be gone all night to handle some business in a faraway town. The WIFE pleads with him to take her with him because she knows if she doesn't, she will be unfaithful to him. The HUSBAND absolutely refuses to take her because she will only be in the way of his important business.

So the HUSBAND goes alone. When he is gone, the WIFE goes over to the bridge and stays with her LOVER. The night passes, and dawn is almost up when the WIFE leaves because she must get back to her own home before her HUSBAND returns. She starts to cross the bridge but sees an ASSASSIN waiting for her on the other side, and she knows if she tries to cross, he will murder her. In terror, she runs up the side of the river and asks the BOATMAN to take her across the river, but he wants fifty cents. She has no money, so he refuses to take her.

The WIFE runs back to the LOVER's house and explains to him what the predicament is and asks him for fifty cents to pay the BOATMAN. The LOVER refuses, telling her it's her own fault for getting into the situation. As dawn comes up, the WIFE is nearly out of her mind and dashes across the bridge. When she comes face to face with the ASSASSIN, he takes a large knife and stabs her until she is dead.

Now, on a piece of paper (or in your head), list the names of the characters in the order in which you think they were most responsible for the WIFE's death. Just list WIFE, HUSBAND, LOVER, BOATMAN, and ASSASSIN in the order you think they are the most guilty."

Don't read below if you're doing this or it will give it away.

Here is what each person represents. If you selected each one on the top, you value this thing the most. The ones are the bottom are least important to you compared with the others.

Wife = Fun

Husband = Love

Lover = Sex

Assassin = Money

Boatman = Magic

Answer 4

What about it? Be specific when you ask a question.

Answer 5

man vs. man

thats the literary element(: