On Narrative Strategies Of The Pigman

Paul Zindel, an American writer for young adults, has devoted his energies to young adult novels since 1960s. Among his works, The Pigman (1968) not only wins the teenagers' hearts but also attracts adults' attention. Since it was published, it had been awarded successively " Best of the Best Young Adult Books from 1960 to 1974", "Outstanding Children's Book of 1968" and " Boston Globe- Horn Book Award in 1969." Two professors in Young adult literature, Donelson and Nilson, in their authoritative survey, Literature for Today's Young Adults, note that in the late 1960s Zindel's first book, The Pigman, was a ground-breaking novel because it turned away from past pieties and established a new type of adolescent fiction in which teenagers dealing with interpersonal or social problems were depicted with candor and seriousness. The novel has two first-person narrators who alternate, chapter by chapter, in telling the story. John and Lorraine, two high school students, recall the days spent with old Mr. Pignati who is kind and lonely. Although they have painful experience at the end of the novel, they begin to take responsibility and become more mature. The journey of self- discoveries gives rise to their emotional growth and moral growth. Therefore the theme of the novel is reflected—growing up is a learning experience. Besides the development of maturity of the two main characters reflected in this novel, Paul Zindel's craftsmanship merits particular mention. The craftsmanship in this novel is painstaking in more ways than one. In order to portray the image of the teenagers and their growth, Paul Zindel uses an impressive array of narrative strategies such as narrative point of view, narrative language, and other narrative techniques. The Contents of the paper is outlined as follows: Part One " Paul Zindel and his novel The Pigman" provides a brief introduction of the author and the novel "The Pigman. " Part Two " Narrative Point of View" centers on three aspects—the first –person point of view, alternative first person point of view and reliable narrators and unreliable narrators. Part Three " Narrative language" gives an analysis on the unique young adult language in terms of dangling phrases and dangling sentences, slang and rhetoric. Part Four " Narrative techniques" introduces the functions of some techniques such as image, symbols, illustrations and flashback.