The 40 Developmental Assets In Paul Zindell's The Pigman

Have you ever wished you could have the power to predict the future? In a way, now you can! The 40 Developmental Assets are a list a traits a young person should possess. The Search Institute, or creators of the assets, found that the more traits an adolescent possesses, the more likely they are to be successful in the future. Many of these traits are present in The Pigman by Paul Zindell. However, I have found that the character John lacks enough of these assets that he could possibly grow up to be an unsuccessful adult. John will not be successful in his future because he lacks both honesty and responsibility, even though some people may say he has family boundaries. Honesty is an essential asset to becoming a successful adult. It is obvious in The Pigman that John severally lacks this important trait. Lorraine explains his habit saying, “When he gets caught in a lie, then he makes believe he was only telling the lie to make fun of whomever he was telling it to, but I think there’s more to it than meets the eye.” (Zindell 25) Even if John is caught in one of his many lies, he will never admit that he

After John and Lorraine were arrested, John tells Lorraine “My father says I have to go to a psychiatrist.” (Zindell 151) This would show that John’s parents, or at least his dad, set boundaries that have punishments. However, later on in that sentence, Lorraine comforts John telling him that his dad would forget about the punishment before it was put to action. John then goes on to talk about how his dad reacted when the police showed up saying, “Bore didn’t even look mad” (Zindel 151). So, while John’s parents may set some boundaries, he knows that there will never be a punishment to go along with him breaking them. Even though it would appear that John’s parents have rules for him, they never seem to follow through with punishments, resulting in a lack of family