Responsibility In The Pig Man

Responsibility Over Living

Sigmund Freud once said, “Most people do not really want freedom because freedom involves responsibility and most people are frightened of responsibility.” This quote in my opinion means that even though most people say they want freedom to do whatever they want, they really don’t because they’re too scared to accept responsibility for their actions. The character John hurt a lot of people in this novel because he is too afraid to be responsible. He would rather have a party than take care of a sick man’s house. He is not a good role model. In The Pigman by Paul Zindel, the character John Conlan’s philosophy on life is too irresponsible and selfish.
John chooses to put himself first even if it’s at the expense of others. When he and Lorraine went to collect Mr. Pignati’s money for their “charity”, he said “‘I’ve been thinking, and I’ve decided we’d better go over and collect the ten bucks,’... ‘We’re not doing anything bad,’ I insisted.”(36). His actions in this section influence the

He used to bomb the school bathroom just for fun. He treats it like a badge of honor because he never got caught. “‘They called me that because I used to set off bombs in the bathroom.”(1). John was so bored in school that he did something really dangerous that could’ve hurt someone. If he hadn’t stopped, there could have been a terrible accident. The bathroom bombing incidents are a good reflection of John’s personality because he seems almost proud of his bad deeds.
John Conlan is an irresponsible character that cares more about living than he does about other people. I’ve gone through the experience of having friends that are really irresponsible and I’ve had to deal with the consequences of it. It’s better to be friends with someone like John because a friend like John will end up getting you in trouble like he did in The Pigman. If you want to live a good life, don’t choose John Conlan as a role