Penny's blog

【Analysis of the Story】

〈Characters〉
◆ protagonist : Mrs. Piggott (the mother)
◆ foil character : Mr. Piggott, Simon, and Patrick (the father and two sons)
They are ROUND characters (dynamic, developed).

〈Setting〉
Backdrop setting

〈Narrative Point of View〉
3rd person limited narrator

〈Plot〉

conflict : 

Mrs. Piggott did the whole household chores, and she also went to work.

rising action :

Her husband and sons helped do nothing, and would only hurry her to cook meals for them.

climax :

Mrs. Piggott was so tired that she left the house and was nowhere to found. 

denouement :

Mr. Piggott and boys needed to do everything by themselves, but things were getting horrible. They were begging their wife and mom to come back.

end :

Mrs. Piggott stayed, and Mr. Piggott helped do the chores with two sons. Mrs. Piggott was happy.

〈Conflict〉
The Protagonist against Society

〈Theme〉
◇ In the story, the social roles of male and female characters exchanged. Men can help do the household chores, and a woman can help fix a car.  

【Reader's Response】

This picture book is really interesting. After Emily introduced us this book, I was attracted by the adorable pictures and the way it presented. Therefore, I decided to borrow this book to read! On the cover page, the mother carries her family on her back and everyone looks happy except the mother. It implies that she looks after the family and bears a heavy burden. In the story, the husband and sons always hurried the mother to give them food to eat, but they just waited and never helped do something. They behaved like pigs, so when the mother left the house with a paper written, "You are pigs." Whenever the piggy male characters came out, the pictures would full of pigs! Pigs are everywhere, the shadow of the husband, the newspaper celebrities, buttons, pins,  the light switch, the wallpaper, the vase, the pen, the fireplace,the moon, the clock, the telephone, the faucet, the pepper can, the doorknob, and even the people in photos. All those things turned into images related to pigs.

I like the end of the story. The husband and kids were willing to do household chores and even cook meals. It was a big change in terms of the family. The story ended with the image of that the mother fixed a car. I felt that this story were trying to deliver the message which emphasize on the rise of feminism.