A Day No Pigs Would Die

A Day No Pigs Would Die

by Robert Newton Peck

Summary:

PINKY IS a pig that Rob gets for helping his neighbor’s cow birth a calf. The story follows his life as a twelve-year-old Shaker boy on a Vermont farm, exploring his relationship with his pig, as well as to his father, a farmer-slash-pig slaughterer. It comes time for his father to do something drastic before the “day no pigs would die” [this may not make sense until your read the book-I'm trying my hand at not spoiling endings, but it makes for a very confusing review]. The book goes into his transformation from a boy to a thirteen-year-old head of household, and the responsibilities of being the man in the family.

Review:

For a semi-autobiography [Robert Peck grew up on a Vermont farm, and his father was a pig slaughterer] I thought this was a very interesting way to go about it. As I work and volunteer on a farm and having gone to a Quaker junior high/high school that’s been around since the 1800’s, I enjoyed this book and I feel that with the perspective my Quaker school and experience on a farm gave me insight to the oxymoron-like relationship between Rob and his pig/Rob and his father which I will now endeavor to explain. The farm I work on is a working farm, meaning that the pigs we get each year are slaughtered [the reason we get new pigs every year]. Rob’s utter devotion to obeying his father clashes with his love for “the only thing he could point to and say ‘mine’,” Pinky, the pig and only thing he’s ever owned. His experience with the desperate effects of poverty and his knowledge of the desperate acts that must occur thence, overbear the love for an animal, and teach him a valuable lesson. He also knows that Shakers must be plain and thus must sacrifice luxuries such as love for an animal for something deemed more important [just a note- Quakers and Shakers are not the same, though they sound similar and have similar qualities. I'm not claiming to be a Shaker expert, but going to a school based on similar values makes me feel as if I have a better understanding of the religion -I'm not Quaker either, just in case anyone was wondering-]. There are some scenes that can be quite bloody-a dog/weasel fight, scenes mentioning/describing pig slaughter, scenes where pigs are slaughter, for instance. Yet all in all, this was a superbly interesting book, earning an 8/10. The point of view was unique and interesting because of the mix of religion, time period, setting, and paternal occupation.