The novel’s treatment of the homeless man is rather unsympathetic (the book disparagingly refers to the man as a “bum”). It seems to portray Lorraine’s instinctual compassion for the man as naïve or foolish, perhaps suggesting that the man is crazy or scheming and therefore undeserving of Lorraine’s compassion. Again,
The Pigman is a relatively old young adult novel, and contemporary readers may find that some parts of it haven’t aged well, this scene being one of them.