In Depth Look at the Legacy of an Unusual Trio Taught greatly in many American schools and even being banned in the 1990’s, The Pigman is a great book for today’s young adult. Paul Zindel wrote the book in 1967 and ever since it has been read and critically acclaimed by thousands. Zindel did an awesome job using many different literary elements to help convey this narrative of two friends. Paul Zindel’s personal life helped greatly influence his many literary works and most notably The Pigman. Paul Zindel was born in Tottenville, Staten Island, New York, on May 15, 1936. His father was Paul Zindel Sr., who was a policeman, while his mother was Betty Zindel Sr., a nurse. His one sibling, his sister Betty Zindel Hagen, was a year and a half…show more content… This was the era of the Civil Rights Movement and the feminist movement. Young people began to question their parents' values and protested the American involvement in the Vietnam War. “A popular slogan was "Don't trust anyone over thirty." Some movies of this era, such as Harold and Maude (1971) and The Graduate (1967), like The Pigman, portray "the Establishment," the conservative adult world, as corrupt and ignorant.” (Shmoop Editorial Team) Paul Zindel is typical of this era in that he uses irony and tries to merge different classes of people into one. He wrote a total of 39 books, all of them were aimed at children or teens. They tended to be semi-autobiographical, focusing on teenage misfits with abusive or neglectful parents, as this is what many children at the time believed their lives consisted of. Despite the often dark subject matter of his books, which deal with loneliness, loss, and the effects of abuse, they are also enormously filled with humor. The Pigman is widely taught in American schools, and it also made it on to the list of most frequently banned books in America in the 1990s; In Plano, Texas, parents complained of offensive language and sexual themes, which is again not outrightly stated, showing that he is typical of this