Summary:
Rob learns a lot from his father, Haven Peck, in the novel "A Day No Pigs Would Die" by Richard Peck. His life lessons include that "good fences make good neighbors," that hard work pays off, and how to be trustworthy.
The novel, A Day No Pigs Would Die, is a coming of age story about a simple Shaker farming family with a focus on the relationship between father and son. In this novel, Rob learns a lot, mostly from his father, Haven Peck. He learns life lessons and deeper things that are going to help him later in life.
One of the bigger lessons Rob learns is about fences. Him and his father were putting up a fence and Rob wonders why you would put up a fence if you were friends with your neighbors. His father explains to him that fences may separate people, but they have a way of bringing you together. This is the friends lesson. This also goes along with a poem by Robert Frost called Mending Wall, where he writes, "Good fences make good neighbors." This is true. Putting up a fence shows that you respect your neighbor. Fences can do a number of things, but a lot of them have to do with respect. A fence can give and respect others privacy, or keep your animals out of your neighbors yard. "Well you be friends with Mr. Tanner. Neighbors and all. But we keep this fence up like it was war.(...) It's a peaceable war. If I know Benjamin Franklin Tanner, he'd fret more than me if his cows found my corn. He'd feel worse than if it was the other way round." This teaches Rob that everything fences themselves into something ones in a while. If you don't fence yourself off every once in a while life would be a lot more hectic because there would be no room for just you. You don't always have to be completely out there, you're entitled to some privacy. Your neighbor won't mind.
Another lesson Rob learns is that hard work pays off and you have to earn something if you want it. When Mr. Tanner comes over to give Rob a piglet for helping his cow. His father wouldn't let him take it until Mr. Tanner asked Haven to help him with the calves. Rob has never had anything unless he earned it. "But it's not the Shaker Way to take frills for being neighborly. All that Robert done was what any farmer would do for another. It don't add up to payment or due." This taught Rob that things in life don't come free, you have to work. He will now work hard in his life when he wants something, and even when he doesn't. He will be someone you can rely on and trust to do something for you or to repay you.
When Rob and his father were talking, they get into a discussion about how his father had said they were rich, but Rob didn't understand this, because they didn't has much money or really nice clothing. His father then explains to him how being rich doesn't have to mean having a lot of money or living luxuriously, it can mean heaving lots of loving family and living life to its fullest. "I am not heartsick because I am rich and they are poor." "Were not rich, Papa. Were..." "Yes we are boy. We have one another to tend to, and this land to tend. And one day we'll own it outright. We have Solomon here to wind up a capstan and help us haul over burdens. (...) We have Daisy's hot milk. We got rain to wash up with, to get the grime off us. We can look at sundown and see it all, so that it wets the eye and hastens the heart. We hear all the music that's in the wind, so much music that it itches mt foots to start tapping. Just like a fiddle." This teaches Rob that the little things in life can be very important and money isn't everything. It doesn't matter kind of clothes you wear, your family will still love you and back you up. It doesn't matter how much food you have, just the people you eat it with. Rob's learning to value what really matters in life.
Rob's father can't read or write. The people in Vermont that control the government don't think he should be able to vote. Not being able to read or write doesn't mean you can't think to make decisions clearly. His father can do just about anything with an animal or on a farm, but he was never taught to read or write. "Men who look at me and do not take me for what I be. Men who only see me make my mark, my X, when I can't sign my name. They can't see how I true a beam to build our barn, or that the rows of corn in my field are straight as fences. They just see me walk the street in Learning in clothes made me by my own woman. They do not care that my coat is sturdy and keeps me warm. They'll not care that I owe no debt, and that I am beholding no man." This shows Rob that not all people can be book smart, some people can just be smart about life and that's what you need, but it's still very important to be able to read and write. If he wants to go anywhere in life than being a farmer he'll need to.
On farm Rob does his chores everyday. His father told him that that is his mission in life for now and he listens and does them. "And if'n I'm not to home come chore time, Hell won't have it. Papa gets mighty stirred up over that. Right he should. Chores are my mission, not his." This teaches Rob early to be responsible. Later in life he will always do what needs to be done because he believes that's why he is here. It's his mission. People will be able to rely on him and trust him and that's important if he wants to get a good job or even just in regular everyday situations.
Overall, Rob's father taught him the most worthy lessons he can learn as a child. They all have ways of helping him through life and becoming a better person. I think Rob will grow up to be a commendable adult and people will be able to trust him very much because of what he learned from his father at a young age.
This is the complete article, containing 1,071 words
(approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page).
