You're not a pretty girl, Lorraine.
This is a constant observation throughout Lorraine's life; it is like background music, a little voice chipping away at her self-esteem and self-worth, a voice she believes. The suggestion is that her mother would love her if she was pretty, which of course she would not, because ultimately Lorraine is a constant reminder of the husband who left her and ruined her life. Lorraine is obese and her weight is also something that her mother constantly berates and teases her about. Lorraine believes that people are only nice to her at school because she happens to be friends with John, which is actually true, but this is something that her mother's constant criticism has encouraged her to think. Lorraine's mother physically abuses her but it is her constant verbal and emotional abuse that both wears Lorraine down and also has conditioned her to give in to any form of peer pressure and follow the crowd.
The analysts would call his family the source problem or say he drinks and smokes to assert his independence.
Throughout the book the question of guilt, specifically, who is actually guilty, is raised. Lorraine is observing in this narrative that it is actually John's family who are responsible for his smoking and drinking and other assorted misbehaviors, rather than John himself. John is the "black sheep" son, his brother Kenny being the apple of his parents' eyes. Kenny can do no wrong, followed his father into the business, and does not put a foot wrong. John has found that he is unable to live up to Kenny and the only way he can get attention from his parents is by getting it in a negative way. To John this is better than not getting any attention at all. He therefore smokes and drinks because he knows it will get him in trouble and this will provoke his parents into paying him attention.
If Lorraine felt like saying one of us murdered Mr Pignati, she should have blamed Norton. He's the one who finally caused all the trouble.
John is both making a valid point and also trying to shift blame from himself. The latter is more important to him than anything, primarily because for what might be the first time in his life he actually does feel responsible for something and does not like how it feels. Lorraine has suggested that she and John are responsible for Mr Pignati's death, and John has already suggested that she is more responsible than he is because she was the one who randomly picked Mr Pignati's phone number out of the telephone book in the first place.
Now he is suggesting that it is actually Norton who is responsible for Mr Pignati's death because he was the one who caused all the damage in the house, and really made Mr Pignati feel old and defeated. Norton broke the entire ceramic pig collection which felt to Mr Pignati that his connection with his wife was severed. Norton caused a great deal of damage and definitely contributed to weakening Mr Pignati. He probably contributed to his demise, but despite this, he is not the only one of them who is responsible and John is definitely aware of this, although he is trying to talk himself out of this conclusion.
