What are the “peanuts” in the Bore’s life?

"Bore" is the name John gives to his father, which seems not only to represent how he feels when his father is talking, but it also symbolizes a rough relationship between father and son. When asked what Bore's peanuts are, however, one would first have to find out where peanuts are used in another part of Zindel's book The Pigman. For example, chapter 6 shows that Mr. Pignati uses peanuts to entice the baboon to behave and interact with him, as follows:

Mr. Pignati was throwing peanuts right and left. About every third one would hit the bars and fall where the baboon couldn't reach it. Sometimes Bobo would catch the peanut like a baseball. And the expressions on both their faces got to be upsetting (61-62).

If Bore's and John's relationship could be paralleled to how Mr. Pignati uses peanuts with the baboon, then one might say that Bore throws metaphorical peanuts to John to get him to behave and interact with others more appropriately. For instance, in chapter 7, John is busted for having glued the lock on the telephone, which prohibited his father from calling his office. As a result, Bore throws some peanuts at his son. First, Bore throws a shaming peanut by telling his son how embarrassing it was not to be able to call his office. Then, he throws another shaming peanut by saying, "Wait until you start working, John" (69). And just like Mr. Pignati's peanuts don't always fall where the baboon can reach them, Bore suggests that John come work for him at his office after school. Bore must hope to be able to control and encourage his son to behave better by getting him to start working like an adult. Like the baboon, though, John gets upset by where this peanut lands and he starts throwing back his own. One of John's peanuts could be the fact that he throws becoming an actor up in his father's face rather than becoming a stock broker like his father suggests. Obviously, however, this isn't a peanut that Bore wants to eat.