Freaky Green Eyes by Joyce Carol Oates
Fiction
This
book is about two people. One of them is Franky Pierson who is in denial about
the abuse her mom suffers from her dad. The other person is Freaky Green Eyes,
a part of Franky who knows the truth and wants to save her mom.
While
Franky is at a party over the summer she is almost raped, but Freaky Green Eyes
gives her the strength to attack her assailant, a college student named Cameron.
As Franky runs away Cameron yells, “You f-freak! You should see your eyes!
Freaky green eyes! You’re crazy!”
(Oates page 17). Freaky Green Eyes is the part of Franky that she fears and
respects the most, and it is also the part that saves her.
Franky
lives in Seattle, Washington where it is perpetually cloudy, but the weather
isn’t the only thing clouding her vision. Her dad, Reid Pierson, a famous
sportscaster, makes a living by using his good appearance and confidence to
belie his abusive personality. Franky believes her dad when he says that he
loves her, her mom betrayed them, and he doesn’t know anything about her mom’s
disappearance. It is much easier for Franky to believe what he tells her than
the alternative, but Freaky knows better.
Oates
renders a realistic portrayal of an abusive parent which helps the reader
better comprehend the internal struggles Franky faces. If she reports her dad’s
abuse she would be going against what a part of her wants to believe and in a
way does. She is split between her mom and her dad, the truth and her dad’s
lies, what she wants to believe and what she knows to be true, between Freaky
and Franky.
