In Deborah Eisenberg’s ” The Girl Who Left Her Sock On The Floor,” the story is told in the third person, leading the reader to see the actions of the main and supportive characters through the eyes of a spectator. By reading a story from this point of view, the reader is able to perceive the main character in a very different light than a reader would have if Francie was telling the story.
In the third person, Francie, at the beginning of the story, is perceived as a troublemaker who can’t even get along with her teachers. Francie repeatedly calls her teacher a “Sex Machine” behind his back. Francie seems unconcerned about the possible impending trouble this nickname for her teacher may cause. Her roommate, whom she lives with at a snobby boarding school, seems to hold more fear of what will happen to her once the teacher finds out what she has been saying than Francie. Another instance of her being a troublemaker is seen early in the story: “She lived out her days as a checkout girl, choking on the toxic vapors of household cleaners and rotting back goods–” (2). From this, we have more of an understanding of the habits that she expresses.
As well to being a troublemaker, she does not keep her room clean even after constant remarks from her roommate.She shrugs off the comments of her roommate by saying “I will get to that stuff, please Jessica-”(1).
At the beginning part of the story, Francie is considered unclean and a troublemaker. As we continue to read we are given a look at what occurred to her mother. Her mother had broken her hip and tragically unheard of embolism occurred causing her a great deal of pain until eventually causing her to pass away. After finding out of her mother’s death Francis rushes to her childhood home where she goes to her kitchen and begins to have these vivid memories of her and her mother.Then once obtaining her mother’s ashes at the morgue she finds out her father who she believed her whole life was dead, signed away on her mother’s cremation. Without a second thought, she rushes off to find him.Where she eventually lives with him.
These actions are seen from the third person leave the reader to be skeptical of the type of person that this girl is and how she thinks. Since we are not able to determine her exact thoughts due to our point of view.While on the other hand if the point of view was in the eyes of Francie, we would have gotten a complete bias view of the story.