Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key

Joey’s mother, Fran, is the source of both the greatest pain and joy in his childhood. As he narrates early in the book, his parents both abandoned him to the care of his grandmother when he was a kindergarten student. Later, when he undergoes counseling with “Special Ed,” Joey is angered by the recollection of his suffering upon his mother’s departure. He is angry at Fran and repeats stories pertaining to his grandmother’s abusive behavior, perhaps in an effort to increase her sense of guilt and regret about her actions. Part of Joey’s desperate desire to have a puppy is to be able to return home to a creature who awaits him, in contrast to his own experience waiting for his mother to return. Fran is all too human in her failings and weaknesses; she is a believable character because she sometimes responds to Joey’s manic bursts with impatience rather than saintly compassion.

Nonetheless, Fran overcomes tremendous obstacles in order to return home to care for her sometimes difficult child. As she reveals more of her own past, the reader learns that Fran “was drinking too much” with Joey’s father and “wasn’t taking good care” (128) of herself. It is clear that she consumed alcohol during her pregnancy with Joey; he questions her about this and confronts her angrily. It is inferred by Maria Dombrowski’s father that Joey’s mother has had “everything to do with this” (82), in a reference to his hyperactivity; Fran clearly returned to a community that judges her harshly.

It does not appear that anything in Fran’s background might have prepared her for dealing with the challenges of a child suffering from ADHD; however, she makes valiant efforts to do so and, most importantly, imports to Joey the sense that she truly loves him. Prior to his transfer to the Special Education Center, she tells Joey had hard she tried to “pull it together” in order to be able to return to him because she loved him so much; she asks him to do the same for her. Riddled with regret, burdened by the difficulty of acting as a single parent to a challenged child and often short of funds, Fran Pigza advocates for Joey, convinces him of her love and actually likes him. This combination of strengths enables Joey to start to overcome insurmountable odds. 

Joey sneaks into a presentation intended for the Gifted and Talented students in his school on the topic of “Character Counts.” Filled with enthusiasm about helping others, in the manner of Mother Teresa, Joey proceeds to the disastrous scissors accident with Maria while attempting to cut out bumper stickers.

Joey is already possessed of innately good character, as he demonstrates in his interactions with those more vulnerable than himself. Specifically, when he attends a birthday celebration in the Special Education room of his first school, he observes that the guest of honor, Harold, is too handicapped to be able to blow out his candle from his wheelchair. Joey does so for him, to mixed reviews; however, his basic instinct is to assist the boy. Joey makes a birthday wish that Harold be able to recover and play football with him outdoors; he is disappointed when this miracle does not occur. Despite his fear of doing so, Joey walks to Maria’s house the day after the scissors accident with the intention of apologizing to her. He is met by her understandably protective, oversized father, who threatens the boy physically and makes derisive reference to Fran, Joey’s mother. Joey defends Fran, taking complete responsibility for his own actions and explaining that she had no involvement in his behavior.

Despite his anger and grief at his abandonment, he feels compassion for her when Dr. Preston alludes to the necessity of “positive family conditions” (140). Fran lowers her head upon hearing this phrase and is clearly anxious and ashamed of her past maternal performance. Joey advises the reader that he reached over and squeezed her hand in support; he knew “how it felt to be in trouble” (140). In short, Joey sees weakness and fear and responds with compassion: the essence of good character.