Character Analysis
Mr. Greene is the caring, steadfast father figure in Just Listen, and throughout the book Annabel refers to her father as the strong one. After all, he remains calm and collected when his wife falls into a depressive episode, and he handles Whitney's eating disorder when the whole family is upset. He deals with the issue as though it's a problem to be solved rationally, as opposed to an emotionally jarring event:
"I know." He pushed his chair out, standing up. "But she's going to get help now. Okay?"
I nodded. Clearly, my dad was not up for discussing the emotional impact of what had happened. He'd given me the facts, what prognosis there was, and that was all I'd get. (3.126-127)
Before her rape Annabel is close to her father and spends time watching history documentaries and TV programs with him—but after she's raped the secret becomes too much for her to bear and so she distances herself. At the end when she tells her whole family about what happened to her, she's able to close the distance and become closer to her dad again; she lets her father support her and bring her back into the fold.