The first thing every Freak learns to do is capture the attention of an audience. The ballyhoo may draw the audience to see the Show, but the quality of the performance keeps the audience prisoner. Gawk enhances the audience’s degree of fascination to such an extent that people are literally unable to perceive anything besides the Show itself. Succumbing to tunnel vision of sorts, those who fall victim to Gawk fail to witness the roustabout going through their pockets, or feel his fumbling hands or smell his sweat. They are so transfixed upon what the Freak is doing that, short of outright injury, they ignore all sensations — whether visual, audible, tactile or otherwise — and focus all their attention on the Show before them. Gawk affects all individuals close enough to the Freak to recognize the nature of her deformity by sight.
