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Girl Interrupted

No matter how much thought she put into it, Susana didn't know whether she belonged in the hospital because she was crazy or if she really didn't belong there at all. .
             is Susanna Kaysen's story of her journey to madness and back. There were many turning points in her life. I think one of them was watching the death of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy on television. She realized that there was a whole other world outside of the hospital, one that she doesn't remember much about. The major watershed moment for Susanna came at the end of the book. It was the Vermeer painting that warned her of something. Susanna mentioned that the girl in the painting looked up from her work to warn her. Sixteen years later she went back to that same painting that bares the title of the book "Girl, interrupted at her music." After seeing this painting again she realized that her life has been "interrupted by the music of being seventeen" and her life had been snatched and fixed on canvas.
             The main setting in the book is McLean Hospital right outside of Boston, Massachusetts. It was a large building with long white halls. Just inside the hospital there were three phone booths, a couple of single rooms, the living room and an eat-in kitchen. Further into the building there are more bedrooms, a nursing station, conference room, and hydrotherapy tub room. The hospital setting affects the characters in many ways. The patients were rarely allowed to leave the ward, open a window, or even shave their legs without supervision. They were limited to the occasional walk to the ice cream shop. They had "checks" every 10 to 30 minutes. This was when the nurses came and checked on the patients. They even did it all though the night. The space between each check depended on how much the hospital staff could trust you. I"d say that going into a facility like that would make a sane person go crazy.
             I believe that this book is mostly about self-discovery.


Essays Related to Girl Interrupted

1. Girl, Interrupted

... door to the reality and true insanity of being a patient in a mental hospital renowned for tis famous ex-patients, including Ray Charles Sylvia Plath, and James Taylor in her book, Girl, Interrupted. She stays focused on reality and her idea of perception as well as the friendships she acquires in her two year stay at McLean Hospital and her recovery period once ... she is released. Girl, Interrupted, written by Susanna Kaysen, is a documentation of her tay in a psychiatric hospital including events building up to her taxi ride to the hospital and her recovery period outside the hospita...

  • Word Count: 1226
  • Approx Pages: 5
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2. Girl Interrupted

... -fiction I have chosen to write about that had a very powerful impact on me is "Girl Interrupted" by Susanna Kaysen. I know I really like a book when I find myself always thinking about it. I was drawn to Girl Interrupted and whatever room I left it in. Set in a hospital in 1967, it is told by 18-year-old Susanna, who is living under the fragile dome of depression and ... spending her days in McLean Hospital near Boston. We see the hospital and its colorful occupants through her eyes, while trying to understand her mental illness. Girl, Interrupted leaves you wondering what exactly Susan...

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3. Girl, Interrupted review

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  • Word Count: 1114
  • Approx Pages: 4
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4. Girl, Interrupted by Susan Kaysen

Susan Kaysen's autobiographical novel "Girl, Interrupted", is a story based on her struggles with a personality disorder and her time spent in the women's psychiatric ward at McLean Hospital. According to Myers (2007), ... was hospitalized for two years, and met many others with psychological disorders such as Lisa, Daisy, and Georgina. Upon arriving at the hospital, Meyers meets Daisy - a girl obsessed with laxatives and chicken. Daisy was bulimic, which Myers defines as (2007) "an eating disorder characterized by episodes of overeating, usually of high calorie foods, followed ... to a den...

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The book Girl, Interrupted, is more of a collection of brief essays on Susanna Kaysen's experiences rather than a story, contains more of Susanna's personal insight on her disorder and allows the reader to become more ... , Susanna describes her year at the hospital, including the people she met and events that took place. She describes the other girls in her ward: a sociopath, a pathological liar, a girl that is sexually abused, a girl that lit herself on fire, etc. She also tells of events: the visit of her boyfriend, a trip to the ice cream parlor, and of the times when her ... no plot, t...

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6. Girl Interrupted

... by James Mangold, is based upon the book of the same title by Susanna Kaysen. Girl Interrupted is about mental illness and the fight for self realization. The role society has defined for the main character, Susanna Kaysen, is a portrayal of a woman searching for the true meaning ... ...

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7. Girl Inturrupted

In the book Girl Interrupted, the main character, Susanna Kaysen, in eighteen, and suffering many problems. After a short meeting with her psychiatrist she is shipped off to a mental hospital for ... even though she was in an environment full of friends like Georgina, Lisa, and Cynthia, she felt out of place because they all had serious problems and she didn't. Girl Interrupted was an amazing book. I was able to relate to it in many ways. Susanna Kaysen writes in a very detailed but precise way. I felt like I had some ... refuge, as well as a prison That psychiatry is split into two camps, ...

  • Word Count: 576
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Girl Interuppted

... tell us stories and present us with values and messages about our society and what needs to be changed. In the film "Girl, Interrupted," Susanna's struggle with self-discovery and her fight to find a place in society illustrates the view that the women who do not fit into traditional roles should be ostracized from ... seen as a threat and therefore classified as crazy. Susanna is clearly misunderstood by her peers as well as the authority figures in her life. She is not a degenerate but a young girl frustrated with her limited options for the future. When Susanna is held after class b...

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  • Approx Pages: 4
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9. GIRL INTURRUPTED

In the book Girl Interrupted, the main character, Susanna Kaysen, in eighteen, and suffering many problems. After a short meeting with her psychiatrist she is shipped off to a mental hospital for ... even though she was in an environment full of friends like Georgina, Lisa, and Cynthia, she felt out of place because they all had serious problems and she didn't. Girl Interrupted was an amazing book. I was able to relate to it in many ways. Susanna Kaysen writes in a very detailed but precise way. I felt like I had some ... refuge, as well as a prison That psychiatry is split into two camps, ...

  • Word Count: 577
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

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