Preview

Summary Of Girl Interrupted By Susanna Kaysen

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1457 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Summary Of Girl Interrupted By Susanna Kaysen
From Beyond the Struggles: A Literacy Narrative
Looking back at my childhood, I can tell you things were not as they seem. As a child, many of my neighbors assumed my sibling and I were perfectly happy spending hours outside playing around the neighborhood. However, this is not true, I would have preferred to be hidden in the corner of my bedroom curled up with a Judy Bloom or Hardy Boys book away from the constant battling between my brothers and sister. When I was in the third grade my mother whom I loved so much, started locking us out of the house. Reading or doing homework was an impossible task to accomplish when you are stranded outside. When I was younger, I always took an interest in people and their behavior. I always wanted to know
…show more content…
I wandered up and down the isles; often taking a seat reading may of the introductions or prefaces of books. I came across the book "Girl Interrupted" by Susanna Kaysen, this book immediately fascinated me. I was introduced to the protagonist named Susanna, whom is sent to a psychiatric hospital when she was just 18 years old. I was lured into this book because my sister was admitted a couple of times to a psychiatric hospital. I learned that the reason why Kaysen was sent there was because her parents believed was a troubled teen-ager. Some of the circumstances that have lead them to come to this conclusion, was because she did affair with her English teacher; dropped out of school, and even tried to commit suicide. While my sister didn’t have an affair with her English teacher they are similarities between their two stories. I was surprised to learn that Kaysen never anticipated to spend an extended period at the hospital, however was there almost two years in the institution. Kaysen narrated the memoir, and tells us about some of the patients and acquaintances that were admitted at the institution while she was there. Kaysen struggled in the institution until she finally gets a diagnosis. The diagnosis is that she had a borderline personality disorder. My sister never got diagnosed with any type of mental disorders; I believe that the constant moving was a result of our moving constantly. I had a greater appreciation for what my sister experienced once I read this book. The best part of the book was seen at the end of the story how she is able to reconnect with a couple of her friends from the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the literacy narrative “how do I go from this to this” Amber Wiltse tells about her writing experience in college and how the harry potter series help to draw her family closer together. The pictures that she posted of her when she was little as a baby seems to be saying this is how she started out as a literary writer. Her senior picture shows a completion of something significant on her life. At the end of the story her embracing her brother shows just how much reading can help develop a bond between families. As I was reading this story she said something that sounded just like something I would say “Literacy yeah, it sounds boring but it’s really not.”(Wiltse646) Until I found “Canterwood Crest” series I wasn’t much of a reader at all.…

    • 209 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Case Study

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Although she was under direct medical care and had the support of her family, nothing seemed to help her. “Melanie had been hospitalized three times in seven weeks” (Tears of a clown, 2001). As a result of this failed treatment and no change in her progress, Melanie ended her own life by jumping to…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jane Smith Case

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The patients name today is Jane Smith, as seen in figure 1. Jane is a 36-year-old waitress who currently has both anemia and asthma. Patient has a sister and a brother who suffer from PTSD and Asthma respectively. Jane has come in after waiting out her symptoms for two weeks, due to her mother’s funeral and a busy work schedule. Symptoms include; excessive sweating, hallucinations, insomnia, and tremors, which are all affecting her working ability. Her mother’s family has medical history of Fatal Familial Insomnia, Schizophrenia, and Asthma. Her father’s family has medical history of Epilepsy, Insomnia, and high blood pressure. Blood pressure, checks for a basic cold, and a blood test were the vitals taken on arrival.…

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Elizabeth Marshall, an associate professor of education at Simon Fraser University, contends in her article “Borderline Girlhoods: Mental Illness, Adolescence, and Femininity in Girl, Interrupted, that Susanna Kaysen’s popular memoir is an accurate depiction of the characteristics which mark female adolescence. Marshall points out that the adolescent time period for a girl is defined by “historically and culturally bound gendered pedagogies” (118). It has become normal to think of this stage of a female’s life as a weak, broken, and self-destructive time and need help. Susanna Kaysen’s memoir attracts many young female readers who associate with the wounded girl image and are often seen by society as outcasts with…

    • 346 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The image that comes to mind when someone says education is an old brick building covered in vines. This is a place meant to facilitate learning and literacy. In Deborah Brandt’s essay “Sponsors of Literacy,” Brandt describes the process of how people become literate and the effect of their economic and family backgrounds on their learning. Sherman Alexie’s essay “Superman and Me” provides an example of the process of becoming literate. Alexie’s essay is the story of Alexie’s first encounter with reading and learning on the reservation. Literacy is an opportunity provided through economic ability, other’s influence, and an innate desire to learn for self-improvement.…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sherman Alexie’s, “Superman and Me” helped me remember how I developed my passion for reading as a child. From the moment I was able to read, I cherished this form of media. While other children my age viewed reading as a chore or a burden, I read for the endless possibilities it provided my imagination. Reading gives an individual the opportunity to learn new information, while creating new thoughts. My parents worked multiple jobs to provide my sisters and me with what they considered necessary for us. Given out circumstances, we found other means of entertainment. When we did not have luxuries such as cable, my sisters and I would have to find other ways to keep ourselves entertained. When we weren’t riding our bikes around the block, we would collect old books from our friends and…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Why do humans have eyes? Is there a God, or have we organically made something up to justify the idea that we were made for a reason? Why should I care about my own life or anyone else’s? There is not really an answer for any of these questions other than “I don’t know.” These are wonderings that you would expect from someone who’s a little out of touch with reality, but then again, what is reality other than an idea someone thought up. These cloudy and restless ideas are of the same nonsensical but provocative nature as the thoughts that add character to Susanna Kaysen’s memoir, Girl, Interrupted. There are many recurring themes in Susanna Kaysen’s reflection on her stay in Mclean hospital that help to animate not only…

    • 1742 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The title of the article read is “Getting Children from Low-Income Families to Read: What Works”. It was written by Janet Siew Poh Law and published in the Journal of Reading and Literacy in 2012. The article focuses on getting children from low-income families to read. Law also talks about why it is important for children to read and how people of all walks of life can help children. The author has the thesis statement of “Therefore, there is a compelling need to get children to read, especially those from families with low incomes” (Law, 2012, p. 8). The author has several key ideas which include how reading and academics are related, at-risk children are usually from low-income families, at-risk children need the most help, and some ways…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Instead of seeking help for her illness like most people would, her husband decides to isolates her in the room with the yellow wallpaper causing her to get worse and come up with these delusional…

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Tompkins, G.E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach (5th ed.) Boston: Ally &Bacon…

    • 2286 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    As a child, it is fair to say that I was raised by my grandparents. My earliest recollections date back to about the age of four. My grandmother managed an in home daycare with about ten students and 5 who would come after elementary school. It was open till 5:30 p.m. so I became quite familiar with the other students enrolled. Being that I was among the youngest I enjoyed the benefits of having twice the education as the other students. I would learn phonetics with them in class, and once they were gone, my grandmother and I would have special “reading sessions”. An activity I would profit from for the rest of my life.…

    • 384 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The late 20th century saw a prevalent suppression of individualism and an increasingly negative view of mental illness. However, in the years leading up the 1970s, the psychological field witnesses an immense growth despite the intolerance still present. As the psychological field expands, terminology grows, and the discourse used to define those diagnosed becomes more specific. For Susanna Kaysen, author of Girl, Interrupted, these labels become a struggle of identity, as she comes to terms with being diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. Similar to The Bell Jar, the memoir follows Kaysen’s downward spiral into depression, resulting in a suicide attempt. Catalysed by societal perceptions, Susanna’s struggle with mental illness lands her in McLean, a renowned psychiatric hospital. However, unlike The Bell Jar, Girl, Interrupted captures more than the protagonist, reminding the audience that many great people have walked in and out of those barred doors (The Bell Jar and Girl, Interrupted , 2011). In a stark contrast to The Bell Jar’s protagonist, Esther, McLean does not serve to isolate Kaysen. In analogise to Esther, Susanna does not respond to medical treatment. Instead, she reacts to the environment and those around her, fostering relationships with other patients. Her friendship with sociopath, Lisa, a character who alters Kaysen’s temperament throughout the memoir. Despite the non-chronological arrangement of the novel, the audience is able to observe the development of Kaysen’s character throughout. From the commencement of the memoir Susanna is the opposite of societal endorsement, she is sexually promiscuous and recalcitrant. However, as the text continues her personality and interactions with others alter. Kaysen’s stint at McLean forces her to asses…

    • 1606 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The first books I ever started reading were Winnie the Pooh and Dr Suess books. When I was young my parents were really good about getting me started with reading different books and for a long time I loved reading, as long as it was books I got to choose and enjoyed reading myself. Once I got further along in school and they started mandating what books we had to read I got to the point where I didn’t find reading enjoyable any longer. I didn’t like most of the books my teachers were picking for us to read so I felt like I had to force myself to read them and it caused me to even stop reading books outside of school…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    My Literacy Journey

    • 1544 Words
    • 7 Pages

    My literacy journey had a very interesting beginning. I am a first generation Mexican American, and as being first generation my first language is Spanish, everyone I interacted with when I was young was family or Hispanic. I picked up on some English from watching kid shows but I never really knew what the words meant. Prior to starting preschool, the school got me and my mother into an ELL summer class to get a head start on the school year. Up until around first grade or so I always had to meet with the ELL teacher to check on my progress and make sure I was doing okay in school.…

    • 1544 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Literacy Narrative

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages

    As a youngster, most people are taught to read and write, yet about 17% of the world’s population is not literate. I am fortunate to be viewed as proficient in two world-wide spoken languages. Learning how to be literate in a new language can be extremely rewarding in the long run because it opens more career opportunities and is useful to be accepted in an academically advanced institution. For instance, being bilingual in English and Spanish has given me the opportunity to travel to the United States to receive a proper education in a safe environment. In order to reach the level of English I have right now, I had to go through several obstacles, including numerous classes…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays