Most of the early sections
of Girl, Interrupted are devoted to the narrator's
observations of her fellow patients. To what extent, if any, do these women
seem "crazy" to you? What difference do you see in the book's
treatment of "Susanna," the character, and its treatment of the other
patients?
Nicole English Open Book Response 1/23/14
ReplyDeleteCrazy has more than one definition so the word can be interpreted in different ways. Crazy- adjective-1. mentally deranged, esp. as manifested in a wild or aggressive way
2. extremely enthusiastic. When one has to think about the girls in the book Girl, Interrupted if they are crazy or not that person must look at these two definitions of crazy and pick which one they want to identify each character with for a particular moment. For example, Polly is one of the girls in the book who is there for suicidal attempts and like the rest of the girls, can’t function outside of the ward. Polly in particular has a specific suicidal attempt, she put herself on fire! So if someone randomly walked up to you in the middle of the street and told you this story you would probably be like “wow!, she is crazy!” But wait, don’t be that random person, think about it. Yes, she is crazy but the question is what type of crazy? So attach this to my definition above. Yes, this s mentally deranged I mean hello?, she put herself on f.i.r.e! However she attempted to do something in an extremely enthusiastic way. She could have popped 50 aspirin or took a big jump etc. But no, she put the flame to her body and burned. So we are clear now right? She is crazy, but you get what I mean by the different types of crazy now too right? Ok, ill move on. Next character we have is Lisa. She seems nice and she makes Susanna laugh. Her deal however is she is a sociopath. Hang on, just because you read the word sociopath don’t go straight to “omg she’s crazy” Remember?, go back to the definition and peel apart the layers of Lisa. Yes she is mentally deranged as well, obviously because she is in a mental institution. But Lisa wants to know what it is like in the outside world again! So Lisa has a fun habit of taking runs for it. She not only does it to be free for a little but she comes back and gets TON of attention. So Look at that situation like this. She is very enthusiastic in the sense that she goes to the extreme of constantly running away which is very ostentatious. But then again, she is not stable, she is a sociopath that cannot function in the real world and is running away from the place where she needs to be. So yes, she is crazy but again look at the situation and type of crazy. Lastly we have Susanna who is the narrator of the book. Susanna is in the mental hospital for popping those 50 aspirin and for being severely depressed. She was seen by a therapist for less than half an hour and the conclusion was already made that she needs to be institutionalized. So I know by now the thought of “ WHAT?! less than half an hour and she will be locked away for who knows how long?! She must be really crazy” is NOT going through your head. Right?... Thanks god! I would have been like seriously?-_- after all this you still think that way? But just incase you are thinking that way and are too chicken to admit it I will peel back the layers for you, again. That way you have three examples of how crazy might not mean crazy. So yes Susanna is mentally deranged we’ve cleared the air on that one and she tried to kill herself. She popped the 50 aspirin but then thought it through and regretted it. So she carried on with her day to get the milk her mother needed. So that is enthusiastic. She was too high on the fact that she regretted what she did that she carried on with her normal errands instead of calling 911 or some other form of help. Ok, come to think of it she was probably high on all that aspirin too. Anyway, she shows her mentally deranged characteristics by being suicidal but then again, she regretted it and carried on with her normal day which ehhhh might not have been the best idea. Now you hopeful understand what I mean by crazy and you have more of an open mind around it.