Susanna Kaysen The Author example essay topic

Girl, Interrupted Part I: Critical Analysis Author: Susanna Kaysen. Girl, Interrupted: New York Division of Random House. Inc 1993.1. What is the author's topic? The author's topic is about a teenager name Susanna Kaysen. At 18 she voluntarily turned herself into McLean Hospital.

2. Identify the author's main idea (s). In other words, what is the main point the author is attempting to make about the book? The author's has 2 main points; one point is about her two-year stay McLean hospital. The second main point talks about how she handles and gets treated for being depressive and suicidal. 3.

Identify the author's overall pattern (s) of organization. Give examples and / or details to explain your answer. The pattern the author uses is time order; she starts off the book with her case record, which was submitted in 1967. The last example given is her recovery record; she left and had a recovery of her depression and being suicidal in 1969.4. What biases, if any, can you detect from the author's writing? Give examples and details to support your answer.

The author isn't biased about anything, she wasn't for anything and she wasn't against anything. Susanna Kaysen was simply trying to find her place in the world through the world of medicine. 5. Is this book mostly concerned with factual information, or does the author use conjecture and opinion to make his / her point? What detail and examples support your answer? Girl, Interrupted is all factual information.

Susanna Kaysen the author has put her reports from the doctors that were helping her in the book. On August 9, 1967 the author Susanna Kaysen 6. Identify the author's purpose (s) for writing this book. In your opinion, does the author accomplish his / her purpose? Support your answer with concrete evidence. The author's purpose to the story is to make people notice how people are being treated in a mental institution.

Susanna Kaysen writes about the girls in the ward as if nothing is wrong with them. She writes about being in a ward as if it is ok. 7. What is the author's tone? Explain your answer with details and / or examples. There isn't really a tone in the book.

The author writes as if she was more informational. I think the book is actually a little bit suspenseful because when I read it I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next. Part II: Summary The book Girl, Interrupted is about a teenage girl Susanna Kaysen. At the age of 18 she voluntarily sent herself to the McLean hospital.

In the beginning of the book the Susanna was talking to a psychiatrist she has been seeing for awhile, she has had a couple of suicide attempts so she started seeing that doctor. The doctor had recommended Susanna to go to McLean to help her be anti-depressive and help cure her borderline personality. Susanna ended up being in the hospital for 2 years. In the first year, Susanna meets all the girls in the ward and tries to get treated for her symptoms.

There are a lot of girls that Susanna mentions. The first girl she mentions about is Polly. Polly had sent herself on fire, and burned brutally. She has never once complained in the hospital, but she always listened to the other patients. The next girl is Lisa she is a sociopath. Lisa is always trying to escape the hospital.

Daisy was a different girl; she had a thing for roasted chicken and laxatives. "Daisy was a seasonal even", she came in during thanksgiving and stayed until Christmas, and also sometimes come on her birthday in May. On the other hand there was something peculiar about her father, he was in love with his daughter Daisy. Daisy's father wanted to have sex with her to make sure she is real. But in the end daisy committed suicide in her apartment. After Susanna names the girls she starts to write about her, she starts off talking about her suicidal attempts.

She swallowed fifty pills of aspirin, her ex-boyfriend ended up calling 911 and she had her stomach pumped. For the next couple of chapters, the p. o. vs. is in first person. Susanna a start to talk what is happening around the hospital, her best memory is about ice cream. Because of the death of daisy all the girls in ward had ice cream.

All the nurses took the girls out to a local ice cream parlor. For some reason "The floor of the ice cream parlor bothered me". the black and white squares made her feel nervous. More towards the middle of the book Susanna meets someone named Lisa Cody. She was a sociopath, like the other Lisa in the ward. All the girls called Lisa Cody by her full name so she wouldn't be mistaken for the Lisa. After awhile Lisa Cody ran away and no one ever saw her again.

In the end of the book Susanna Kaysen finally talks about herself in the book. She starts to talk about what happened to her the minute she stepped out of the taxi. She talks about how insanity comes in 2 ways; it's either slow or fast. She explains by calling it velocity vs. viscosity. "Velocity occurs on a cellular level" and "viscosity endows every platelet and muscle fiber with a mind of its own". So now that she thinks that, Susanna would get sleepy and ask herself is she really sleepy or is that just her mind telling her she is.

Also while she was still in McLean Susanna was able to get married and hold a steady job. But she still ended up getting up a divorce. Even thought that happened she still had a number of lovers to come out of it. Part : Reaction "Sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy"-Susanna Kaysen, I think that's the truth about something in life. I look at the quote as if it's saying life isn't simple and you can't always look at life like that. When I first read Girl, Interrupted I thought it was an interesting book.

The girls in the book make up swear words about the weirdest things or how they act if they don't get something they want. In a way I can relate to that because my mom is just a little bit like some of the girls in the story. If she doesn't get what she wants she gets mad at the world and it is unnecessary, and that's for everything. I think that's just too spoiled. The girl I can most relate to in the story is Polly, because I can see myself listening to everyone and not complaining about anything really in life. But she was also a burn victim that didn't complain about her face.

I'm almost like her, I never once think I'm cute or beautiful, and I don't complain about anything about my body. I know I have to live with what I have, so what's the point in complaining about it. One more way I can relate to the story is my cousin is like my cousin she tried to the whole I swallowed this many pill thing. I never got why she did it.

She never told me why, on the other hand she had some problems in the past with some things. So maybe that might have been the problem. But she never passed out like Susanna did in the beginning of the book. I'm just glad my cousin didn't die.