Susanna Kaysen's Journal-Memoir, Girl, Interrupted Essay example

First off, the hospitals are no longer referred to as insane asylums, they are referred to as mental hospitals, rehab, and so on. The daily schedule in hospitals today is very similar to the hospitals in the 1920’s. The day starts with a wake up call then seven o’clock breakfast is served (O’Brien). Both then and now hospitals had outburst in patients. A patient may screem when not agree with the doctors, grabbing others attention, or a patient might react rationally.

Another main character, Kattie Strickland, faces her own unique set of challenges, some of which began even before she arrives at Clinton. Kattie was forced to leave her children behind in order to follow her dreams. Instead of constantly feeling sorry for herself, she uses her kids as motivation, and even sends most of her income back to support them. Kattie faces additional setbacks at Clinton itself, as she is treated differently due to her being African American. The guards would randomly force their way in to her living space and search it for no real reason. Kattie’s husband was also not allowed to go to where she lived onsite at the facility, but the couple easily got around this rule by going to where her husband lived (albeit on a curfew). As time went on, she began making more money and in turn sent more funds back to her kids. Despite the odds being against her, Kattie still managed to surpass her problems and achieve her dream, assisting her

Susanna Kaysen’s “Girl Interrupted,” is an autobiography in relation to Kaysen’s two-year stay at a mental hospital as she battles borderline personality disorder. Although in denial, Susanna Kaysen is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder but is unable to come to terms with her illness as she reassures herself she is fine. The reader learns that Kaysen is an unreliable narrator that is unable to discover the truth behind her illness. Through the exploration of her relationships, actions, and opinions, enhances the fact that Kaysen is mentally ill. Through her past and present relationship’s, Susanna demonstrates her self-destructive tendencies. Kaysen’s impulsivity in the novel is another indication that her diagnosis is fitting. Finally, Kaysen’s thought process and anxious behavior further prove her as a candidate for BPD.

After saying goodbye to her family, she describes being processed into the correctional facility. While in prison, she keeps to herself in order to survive while observing the mayhem around her. Jennifer decides to use her skills to help other inmates.

Through traumatic events many people lose their sanity. Some people are born insane, while others are driven to their breaking point by life experiences. In the memoir “Night” insanity is a major theme, through various characters like Mrs. Shockter and Moishe the beedle. In “Night” insanity is experienced through horrific events and continues to make itself present throughout the book.

The Quiet Room: A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness is an insightful book which revolves around Lori Schiller, who at age 17 started her downward spiral into psychosis induced by schizophrenia, and subsequently recovering enough by her early thirties to regain control over her life. The book is a culmination of Lori’s experiences and those close to her during her treatment. In her note to the reader, Lori explains that the variation of ‘voices’ in the book is to give an accurate recollection of her life since her illness and subsequent treatment distorted her memories. Lori and her family’s experiences progress in a mostly linear progression from before the schizophrenia appeared with her slowly loosing independence as the schizophrenia began to reign out of control. The experiences in the book revolve around mental hospitals, healthcare workers, as well as societal stigmas from both her family and acquaintances that Lori and her family encountered about mental illnesses.

A person's identity cannot be given to her, instead a person must achieve a sense of her character through personal experience and self-reflection. In "No Name Woman", Maxine Hong Kingston recalls the events of her aunt's life in the vague world of her Chinese roots. The story of her aunt is told by her mother and Kingston recreates the events into an exploratory story to help herself figure out what part of her identity is Chinese and help her better understand the Chinese culture. In retelling her aunt's story, Kingston seeks to reconcile both her Chinese and American identities and mold her own identity as a result. Kingston, a first generation American, finds that as a result of her cultural

The patients take advantage of their situation in ways that they never thought possible before. What is so significant is that the ward has been trying so hard to keep the patients as weak and feeble as possible, giving the impression that they are the lowest in the human societal network, and yet they are able to find strength and courage just by embracing their true identities.

The narrator mentions how at times she was worried about where the food went proving she wasn't used to the abundance of food because she used to belong to the lower class and sometimes she probably didn't have enough

Daisy. When Lisa and Susanna escape the hospital and flee to Daisy’s apartment, Lisa, knowing

This place reminded her of the hospital in some ways, more so because she felt trapped. The bars on the window seemed all too familiar, and worse yet another locked

"Lindy!" Mother jumped, and sucked her burnt finger, then turned back to the frying pan, stirring the cabbage and onions with one hand and reaching for the seasonings above the stove with the other, tossing celery seed in to sizzle and pop. She shook her head and sighed, "Oh, child," as she pulled the worn wooden board from its shelf, cut brown bread in thick slices, let the pieces fall into a basket, and brushed the crumbs into the sink. She placed pumpkin seeds and thin slices of Gouda together on a tray. For the occasional male visitor the women would fry fish, but they themselves did not eat meat.

She becomes numb and looses her memory all for her family. After she regains almost all of her memories, she remembers that she had a son. She remembers that he died young, but she also remembers him older. She remembers everything. Dan and Natalie would like her to go back on her medication and try again but she refuses.

She cleaned up the streets and the repair man came and helped put up new walls to her home. Later that afternoon she had found her mom's favorite recipe it was steak and green beans and potatoes. She made that out of the leftover stuff in metal boxes that her and momma had stored before the volcano erupted she baked in her new bakery.

The Diary of Anne Frank is about a girl that kept a diary while hiding from Nazi’s in Amsterdam for two years. The diary ends when the Nazi’s found her and her family. Her whole family was killed in exception for her father. She was given the journal on her thirteenth birthday. She simply summarized her life for two years in this phenomenal journal.