Although Susanna Kaysen’s rebellious and self-harming actions of coping with her psychosis are viewed by some critics as pushing the boundary of sanity, many people have a form of a “borderline personality” that they must accept and individually work towards understanding in order to release themselves from the confines of their disorder. Kaysen commits to a journey of self-discovery, which ultimately allows her to accept and understand herself and her psychosis. Although Susanna Kaysen’s ordinary world is somewhat unstable and ambiguous in its direction, and her call to adventure is life-threatening, Susanna’s circumstances set her on a journey of self-understanding and discovery. There are parallels between Kaysen and Alex McCandless, the …show more content…
Susanna recalls her suicide attempt: “I wanted to get rid of a certain aspect of my character. I was performing a kind of self-abortion of my character… but i had no heart to try it again” (Kaysen 39). Although Susanna’s action is viewed by some critics as alarming, it was a learning experience for her, and she moved on. Furthermore, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs emphasizes the idea of undergoing drastic measures in order for results to be evident. Also, self-actualization stresses the need for personal growth that spans a person’s lifetime (McLeod). Susanna’s drastic actions allow her to realize her need for self-evaluation and understanding her actions. Susanna explains that “scar tissue has no character... It doesn’t show age or illness... It shields and disguises what’s beneath. That’s why we grow it, we have something to hide” (Kaysen 16). Seeing Polly’s scar tissue, Susanna acknowledges the motives behind the creation of the form of skin, and thus, her understanding brings her closer to identifying her motives and what she seeks to gain from her actions. Susanna explains what goes into one’s detachment from life: “... practice imagining yourself dead, or in the process of dying” (Kaysen 36). Susanna acknowledges preparing for suicide, however, she realizes after …show more content…
Susanna’s actions prove that she is continually working towards recovering. Jim Watson visits Susanna, asking her to run away with him, however, Susanna denies his proposal and stays at the institution: “For ten seconds I imagined this other life...the whole thing...was hazy. The vinyl chairs, the security screens, the buzzing of the nursing-station door: Those things were clear. ‘I’m here now, Jim,’ I said. ‘I think I’ve got to stay here’” (Kaysen 27). Susanna wants to stay at McLean until she is ready to leave; her choice supports what Buddha said, “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting” (Buddha). Susanna finds reassurance from McClean as she undergoes her journey. Susanna sees the young nurses at the ward who remind her of the life she could be living: “They shared apartments and had boyfriends and talked about clothes. We wanted to protect them so that they could go on living these lives. They were our proxies” (Kaysen 91). Susanna chooses to take these reminders as a positive motivating force along her journey. However, Susanna is also surrounded by patients who have different, more severe psychoses. These girls do not hinder Susanna’s progression, but instead emphasize her
In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, we are introduced to the five levels of needs that must be met to reach self-fulfillment. In order for a person to understand why people behave the way they do, it is useful to consider how many physiological, safety, and love needs, are being met or not. In S.E Hinton’s book, The Outsiders, the character Johnny Cade has several basic needs unmet; such as food, water, warmth and rest, and has no possible way to achieve self-achievement, love or safety needs. He also has most physiological needs unmet such as esteem and love needs.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory can possibly give an explanation to the manager’s actions. Specifically, the lower-order need “Safety”. The manager changed the free food policy from 6 hours to 12 hours in order to protect the stability of the company, his bonus, and stop employees from bad behavior. Under Alderfer’s ERG Theory the manager was pursuing his “Growth Needs.” He attempted to stop a behavior that tarnishes his work record and prevents him from receiving a bonus. Subject to McClelland’s Acquired Needs Theory the manager catered to the “Need for Achievement.” The manager hoped the policy change would be successful by stopping the bad behavior, and raise percentages back up. “Motivator Factors” under Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
This book is a memoir by Susanna Kaysen where she describes her time in the psychiatric hospital, McLean Hospital, in Massachusetts. She begins her story by questioning how it is that she ended up in the hospital. She also describes mental illness as a parallel universe and that people gradually catch glimpse of this universe before they fully enter this new world.
“Girl, Interrupted” is the story of a young girl’s attempted suicide and her time in a psychiatric hospital. The author tells the story of her experience at McLean Hospital and the people she meets while she is there. In Susanna Kaysen’s “Girl, Interrupted,” the author uses the hospital records to symbolize inconclusiveness of her diagnosis to support the theme of confusion of social nonconformity with insanity. Many of the other patients at McLean Hospital have very obvious diagnosis’ such as psychopath or depressed, but Kaysen’s diagnosis is borderline personality disorder, which has symptoms that most teenages can relate to. Throughout her stay at McLean Hospital and years later when she reads her hospital records, Kaysen struggles with accepting herself and her diagnosis.
There have been many psychoanalysts in her world but perhaps none as impactful as her first, Mrs. Jones. With Mrs. Jones, Saks was, for the first time, able to let her demons out in a safe and controlled environment to then have them interpreted back to her in a way that made sense. “Me: ‘I am in control. I control the world. The world is at my whim. I control the world and everything in it.’ Mrs. Jones: ‘You want to feel in control because in fact you feel so helpless.’” (Saks, 2007, p.
Susanna is constantly plagued with deep thoughts of negativity, and suicide. In a time when women did not have as many rights as men did, women who viewed the world differently where considered damaging to themselves. “There is little to signify that the story is taking place during the flamboyant sixties, a period that would encourage some to comment that the whole country was crazier than most of the so-called loonies in the psychiatric centers” (Karten). For Susanna, the call to move beyond the known, is having to suppress those thoughts the only way Susanna knows how, attempting to silence them with a bottle of aspirin and vodka. An indirect cry for help encourages Susanna’s conservative parents to arrange Susanna’s stay at McLean, a psychiatric hospital, to receive the help she needs. Susanna, though disoriented from her attempted suicide, accepts the call immediately. Signing herself in to McLean, there is a glimpse of the real Susanna yearning to recognize the need for help. But she cannot do it alone. Susanna will need her supernatural aids to accompany her on the
The next most pivotal stage in Susanna Kaysen’s hero’s journey is the call to adventure. This is when she first admits herself into McLean mental hospital. This introduction to a new world and and environment is a transition that is not easy for Susanna. Ultimately, the choice was hers to enroll to the mental hospital, but she was heavily encouraged by her psychologist to go. “‘I’ve got a bed for you,’ he said. “It’ll be a rest. Just for a couple weeks, okay?’” (Kaysen 8). Susanna agrees to go at the end of the week, on Friday, but he immediately he snaps back with “No. You go now,” (8). The
Susanna’s story was very eye-opening to me, as I have been able to visit a family member in a behavioral unit. I could easily imagine the different items that she would discuss—the nurses station, the rooms, and the cafeteria from an outsiders perspective. I could not relate to what she was experiencing, but I was still able to imagine the differences of what a psych ward was like in the 1960s, while picturing a behavioral unit today. One of the main differences that I read was that in the 60s’ the patients were allowed to smoke inside their
In order to construct an appropriate ethic of care for women deemed “mad” by mental practitioners and/or family members, special heed must be paid to culture, values, and the individuality of the patient. In Rebecca Shannonhouse’s anthology, Out of Her Mind: Women Writing on Madness, Shannonhouse includes brief excerpts of writings by women who have experienced this very situation: having expressed or been determined to have an unstable mental state. Excerpts from The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, and Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen will illustrate three necessary and intimately intertwined criteria for defining a common ethic of care. The first will confront
The first critique is the unspoken and sometimes unknown presence of mental health throughout the years. Clearly mental health is something that has been around for so long and to see how uncomfortable people are about it in 2018, one might find it surprising to have a book written in the nineties about someone with borderline personality disorder. The second critique is the parental stress that we do not see. We have talked in class about parental stress being caused by their children and in this case, having to send their child to a psychiatric hospital and seeing them suffer had to have caused some type of stressor on Susanna’s parents but we are not shown that side of it. From what we have learned, one would assume that this situation would potentially cause cases of anxiety and depression. The final critique would be about the way the hospital itself was run and the practice of the nurses and doctors. I think that the way they treated these patients is very inhumane. They do not listen to the way they are feeling they just automatically give them drugs when they ‘act out’. While I understand in psychiatric hospitals this is sometimes the necessary action to take, I thought it was very unnecessary a majority of the times she described it considering the patients were just trying to express concern or frustration. I also recognize that her experiences took place in the late sixties but it made me think
Margaret Edson explores an unpopular theme (redemption) using the changes in the character of the protagonist, Dr. Bearing. After her ovarian cancer diagnoses, she realizes that she lives an incomplete life with excess devotion to her career and academics and less regard for humanity. She faces heart breaking loneliness that makes her regret the fact that she listened to and followed her English professor’s advice that scholars are unsentimental. Margaret Edson’s “W; t”, therefore, has a thematic bias on the redemption of Dr. Bearing as she tries to emerge from her arrogant self and shed her unsociable character. Dr. Bearing interacts with two contrasting characters in the play that leads her to a state of self realization making her change for the best.
From the time of birth to the time of death, every single thing that happens in all creatures is based on cause and effect. For every action there is a reaction. Life itself is the domino effect. When something happens, there are various things to follow. When one possesses bad moral qualities, it can lead to bad behaviors that are often called vices. No matter what one believes in, he or she most definitely has a moral code. Whether it may be the "Ten Commandments", "Al Kaba 'r", or one 's own personal set of rules, there is always something to follow. Envy, in many instances considered the least profitable vice, seems to be one everyone succumbs to. Through idleness and an excess of curiosity, envy continuously infiltrates life today.
Campbell’s third stage is Refusal of the Call. The hero feels the fear of the unknown and tries to turn away from the adventure. Although the Hero may be eager to accept the quest, at this stage he or she will have fears that need overcoming. Second thoughts or even deep personal doubts as to whether or not he or she is up to the challenge. The problem he or she faces may seem too much to handle and the comfort of home is desired. As Susanna lives her new life in McLean, she refuses her psychosis and ignores the help she receives from Nurse Valerie and the other doctors, “[...]because the contrast between their language and my language was interesting [...] I didn't have their kind of clinical detachment and particular prejudices and thoughts” (Daniel). Susanna see’s her life in McLean and compares it to her old world. She knows that the people are different in both sides of the world. She faces internal dilemmas of where to fit. Campbell convey’s this as, “[... of the whole world make clear that the refusal is essentially a refusal to give up what one takes to be one’s own interest” (Campbell 49). Since, in both worlds she does not feel accepted. The world with her parents she would not be accepted and her life in McLean where she
Q:1 What is the relationship between the “urgency addiction” and the “four human needs and capacities?”
Once she does accept it, her recovery begins; she finally understands the only way she can get better and out of the institute is to embrace what she has been given and comprehends that “crazy isn’t being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It’s you or me.. Amplified.” The ending of the film showcases Susanna ultimately has her final days at Claymoore and moves on to bigger and better things. It can then be further interpreted that Susanna’s time at Claymoore was just simply an interruption not her whole