Important idea in Girl Interrupted
- This is a preview of the essay.
To view the full text you must login!
Response to Text
1. Describe an important idea in the text and explain why the idea is important.
An important idea in the book 'Girl Interrupted' by Susanna Kaysen is Susanna's obsession with time, because throughout the book, time is one of the aspects used to differentiate the 'normal' world from Susanna's 'parallel universe.' At various points in the text time is used to show her feelings of loss of control and sense of insecurity without the organization and order of the hospital. In contrast to that, time is one of the things causing Susanna to step into her 'parallel universe'.
Susanna's loss of control was accentuated particularly outside of the safety of her ward. For example, when she visited the dentist for an acute tooth abscess, she wakes up from the anaesthetic hysterical, demanding to know how much of her time was lost. "It's my time and I need to know how much it was." This depicts that once the organization of the ward disappears, so does her link to reality. It seems that her only connection with her and the outside world is time, and loosing that link gives her proof of her insanity...