Girl Interrupted (34-68)

Summary: Susanna begins talking about suicide, she mentions that suicide is like premeditated murder. She says it's something that one thinks about more than once, and it takes some getting used too. She states that a successful suicide is one that demands good organization and a cool head. She says she had a debate with herself, and that debate was whether she would kill herself or not. She did attempt to kill herself, she took fifty aspirin pills. Before she did this, she called her boyfriend to tell him she was going to kill herself. Her boyfriend called the cops, they showed up at her house and told her parents what Susanna had done. Susanna went out in public and reached Mass. Ave. before her parents found her. She had to get her stomach pumped, they took a long tube, put it up her nose and down the back of her throat it was like she was being choked. After that she decided she would never take aspirin ever again. Then later on, she questions herself whether there would be a next time.
         Susanna also wonders how a doctor she had only seen once could have submitted her to a mental hospital. The doctor told her she would not be there long, but she had been lied too. The mental hospital was arranged in three phone booths, inside there were a couple of single rooms, the living room, and the eat kitchen. This way it looked good for first time visitors, however once you past the living room things change. There was a very long hallway, with seven or eight double rooms on each side, the nursing room on one side, and then the conference room. The toilets and showers were to the right to make sure they were in sight by the nurses. In front of the nursing room, was a blackboard. This board gave an advance warning of a new patient. There was also a seclusion room that was the size of a suburban bathroom. In the seclusion room you could go yell all you want, and get back out because you yelled in the TV room it meant you were acting out. In the seclusion room all there was, was the chicken wire enforced in one door, to be checked upon. In this room if the patient was not locked in for a reason then anybody could join.
 
Quote: "Freedom was the price of privacy" (Kaysen 47).

Reaction: This quote refers to the seclusion room, as to the patient having the chance to request being in there. However, the room was for people who went bananas and should be locked in there. Anyone who maintained a higher level of noise would be put in seclusion. Seclusion worked after a day or night in there. Therefore, relating to freedom as the price of privacy Susanna is talking about how the nurses would check up on a patient if they were yelling to check out their reason for yelling. Which is when the request business came into place, a patient could request to be locked in the seclusion room and they would also have to request to be let out.

Girl Interrupted (1-34)

Summary: The story begins with a case record, this case record is on Susanna Kaysen. The record is for the Institution McLean Hospital, and she voluntarily signed herself in. The story takes place in Massachusetts, Susanna is an 18 year old girl. On one of her visits to the hospital she was diagnosed with, psychneurotic depressive reaction, personality pattern disturbance, mixed type, and schizophrenia. From there on the doctor suggested she sign in to the mental hospital, and she voluntarily did so, once in there she questioned herself how she made it to that place. At the hospital, there's Polly, whom set herself on fire. There's Lisa who always tries to runaway but is found immediately after she leaves. Georgina is another patient, and according to Susanna, Georgina and she are the most stable in the hospitable. Daisy is another patient whom is obsessed with chicken, and her father has an obsession with her.
         Polly set herself on fire, and that left her body damaged, she saw herself in the mirror and screamed as if she had never recognized what she had done to herself. Polly is in there because she can be a danger not only to herself. Lisa, in the last attempt of running away and being caught, the nurses put her in solitary confinement. In there they cut down Lisa's nails which she always keeps long and takes care of them, during her nights of insomnia. Lisa is the type of girl who is always talking and she hated those who watched TV. Georgina had a boyfriend named Wade, he is also in the mental hospital and he is violent at times. He had to be pinned down during his outbursts, and he would tell stories about his dad being a CIA that no one believed. When he was locked in confinement Georgina really got depressed. Daisy only comes certain times of the year, during Thanksgiving through Christmas. Cynthia was also in the hospital, she was a girl who was placed through electroshock very often. Janet is an anorexic who shared a room with Polly, and Polly no longer wants to be her roommate, the girl weighs 79 pounds and keeps loosing more.
 
Quote: "If you lived here, you'd be home now" (Kaysen 31).

Reaction: The quote is actually the title of one of the chapters, and it relates to Daisy. Daisy's father payed frequent visits to her and brought her chicken each time. Daisy barely spoke to the girls, but in one of her conversations with Lisa she told Lisa that her father was going to buy her an apartment. What she loved about it what the logo that read "If you lived here, you'd be home now" therefore she wanted to live there. After Daisy leaves, months later the nurses tell the patients that Daisy committed suicide in her apartment on the day of her birthday. I found this quote interesting, because I've passed by logos that said the same thing, and I would think to myself like that is so true, I would love to be home now.