Give an in-depth analysis of Lisa.
Lisa probably has the most extreme personality disorder; she is a sociopath. Sociopaths are often associated with murderers, serial killers, and any other felon who holds no mercy or regret. Lisa has no conscience and acts on impulse. When Lisa escaped for three days, she explains to the other girls how exciting it is in the real world and fascinates them with stories. She finds it fun to disobey the nurses and fills every week with a new and rousing event to disrupt routine. Susanna befriends Lisa and this is very destructive towards Susanna's sanity. Being around such an unstable and volatile person only causes more stress and anxiety to Susanna. I believe Lisa should be kept in a different ward more suitable for her disorder.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Discussion Question (3)
Reference the hospital records copied into the text. What is added to the the book with the incorporation of these records?
Years after being released from McLean, Kaysen hired a lawyer and obtained these records from the hospital. She wanted to see whether or not her treatment was required or appropriate. They are published in the book because they allow the reader to come to terms with the fact that these are actual hospital records and all of what they are reading is true. It is also interesting to see the actual records and how the doctors diagnosed and took notes on Susanna and her behavior at the hospital.
Years after being released from McLean, Kaysen hired a lawyer and obtained these records from the hospital. She wanted to see whether or not her treatment was required or appropriate. They are published in the book because they allow the reader to come to terms with the fact that these are actual hospital records and all of what they are reading is true. It is also interesting to see the actual records and how the doctors diagnosed and took notes on Susanna and her behavior at the hospital.
Links
Book Review
http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?id=175&type=book&cn=8
McLean Hospital
http://www.mcleanhospital.org/
Definition of Borderline Personality Disorder
http://www.borderlinepersonalitytoday.com/main/dsmiv.htm
Susanna Kaysen Interview
http://www.angelfire.com/zine2/survivalsnatural/susannakaysen.html
Personal account of a mental hospital patient in the 1960s
http://psychservices.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/reprint/56/12/1499.pdf
http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?id=175&type=book&cn=8
McLean Hospital
http://www.mcleanhospital.org/
Definition of Borderline Personality Disorder
http://www.borderlinepersonalitytoday.com/main/dsmiv.htm
Susanna Kaysen Interview
http://www.angelfire.com/zine2/survivalsnatural/susannakaysen.html
Personal account of a mental hospital patient in the 1960s
http://psychservices.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/reprint/56/12/1499.pdf
Discussion Question (2)
Does Susanna think she is insane? Do you think she is insane?
Susanna goes back and forth in thinking whether she is crazy or not. At one point she is referring to herself and the others as "lunatics" and at another she is rationalizing her crazy thoughts ["it is easy to slip into a parallel universe" (5)].
However, when she states: "Once I'd accepted that, it followed that I might be mad, or that someone might think me mad. How could I say for certain that I wasn't, if I couldn't say for certain that a curtain wasn't a mountain range?" (42) one can really see that Susanna is definitely having trouble distinguishing reality from imaginary. Therefore, I believe that Susanna thinks she is slightly insane, why else would she have stayed in the hospital for so long?
As for me, I don't really consider Borderline Personality disorder as insanity. However, when Susanna describes these hallucinations that she often has, it makes me think that maybe there is something else irking her mental health. An official disorder is defined as something that disrupts one's everyday living, and to classify Susanna considering that definition, yes, Susanna is insane.
Susanna goes back and forth in thinking whether she is crazy or not. At one point she is referring to herself and the others as "lunatics" and at another she is rationalizing her crazy thoughts ["it is easy to slip into a parallel universe" (5)].
However, when she states: "Once I'd accepted that, it followed that I might be mad, or that someone might think me mad. How could I say for certain that I wasn't, if I couldn't say for certain that a curtain wasn't a mountain range?" (42) one can really see that Susanna is definitely having trouble distinguishing reality from imaginary. Therefore, I believe that Susanna thinks she is slightly insane, why else would she have stayed in the hospital for so long?
As for me, I don't really consider Borderline Personality disorder as insanity. However, when Susanna describes these hallucinations that she often has, it makes me think that maybe there is something else irking her mental health. An official disorder is defined as something that disrupts one's everyday living, and to classify Susanna considering that definition, yes, Susanna is insane.
Discussion Question (1)
Analyze the symbolism behind the following quote in relation to the text:
"Every window on Alcatraz has a view of the San Francisco." (6)
This is a very symbolic quote. Kaysen is referring to her new "imprisonment" in McLean hospital. She compares it to the infamous Alcatraz with a lot of exaggeration because she believes that McLean is a prison. She also may be referring to the fact that inside of a mental hospital the patients are not allowed to think for themselves because their thought is considered self destructive. Therefore, if all the windows on Alcatraz have only a view of the city and not of the ocean on the other side, the prisoners are also not allowed to think for themselves. They are only entitled to see what is already made and not permitted to dream of a new city or a new life; creativity is extinguished in both institutions.
"Every window on Alcatraz has a view of the San Francisco." (6)
This is a very symbolic quote. Kaysen is referring to her new "imprisonment" in McLean hospital. She compares it to the infamous Alcatraz with a lot of exaggeration because she believes that McLean is a prison. She also may be referring to the fact that inside of a mental hospital the patients are not allowed to think for themselves because their thought is considered self destructive. Therefore, if all the windows on Alcatraz have only a view of the city and not of the ocean on the other side, the prisoners are also not allowed to think for themselves. They are only entitled to see what is already made and not permitted to dream of a new city or a new life; creativity is extinguished in both institutions.
Quotations/ Literary Terms
"It was my misfortune- or salvation- to be at all times perfectly conscious of my misperceptions of reality. I never 'believed' anything I saw or thought I saw. Not only that, I correctly understood each new weird activity." (Kaysen 41)
This quote is especially important to the reader because it lets them know the extent of Susanna's "insanity". Susanna never really thinks she is insane because she realizes what is real and what is not; insanity is not knowing what is real and what is not.
"My loneliness and boredom and fear were all weapons aimed at my enemy, the world." (42)
This quotes explains the tormenting Susanna endured during her times of depression.
"The floor of the ice cream parlor bothered me...the contrast got under my skin. I always felt itchy in the ice cream parlor. The floor meant Yes, No, This, That, Up, Down, Day, Night- all the indecisions and opposites that were bad enough in my life without having them spelled out for you on the floor"
This quote gives the reader a chance to understand Susanna's thinking and how her mind works.
Similie: "There were no objective criteria for deciding to put someone into seclusion. It was relative, like the grading curve in high school." (47)
Allusions: "The hospital was on a hill outside of town, the way hospitals are in movies about the insane" (48)
"Ray Charles was the most famous ex-patient" (48)
"Syliva Plath had come and gone." (48)
Metaphor: "The group had an atomic structure: a nucleus of nuts surrounded by darting, nervous nurse-electrons charged with our protection." (48-49)
"...it was our lullaby. It was our metronome, our pulse." (55)
Imagery: "all soft winds and delicate smells of warm earth" (52)
"Down the hill, past the magnolia already losing its fleshy blossoms, the pink turning brown and rotten along the edge; past the paper-dry daffodils; past the sticky laurel that could crown you or poison you."
Autobiographical Novel: This written in first person by Susanna Kaysen describing her life altering experience inside of a mental hospital.
Onomatopoeia: "'Rnnn," said Lisa."(27)
Motif: Susanna continuously revisits the fact that she has borderline personality disorder. She can't understand how the doctor could have come up with that diagnosis in such a short time. She wants to know what her disorder means, how she may have got it, what the causes are, etc.
This quote is especially important to the reader because it lets them know the extent of Susanna's "insanity". Susanna never really thinks she is insane because she realizes what is real and what is not; insanity is not knowing what is real and what is not.
"My loneliness and boredom and fear were all weapons aimed at my enemy, the world." (42)
This quotes explains the tormenting Susanna endured during her times of depression.
"The floor of the ice cream parlor bothered me...the contrast got under my skin. I always felt itchy in the ice cream parlor. The floor meant Yes, No, This, That, Up, Down, Day, Night- all the indecisions and opposites that were bad enough in my life without having them spelled out for you on the floor"
This quote gives the reader a chance to understand Susanna's thinking and how her mind works.
Similie: "There were no objective criteria for deciding to put someone into seclusion. It was relative, like the grading curve in high school." (47)
Allusions: "The hospital was on a hill outside of town, the way hospitals are in movies about the insane" (48)
"Ray Charles was the most famous ex-patient" (48)
"Syliva Plath had come and gone." (48)
Metaphor: "The group had an atomic structure: a nucleus of nuts surrounded by darting, nervous nurse-electrons charged with our protection." (48-49)
"...it was our lullaby. It was our metronome, our pulse." (55)
Imagery: "all soft winds and delicate smells of warm earth" (52)
"Down the hill, past the magnolia already losing its fleshy blossoms, the pink turning brown and rotten along the edge; past the paper-dry daffodils; past the sticky laurel that could crown you or poison you."
Autobiographical Novel: This written in first person by Susanna Kaysen describing her life altering experience inside of a mental hospital.
Onomatopoeia: "'Rnnn," said Lisa."(27)
Motif: Susanna continuously revisits the fact that she has borderline personality disorder. She can't understand how the doctor could have come up with that diagnosis in such a short time. She wants to know what her disorder means, how she may have got it, what the causes are, etc.
Point of View
The point of view of this story is that of Susanna Kaysen, the author of this story. It is an autobiography of her life when she was committed into a mental hospital for borderline personality disorder.
Setting
The setting of this story is in the late sixties in Massachusetts. Most of the story also takes place inside of a mental hospital, McLean Hospital.
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