Friday, February 29, 2008
Day 1 Block 2: Girl, Interrupted
Remember to post twice for a B. More than that will get you the A. We've been seeing a lot of plot summary. You've all ready the book so that isn't necessary. We've also seen a lot of GREAT comments about characters and conflicts. Keep it up! Question each other and dig deeper.
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23 comments:
Amanda Maurice,
The beginning of the book was introducing all of the characters. Instead of saying this is so and so and they were such and such, they incorporated them into the introduction of the story but telling their back round stories. All of these girls are sent to a mental institution and Suzanna, the main character, is considered one of the healthiest ones along with her roommate Georgina.
There was one character who really interested my in this chapter. Polly was a girl who when she was younger decided that she was going to set herself on fire as a suicide attempt. I love the way the author uses Polly’s story as almost heroic. Most of the girls in the institution have tried at least one way to kill themselves but they had always had a way of recovering or being found. Suzanna tried to kill herself but she took fifty aspirin and then walked into the road to be found. Polly did something most wouldn’t, she set herself on fire. Polly did something permanent to herself. She burned the depressed right out of her. Suzanna found this fascinating, but she realized that most of the girls there would be able to change someday, but Polly was going to be stuck in her body forever.
So fat there are no real conflicts in the book. Suzanna is trying to find herself by taking a “rest” at this mental institute and she can’t really say why she is there. People ask her how she ended up there and all she can say is it’s easy. Right now Suzanna is starting to feel comfortable with her surroundings and with the people she is living with. She has friends and gets along nice with most everyone. I’m interested to see if her feelings change about where she is later on into the book.
Brittany Gregoire
Day 1 block 2
Question:
Your first blog will be to give your reaction to the first set of pages you were to read. Which characters do you identify with or find interesting? Why? What conflicts exist between characters or within characters?
In the beginning of the book when it was just starting out I didn't quite get what was going on. It was only because it jumped right into Susanna's problem.I found reading through i understood better and it was easier to understand. I also found it very desribable. It desribes the type of enviroment they are around verry well, almost like i can picutre walking in the and seeing all this happen. The characters you can tell all have different personalities and with the discriptions you can really see that.
The character that i think really stands out is Lisa. Lisa just seems like the "miss Know it all". She is the tough girl thats been through everything. She's brave, runs away and always gets caught. she as a character has made me interested.She knows every patients personality, knows what they do and there daily routines because she has been there for so long. she seems like the person they all look up to but shouldn't.Lisa and Susanna are becoming close, susanna really looks up to her and thinks of her as her best friend.Those two i feel are becoming or are going to become good friends.
This book i think is a good one, the new things going on everyday in it makes me want to read on and keep going.
So far i really like the book girl interrupted. I find the character Lisa to be very interesting. She really knows what she wants, but at the same time she almost needs the help of others. When she said she needed a vacation she ran away. When they found her and brought her back to the ward, she told everyone what a crazy world it was and how there was no one to take care of you. If she feels so out of place outside of the ward why does she feel the need to keep running away?
Susanna tells everyones story but her own. We dont really know why she is in the ward. Her therapist told her it was the right thing to do so she went. Does she even know why she is there? I think she does have some problems but she just hasn't talked about them in the first 30 pages.
Nicole Ashburner Day1 block2,
Basically all I have to say about this book is that it is very weird. But weird in a good way because it keeps you interested in the book. The beginning of the book is introducing everyone and why they are"crazy" it is really interesting to see the different disorders everyone has and how different they all act. Everyone is in there for a certain reason that all seem crazy, but for the main character Suzanna, it seems like she's really not that bad. I think that she is just different. She is young and thrown into a place where they are telling her she is crazy and she is growing up with crazy people. Even though she did try to kill herself by taking 50 asprin, she is really not a bad person. The doctor told her to go to this place for about 2 weeks, and she has been there for almost 2 years. I know if it were me I would be so frusterated. But so far the book is really good and I can't wait to read more.
Heather Buttiglieri D1B2
I think all the characters in Girl, Interupted are all interesting in their own way. For example Lisa, i dont quite get why she runs away when she wants someone to take care of her. It could possibly be that she just needs a break, some privacy but there should be other ways to get that.
Another person i think is interesting Wade. Does he really have a father thats a spy with all these cool friends? or is that just part of the reason he is in this hospital in the first place.
This book is overall interesting, i think i would probably go crazy too if i thought so deeply about one of the little things i encounter every day. Like they can be thinking about one question on whether or not to do something and it will lead to another and so on. That would drive me crazy.
Heather Buttiglieri D1B2
I dont really know why Suzanna is there either, i'd be pretty curious to find out like a logical reason as to why she was placed in the hospital. And not just that she was picking at a pimple because that doesnt seem logical to me.
I agree with Amanda, Polly is another interesting character. I forgot about her in my other blog. I dont know if i would be able to live with myself or be able to try and move on having permenant scars to look at every day. Its like a permenant reminder that you tried killing yourself, and it would probably get her thinking as to why she did it and make her want to try to succeed again. It just seems like the type of things they do in this book ( think about things was too deeply)
Amanda Maurice
As of now I am still wondering why Suzanna is in this mental institute. She says she is depressed but we still don’t know why. She mentions that her boyfriend starts to come see her but then stops because she wont have sex with him, is he the reason she is depressed? Then it talks about how she is sleeping with her English teacher and I’m guessing it is the same teacher who came to visit her.
Most people don’t want to be in a mental institute but she seems to want to stay more than she wants to leave. Her English teacher offers to take her away and start a life with her, what made her want to stay? I would say she wants to stay because she feels like the normal one. In the ward she is one of the healthiest girls there and she only suffers from a character disorder. To me she is just there to avoid problems in the outside world.
I also wonder if her parents have anything to do with the problem. She doesn’t talk about them much. I want to know more about them. At this rate it feels like Suzanna is going to be spending the rest of her life there with Lisa, and I don’t believe she would have a problem with that.
Amanda Maurice
I just read "Do You Believe Him Or Me?" and i just thought it was kind of bizzare becaues who would believe a girl in a mental institute? Everything has been going pretty normally in the book they are doing the same ol stuff but then i got to "Bare Bones" and it really sent me for a loop. The girls are all very bored so they decide to go to each room for an hour but Susanna decides that she wants to see if there is any bone under her hand and starts to scratch at herself and bite herself to see. She makes herself bleed until georgina asks her to stop. Thats when the reading ended or page ended. I wonder what is going through her head while she is doing this. She i think is feeling like she is turning into nothing. She wants to make sure that all of her is still there. She has been locked up for 2 years now and i think what she really needs is to know she is real by outside interaction, boyfriend, parents even a friend. No one ever comes and see's her though. Do you think that if she had more interaction with the outside world and people close to her that she would improve or would it just make her more crazy?
Heather Buttiglieri
I find it funny how they are in a mental hospital yet they can go out with a few nurses and get icecream. I always used to think you had to stay in the hospital... that was the point of them being there in the first place, so they wernt out in society with all the "normal" people. But i guess not.
I never knew that there were diffrent types of security in a mental hospital, like medium ( which Susanna is in) and high security. All ive got to say is i would hate to be in high security, it would get so boring. It doesnt seem very nice in there either, i would get lonely.
Katelyn Day D1B2
Being in a mental institution I think that it was very weird when the nurses took the patients out for ice cream. I have read other books that have taken place in a mental institution like Cut. And I fell that in Girl, Interrupted theres not a lot of group meetings or discussions with doctors. But I think the author does a great job with getting into the patients head. I would like to know more about Suzanna. I mean we know she tried to commit suicide but it vaguely talks about it. I also thought that it was kind of strange that she was just going to the doctors and he was talking about her pimple, and then she is off to a mental institution. In the future pages, I hope that the book digs deeper to really why the characters are "crazy" and what they need to do to get better.
Katelyn Day DIB2,
Questions: What is up with the Lisa's? Why does one Lisa try to be more like the other? How are they more alike than other patients by just their name?
I think that the chapter names are very intersting. In recently reading the chapter Velocity vs. Viscosity really stood out to me. The main character talks about how fast (and slow) a mental illness can be. I guess I never had really thought about it this way. She also talks about how you can feel the slow onset of the illness. how a patient can reconize this is beyond weird. Like the know when their going to have a breakdown whether it be a fast or slow reaction.
Lisa Kelley D1B2
I really liked this section of the book. Suzanna tells us a lot more of her condition and why she is in the ward. There is a lot more going on so far, and each character is developing more.
There is alot more conflict within the ward. The girls are testing their limits with the nurses, therapists, and each other. They feel like they aren't being treated fairly, and that they deserve more freedom.When Lisa Cody arrived at the ward Lisa started to act out more. I thought that was pretty interesting.
Lisa Kelley D1B1
I think that is was really funny how the girls went out for icecream. They are in the hospital for a reason and that is because there is something wrong with them. But i also think that is benifits the girls alot because when they are in the hosptial all they time they are not getting the socialization with other people outside the hospital. They are learning how to act with people that dont know them.
I think where suzanna was scrating her skin because she didn't think there was bone there was scary. I mean she could have really hurt heself and she didn't really talk about it with the nurses or anyone, they just gave her meds to calm her down. Is that how they really do it? Just give them meds all the time when all they really need is someone to talk to. I think most of the time it could be done with out so much meds.
Amanda Maurice
Susanna just found out that her wisdom teeth are growing in and she has to go to Boston with Valerie to have them taken out. Before she leaves everyone is giving her different ideas about how she should either go to movie, or run away, and Lisa wants her to she a drug dealer and get her some drugs.
Why would Valerie take Susanna to a dentist outside of the mental institute when there was one right in the ward to take care of it? I know that the doctor wasn't that great but why risk taking her out of the ward and risking her doing one of the things the girls said to do? Do you think that Valerie finds her a threat of running away or trying to do anything to cause problems?
Heather Buttiglieri
I agree with Amanda, i think what she needs is to know she is real in the rest of the world, not that she has bones like a normal person. Susanna hasnt had but one visiter and he offered to take her to england and out of the mental institution. I dont understand exactly WHY she didnt go with him and felt like she had to stay at the mental hospital. I sure wouldnt want to stay in a mental institution. Other people in the mental institution atleast have family or friends that go visit them and bring them like chicken or something.
Heather Buttiglieri
I think Valerie wanted to take susanna to boston to get her wisdom teeth out because she really didnt want to get them out with the doctor that was in the mental hospital. I think it was kind of like a bribe-ish type of thing because she REALLY needed to get them out. also thats where valerie said she went to the dentist so she trusts that person to do the right work. I dont know how she would be able to escape anyways if valerie goes with her- or if she did manage to escape shes really smart.
Amanda Maurice
They just introduced a new girl into the ward and her name is Alice. When she first walks in all of the girls say that she doesn't look crazy but when they start to talk to her she knows nothing at all about anything and has never enjoyed anything really pleasurable. She is just simple and the girls wonder how such a simple girl could afford to go to such a nice mental institute. What i want to know is who pays for Lisa to go to this hospital. They never mention who put her there and she has no family.
If you have to be rich the how did Susanna's parents get her in there? Are her parents rich, who are her parents? Any thoughts?
Brittany Gregoire
All through the book, i began to think that Susanna was the normal one. I still kinda do, she is nothing like these other people she is surrounded by. She is depressed and tried killing herself, so i see why she would be there. But after reading "Bare Bones" she really didn't think that she had any bones. She didn't seem like the type to harm herself physically as in blood wise. The book went into such detail or Susanna did and it just seemed like one of those "psychos" that she lives with. I think to me it was just weird reading about something like that about susanna. I think that had to be the most surprising thing i have read in the book so far.Georina had to do all she could just to convince her that she had bones. Georgina Valeria, and Polly all just starred at her and was telling her over and over again that she had bones and to not worry, i just found it creepy that Susanna questioned what really kept her body together.
Brittany Gregoire
I think that Susanna isn't that interesting in the book. I feel like she is the good one that sits round and observes all the weird and bad behavior going around. You have Lisa who mouths off and can't take the word "No". Lisa runs away all the time gets pulled back to the home because she is always caught. then you have this new chick Lisa who is trying to be bigger and badder than the other Lisa. Always competing with eachother. You have georgina who is just weird and she dates the Tunisia boy and has "sex" or tihnks and plans of it, then you have all them other girls who are just physcho and need alot of help. I just feel like Susanna is the good girl not the god girl per say but the one where you don't think anything is that wrong with this girl, she just needs a few minor adjustments compared to the others.
Heather Buttiglieri
Agreeing with Amanda, suzanna does seem like the most "normal" person until she started talking about how she thought she had no bones. i dont even think she would be alive if she had no bones, she would be like a blob of skin and organs. i dont understand how she could even think that in the first place.
Heather Buttiglieri
Responding to what Katelyn said, i think the Lisa's are competing with each other in a way to try and see whos more crazy. Theres nothign better to do in a mental institution. Im not exactly sure their reasons though, like why wouldnt you try to act normal so you could get out of the mental institution and try and more on with your life, instead of just giving them more reasons to keep you there.
I also like the names of the chapter, in a weird way they kind of give you hints to what is in that chapter.
Nicole Ashburner D1B2
I am almost done the book, and I have to say that it is completely crazy. Susana Kaysen is way smarter than I ever thought her to be. I just finished reading the chapter mind vs. brain and some of the vocabulary that she uses makes me wonder where she got it all from.
What I think is very interesting about her is her views on certain subjects. She thinks differently about things than i ever would but, in a way, i have to say we think the same. When she is talking about how part of your brain thinks one thing crazy and you believe it until the other part says that it is incorrect, then you are stuck between them until you finally agree with the second part is very interesting and very true. She is a very smart girl, and I don't think people give her credit for it.
Amanda Maurice
I dont think that anyone would really 'want' to live in a mental institute for any amount of time, it is just something out of their control. They can't act 'normal' in the real world and that is why they are put in there. I think Susanna just does a better job at hiding her disease better than the others. She can only play it off for so long. So to Heather's response, i dont think any of them want to be there, but they just cant help it.
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