Girl Interrupted VS The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime

From the books I have read in College Literature, I have realized a lot of similarities and differences between Girl Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon. 

Some of the similarities I noticed was that Susanna and Christopher both were very observant about their surroundings. Susanna always was intrigued by patterns of the floor, walls and about the human body especially her bones, that's why she bit part of her hand in order to see the bones inside her hand. The reason why she did that was because she felt like she didn't have any bones and that she was different than others. Christopher on the other hand is always observing things. He always notices the extraordinary in ordinary situations. For example, he noticed that the garden fork that was used to kill Wellington, Mrs. Shear's black poodle, was owned by Mrs. Shears so nobody planned to kill him. He also noticed a lot of things about his journey to find his mother in London. In both stories, it was written in a narrative perspective  so both stories were telling a story about their lives. Both stories were inspired by their own daily lives. For example Mark worked with mentally disabled kids that's why he wrote a story about Christopher, and Susanna wrote about her past experiences at McLean Hospital. She also added all medical documents to emphasize on her diagnosis/stay at the hospital.

The differences between these two books that I noticed would be that it is both taken place at different time/places. In Kaysen's book, it takes place in Massachusetts in McLean Hospital and for Haddon, it is in Swindon and London. Christopher was mainly home all the time while his dad was at work and he went on his own expeditions to figure out who killed Wellington. Because he had autism, he was immensely smart but yet arrognant when it comes to the social aspects of life. He would always criticize people in general because he thought they were "stupid" and "too caught up in their lives to notice anything". If he was with living with Susanna, he would totally get irritated with her and use his broad vocabulary terms to explain to her how "stupid" she is for doing whatever she does. The diagnosis/mental illness that each character has is different. Christopher had autism and Asperger syndrome while Susanna was depressed with borderline personality disorder. Susanna also attempted to kill herself and Christopher did not. The plot was different because it is a mystery for Haddon's novel and Kaysen is pretty much a diary of her life. 

Those are the differences I noticed from my reading those books for College Literature and I would highly recommend them because they show you a totally new perspective of mental illness. 

Review on the Memoir

The book, Girl Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen is a memoir that includes her experiences at McLean Hospital along with her life story of her many medical conditions consisting of borderline personality disorder along with depression. I personally thought that this book wasn't that good because there was a lack of plot line and there wasn't anything interesting within this book. In the beginning, the book seemed real interesting but as you kept on reading, it got boring and dull because the memoir had no interesting plot. I also felt like Kaysen focused on the other girls in the hospital more than herself. If the memoir is about her, she should've focused on her treatment, life and stay at McLean's. I found it interesting figuring out the reason behind why each patient was that the ward along with the many interesting stories that Kaysen experienced at the hospital. I also found it interesting how Kaysen was so intrigued with the floors, her bones, and time. She obsessed over many things that wouldn't seem like such a big deal to "normal" people. I learned what borderline personality disorder was and it seems like they are people who aren't able to deal with change in their lives. They seem like they almost freak out or stand clueless to where to go.

For some odd reason, this book reminds me of many exorcists movies because of that one situation in which Susanna caused harm to herself in order to see her bone structure in her hand. Susanna did a great job describing it that also made is sound demonic in a way. Susanna Kaysen seems like a reliable narrator to me throughout her book. She never seem suspicious about any of the details in the book. Her book flows in order with a few flash backs but it pretty much follows her order of events. 

Somethings I didn't like about this book was that Susanna just told her story and didn't explain her reasoning behind her actions. There also wasn't that much action throughout her life/story and it makes it seem like her life was boring and consists of nothing. Many of the doctor documents didn't seem to be a little hard to read because of the font or format.

If I were asked if this book should be recommended, I would say no because I feel like many of the other books/memoirs read in the unit did a better job exemplifying the author's mental illness. And this book did a dull job at incorporating her life into it. /

Visions of Institutionalization; It's Kind Of a Funny Story vs. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

From watching the movie I'ts Kind of a Funny Story, I have realized many similiarites and differences between that movie and the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. They both display many aspects of the mentally illed but yet still contain many things in common.

In both works, the ward or facility immediately takes control of the inpatient's life and attempt to "treat" them. The main character, Craig, goes to the ER and tells the nurse that he wants to kill himself and all the nurse does is tell him to fill out papers and the doctor will see him in a bit. I felt like that symbolized how they, meanging the patients, were not taken seriously and that is what surprised me the most in that movie. The many characters in Kesey's book also are not taken seriously ONLY when they disturb the peace within the facility. Another thing that both works have in common would be that they have a schedule that all patients have to follow. In the book, all patients have to wake up, shave, interact with other patients, see the doctor, go to therapy, take a shower, do chores, and go to the group meeting at a certain time and same goes for the movie.

During the group meetings in both the movie and book, the patients seem to "tattle tail" on the other patients. In the movie, Bobby is picked on by his friends for being grouchy and they assume it's because Bobby is freaking out about his interview. They resolve Bobby's issues when Craig said he would ask for his dad to bring him one of his shirts. In the book, Harding is also picked on by Ms. Ratched, Billy, Harding, Cheswick and other patients. They speak about his issues and attempt to solve them.

The mood in the film and book is very calm, laid-back with very little drama. There is not much riots in both works. The patients are doing their own thing and don't mind others until they get to the meetings where they lash each other out verbally but never physically. The reason for that is because both of the works don't show much guards being on the job so the authority goes to the nurses. 

Some differences that the movie and book have in common would be that the patients in the movie are more likely to touch you and be violent with you. Throughout the book, Kesey depicts the characters as non-violent and weak because Ms. Ratched and all the nurses contain all the power. In the movie, Bobby looked like he was going to beat up his friend from taking Craig's burrito. In the book, many of there characters are more worried, solely upon themselves.

In the book, the patients are often times "forced" to do chores and tasks that they would not like to do. For example going into the pool; the guards would huddle around the patients until they all got in the pool or when they made the patients go to sleep or take their pills. In the movie, there seem to be very few guards around to keep things in order.

LIVING WITH A PSYCHOTIC WIFE. . .

Everyday she wakes up and stares at that yellow wallpaper; I don't know what else to do only to keep her locked up in her room so she doesn't go out and hurt herself or others. I don't think she would intentionally hurt anybody but every since she was diagnosed, she has been totally insane. I don't know what is wrong with her; I try to help her as much as I can but it's too hard or a man to take. How can I look at my wife and tell her I love her when I don't even see my wife when I look at her anymore? What does a man do? As a doctor, I try my hardest to be understanding but this clouds my judgment as a doctor. I often think that I'm going psychotic as well or that she's also making me psychotic as well. I also found myself looking at that yellow wallpaper and then I got Jenny to come look at it as well. We had no luck in figuring out why she was looking at it from the sunrise til the moon goes down. When we would come and look at the yellow wallpaper, my wife would sneak up from behind us and ask what we would do. She would stare at us like she just caught us stealing something with her bulging and baggy eyes from getting no sleep.
As each day goes by, I don't see her getting any better. Her day consist of the same old routines, which I know may seem boring and irritating but what else can I do with her? She takes pain medications to deal with her anxiety, depression and issues. We have lived in this beautiful, rich home of ours for many many years. The "garden--large and shady, full of box-bordered paths, and lined with long grape-covered arbors with seats under them"(1) has been part of our magnificent wonders that me and my dear wife has made upon building our lives. We have always bickered about adding on more to our house and she has always "wanted a room downstairs that opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings but John would not hear of it"(1). But when we did agree upon something, we flourished it like we did what that garden.
I just want her to get better so we can do all of that again, so we can watch our children have their own children and watch them grow older as we do to, but all she ever talks about is about how she's not sick and about the many things she wants to do besides being shut in that room. She often times writes and I find that that's the only cure to getting her to fall asleep but she never has enough energy to do that. She often tells me that, "I think sometimes that if I wee only well enough to write a lttle it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me."(3). I encourage her to write so she will be able relieve some stress just like how patients go to therapy to talk about their issues so they can work through his/her issues but that's not like my wife's issues.
I realized that when one day I went to check up on her and found the door locked I said, "Open the door, my darling!"(9)
"I can't. The key is down bythe front door under a plantain leaf," she responded.
And once I opened the door, she looked over her shoulder and said, "I've got out at last in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled it off most of the paper so you can't put me back!"(9) that was when I realized why she was looking at that wallpaper so much. She thoought that she was IN the wallpaper now. She stared at it somuch that she believed she was part of the wallpaper.
I told her that "she my darling, and my comfort and all I had, and that she must take care of herself for my sake, and keep well"(5). We connected so much after having our child so when she said all of that, it overwhelmed me. I couldn't take it; it was just too hard for me to take. I fainted because when I looked at her, she was not my wife anymore. I didn't even recognize her; she was not my wife anymore. I had to realize that. I could not do anything to help her anymore. I was done.

Welcome To My College Lit. Blog!! (:

Hey there.
My name is Zongsia.
And I am interested in going into the medical field, exploring the world and finding an adventurous place to settled down to with my wonderfully handsome husband. Besides that, I am interested volleyball, shopping, make-up, and hanging out with my friends but most of all, I am very much interested in FOOD! (: With a crap load of food, I'll be a happy camper (even though I hate camping).
After high school, I plan to go to a four year college and get a degree in Biology with a minor in Spanish. From then on, I will go to medical school to become either an obstetrician or a cardiologist. Once I officially become a doctor, I hope to move to the west coast so I can enjoy the hot weather because I hate Wisconsin weather.
My favorite book would have to be the Fifty Shades Of Grey series; I ain't into that kinky stuff but Christian Grey is so romantic to Anastasia. I want a Christian Grey but without all the issues he has. I just want a guy as loving, romantic and rich as him.
My favorite movie would have to be Fast Five because there are cute guys in there as along with pretty cars. The movie really catches my attention because it's not about vampires or sex or love triangles. It is about racing and justice with a creative side to it. The film director did a good job on getting good camera footage to display all the dramatic action going on throughout the film.
Lastly, I don't have a favorite band but I do have a favorite song called Marry Me by Jason Derulo.

Pirate Name: Blair the Parrotless <3

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