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Situational Irony
Chapter 19: Velocity vs. Viscosity
Explanation and Analysis:
Girl, Interrupted takes place almost entirely within the confines of the adolescent psych ward at McLean hospital, so it's fitting that Kaysen approaches her memoir with a clinical style. Take this example from Chapter 19:
In contrast to viscosity’s cellular coma, velocity endows every platelet and muscle fiber with a mind of its own, a means of knowing and commenting on its own behavior. There is too much perception, and beyond the plethora of perceptions, a plethora of thoughts about the perceptions and about the fact of having perceptions. Digestion could kill you! What I mean is the unceasing awareness of the processes of digestion could exhaust you to death. And digestion is just an involuntary sideline to thinking, which is where the real trouble begins.
With precise, scientific language that feels like what one might find in a psychology textbook, Kaysen analyzes her condition, her experiences at McLean, and the lives of her fellow patients—much like her doctors analyze her.
The book's nonlinear narrative chops up and rearranges time, interspersing clinical analysis with real-life anecdotes and imagined situations. This stylistic choice reflects the way memory functions, and in this case, Susanna's experience with mental illness, as her symptoms often revolve around time, patterns, and the order of events.
Related Themes:
