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Key Examples in Girl, Interrupted
Chapter 6: The Secret of Life
Explanation and Analysis—A Visitor:
Kaysen often plays with the concept of unreliable narration. One such instance is in Chapter 6, when Susanna tells a story of being visited by a man named Jim Watson:
One day I had a visitor. I was in the TV room watching Lisa watch TV, when a nurse came in to tell me. “You’ve got a visitor,” she said. “A man...."
...It was Jim Watson. I was happy to see him, because, in the fifties, he had discovered the secret of life, and now, perhaps, he would tell it to me.
Related Themes:
Chapter 25: Calais is Engraved on My Heart
Explanation and Analysis—Alice's New Face:
When Susanna and the other girls visit Alice Calais in maximum security solitary confinement in Chapter 25, they find her and her room covered in her own feces. Kaysen recalls the scene using situational irony that doubles as unreliable narration:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Alice looked like somebody else, as if she’d gotten a new face. She looked kind of good.
Related Themes:
