Setting

__Setting__ //Girl, Interrupted// relates to a young woman who suffered from borderline personality disorder. The story begins on April 27, 1967, and goes through 1968. During this time period, cell phones, computers, and fancy televisions did not exist. Therefore, the things that they discussed, and the things that they did were far different from what our generation does. At the beginning of the story, Susanna lives in Massachusetts, but she is transferred to McLean Hospital in Boston. In Boston, the summers are perfect, right around 80 degrees Fahrenheit, however, the winters are long and freezing. McLean Hospital is a hospital for people with mental disabilities. Most people don’t get the chance to go a mental hospital, and probably don’t want to either. Susanna was sent to live in McLean Hospital for two years as she was recovering from her mental disorder. McLean Hospital is a real hospital, and famous people like James Taylor, Robert Lowell, and Sylvia Plath were sent there. Susanna and her friends in the hospital spent most of their time inside because they were rarely allowed to go outdoors. Inside, McLean Hospital was very well protected with locks on the windows, but no locks on the patients' doors, so that the nurses could check in on them. There were a few rooms the patients liked: the television room, the kitchen, and the hall outside the nurse’s office. McLean also has some unusual rooms, like a closet-sized room where you can go to scream. Patients of McLean spent their days adventuring around inside the cold, bare hallways of the hospital. Susanna Kaysen describes McLean hospital as a jail that she is longing to be set free from. Throughout the day, many odd things occurr. People always cry, yell, or behave in an unusual way, so it was not the most pleasant place to be. All of the patients looked forward to the day they would be released. That day could come after a couple of weeks, or after many, many long years.