The IVC Borderline Literary Journal

Girl, Interrupted MVP: After 50 Aspirin She Realizes Her Mistake - by Austin Perea - English 009

This summer in English 009, after we read Susanna Kaysen’s memoir Girl, Interrupted, we all voted for our MVP.  This is to say the Most Valuable Part of the book.  It could have been a most valuable character, or, a most valuable event.  Or, A most valuable conversation.  A most valuable idea.  A most valuable mental illness  There were no rules,  no one way to make to make their argument.  Congratulations on reading a great book is pretty much all I told them.

To my surprise and delight, everyone seemed to pick something different.  Below, Austin shares his personal MVP: 

To read Austin's complete essay, please click on "Most Valuable Suicide"

Most Valuable Metaphor - by Arelis Jennings - English 009

Each semester when we begin Girl, Interrupted,  I tell my students the narrative  is going to get a little weird.  Author Susanna Kaysen describes her mental illness.   We need to rely on Susanna for what happens in the story, but she readily admits that her head is not always there.  She’s left the real world behind.  Below Arelis believes Susanna's discovery of a parallel universe sets the tone for the entire book.  It’s her MVP.

Her Dark Side Has Some Light - by Anisa Esparza - English 009

When we first see Lisa in the memoir Girl, Interrupted, we know she is bad-ass.  She does what she wants.  At one point, she is described as a sociopath - she doesn’t care what others think.  But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have her good qualities.  Anisa sees Lisa differently.  We can all learn from the honesty in her behavior.  Anisa believes there is a message here: It’s OK to be yourself.  That’s why Lisa is her MVP. 

Free to Walk Her Own Path - by Bania Pineda - English 009

Throughout the Susanna’s stay in McLean Mental Hospital, she often appears cold and detached.  She bears witness to all that is going on around her without much response.  She’s exhausted with her life, and she knows it.  That’s why Bania’s choice for MVP is so interesting.  Bania believes Susanna’s choice to divorce her husband is important to the book.  It shows the importance Susanna places on her independence.  After all the medications and therapies and treatments, Susanna still thinks for herself.  No one is going to force her to do otherwise.  There is nothing crazy about that at all…

MY MVP: Realizing Her Mistake after 50 Aspirin - by Austin Perea - English 009

This summer in English 009, after we read Susanna Kaysen’s memoir Girl, Interrupted, we all voted for our MVP.  This is to say the Most Valuable Part of the book.  It could have been a most valuable character, or, a most valuable event.  Or, A most valuable conversation.  A most valuable idea.  A most valuable mental illness  There were no rules,  no one way to make to make their argument.  Congratulations on reading a great book is pretty much all I told them.

To my surprise and delight, everyone seemed to pick something different.  Below, Austin shares his personal MVP: 

Girl, Interrupted: Art that Speaks to Us

Baseball is a metaphor for life. Today my students vote for their Girl, Interrupted MVP.  They are to review the memoir they read this semester and select the most valuable part: scene, character, idea, conversation, quotation.  Just like in baseball, there are no clear-cut, agreed-upon guidelines for defining “valuable.”  
up to each student to write a 300- to 500-word justification of their choice.   This is very cool.  They make it very personal.  Everyone seems to “hit” something different.  Here is mine:

 

Heart of Darkness: James Taylor

Wait!  I just asked to my students to scour Girl, Interrupted for scenes,  characters, events, conversations that would make the basis of a their soundtrack selection.  They are going to match their music with meaningful ideas from the book. 

I’ve already seen students make use of  the Red Hot Chile Peppers song “Porcelin”  to represent Susanna’s inner turmoil in the book. They quote one of the band members explaining how the song expresses “the beauty and tragedy and glory all wrapped into one.”  It’s about a new mother battling drug addiction while trying to take care of her baby.  “Drifting and floating and fading away…” the song goes. That’s not bad.

Here I go with James Taylor.  I found him on page on page 48. He was a patient at the same mental hospital that housed Susanna Kaysen.  How can you beat that? 

 

Open the door of your heart...

When you read, do you ever tap your foot? Does music ever spark an idea in your head? Can you come up with a song or an artist that blends music and literature? Joyce Carol Oates wrote one of her most enduring works of short fiction after hearing Bob Dylan on the radio.

In a few of my English classes, we are going the other way.  We are developing a soundtrack for the memoir we read this semester: Girl, Interrupted.  Students are choosing a song or an artist to best represent a passage from the book.  It’s fun and thought-provoking.  I have seen some students express important meaning with hardcore gangster rap songs.  Occasionally, I’ll get someone from another class touch upon the same idea with Taylor Swift.  How cool is that? 

Here I’m going with the Beatles’ Dear Prudence.  I mean, all you need is Love.