"Girl, Interrupted"

               

                 In the novel “Girl Interupted” the author explains in the last chapter a Vermeer painting of a young girl changed Susanna life in a blink of an eye. The first time Susanna saw the Vermeer painting at the age of seventeen she knew something was going on in her head, and saw warning to her life, but at the moment she didn’t understand it. I believe the trip to The Frick was the most valuable part in to Susanna life because she was able to portrait herself through the Vermeer painting. She saw her life was stopped like the girl in the painting. Although she didn’t know the exact meaning of the painting she was able to understand it years later. 

                When Susanna was seventeen years of age, she was visiting for the first the The Frick Art Center with his lover English teacher. Even though he was her English teacher something romantically was going between them. As she was walking through the halls of the Frick, she encountered multiple painting in the walls, but none of them catch her attention. Until, she came across paintings that stand out. It was a Vermeer painting of a young girl with deep brown eyes sitting on a chair ignoring her beefy music teacher. The painting had a dark warm winter essence, but the face of the young girl was brighter. It looked like the girl was looking directly into Susanna and warning her about something. The girl lips were open saying “Don’t!”  As Susanna stepped back to compliment the painting form a different point. The girl in the painting told her “wait! Don’t go!”

                Susanna knew it was a direct warning to her, but she didn’t understand it, and ignore it. She eventually went crazy and institutionalized.  Throughout her stance at the mental hospital, she was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. From the point she got in to the hospital, she knew something unclear was in her mind like if something needed explanation. Throughout her stay at the hospital she tried to comprehend what was really wrong with her.  Even though she was discharged from the hospital she still felt the need of an answer to her whole life.  Years later, she visited The Frick Art Center for a second time. For a moment, she forgot she had been at the Frick before, and remembered the Vermeer painting. Without losing time, she went directly to the painting. This time, the painting appeared different as if the years transformed it. She saw the painting in a different point of view. The girl in the painting, “She was no longer urgent,” the girl appeared sad, distracted, and her teacher was bearing down to grab her attention. The young girl was looking out and away, as she was looking for someone to see her. Susanna noticed the name of the painting “Girl Interrupted at her Music,” at that moment all her questions, emotions and concerns where answered. For the first time, she was able to see herself as the girl in the painting. Susanna knew her life was interrupted at very young age, and a big part of her life was taken away. Like the girl in the painting, she was trap in a moment that she can’t recover. Susanna with tears on hear eye said “I see you,” she saw the girl needed help and wanted to escape, but help never got to her.  The Vermeer painting closed a chapter in Susanna life, and she was finally able to comprehend and accept what happened to her.

                Through Susanna’s eyes, in “Girl, Interrupted,” I realized that a mental problem is not only a disorder, but a reality.  I learned how a person can struggle to overcome their own thoughts.  Additionally, I saw how a person can not only lose friends, and family, but they can also lose themselves as an individual. Everybody is prone to fall into some kind of mental disorder, and is something that needs our entire attention and help. I enjoy reading this novel because it helps me see mental disorder in a different prospective.  I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants a better inside of living with mental disorder is.