Girl, Interrupted | Further On, Down the Road, You Will Accompany Me | Summary

Summary

Susanna meets two of her former fellow patients years later. Georgina comes to visit, treating Susanna's neighbor impolitely and exhibiting a form of social awkwardness that often goes with a personality disorder. Georgina has married and lives on a farm where she keeps a dancing goat. Susanna also runs into Lisa Rowe, who is raising a son by herself in the posh suburb of Brookline and attends temple regularly.

Analysis

Georgina and Lisa Rowe are also considered recovered. At McLean, Georgina and Lisa represented different levels of "crazy," and they now represent different levels of normal. It seems as if the topsy-turvy hierarchy of the mental ward has been reversed in Lisa's case. On the outside, at least, she is part of the conventional suburban and religious community and places her child's welfare above everything and everyone else.

Georgina's erratic behavior when Susanna meets her again suggests that madness might still be lingering beneath the surface. Susanna once again shows that the line between madness and recovery may be drawn and redrawn constantly.