I know what it's like to want to die. How it hurts to smile. How you try to fit in but you can't. You hurt yourself on the outside to try to kill the thing on the inside.
Susanna KaysenRead
Have you ever confused a dream with life? Or stolen something when you have the cash? Have you ever been blue? Or thought your train moving while sitting still? Maybe I was just crazy. Maybe it was the 60's. Or maybe I was just a girl... interrupted.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the complexities of perception and reality, questioning what is real and what is merely a fleeting thought or feeling.
In this quote, Susanna Kaysen explores the blurring line between dreams and reality, highlighting moments of confusion that can arise in one's life. The reference to various states of feeling, including confusion, sadness, and interruption, serves to indicate the fragmented nature of human experiences, especially during tumultuous times like the 1960s. This prompts a deeper consideration of identity and societal expectations, inviting the reader to reflect on their own journeys and the moments that interrupt their lives.
Themes
DreamsRealityIdentityConfusionExistence
In practice
Example use cases
In a reflective discussion about mental health during a seminar.
More from Susanna Kaysen
All quotes →Viscosity and velocity are opposites, yet they can look the same. Viscosity causes the stillness of disinclination, velocity causes the stillness of fascination. An observer can't tell if a person is silent and still because inner life has stalled or because inner life is transfixingly busy.
Susanna KaysenRead
Actually, it was only part of myself I wanted to kill: the part that wanted to kill herself, that dragged me into the suicide debate and made every window, kitchen implement, and subway station a rehearsal for tragedy.
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I was trying to explain my situation to myself. My situation was that I was in pain and nobody knew it, even I had trouble knowing it. So I told myself, over and over, You are in pain. It was the only way I could get through to myself. I was demonstrating externally and irrefutably an inward condition.
Susanna KaysenRead
Don't separate the mind from the body. Don't separate even character - you can't. Our unit of existence is a body, a physical, tangible, sensate entity with perceptions and reactions that express it and form it simultaneously. Disease is one of our languages. Doctors understand what disease has to say about itself. It's up to the person with the disease to understand what the disease has to say to her.
Susanna KaysenRead
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