Girl, Interrupted: Chapter 28 Summary & Analysis

Susanna’s one-and-a-half-year stay at McLean is nearly up, and she is nearly twenty years old. It is time for her to plan her future, including what she’ll do to support herself. She has held some odd jobs in her life, but has not been particularly successful in any of them. One of Susanna’s social workers at the hospital asks her what she plans to do when she gets out, and Susanna answers that she wants to be a writer. Her social worker tells her that writing is a “hobby,” and she must come up with a practical way to earn a living. The social worker suggests Susanna find work as a dental technician, as the training period only lasts one year and the responsibilities are manageable. Susanna argues that she hates the dentist, but the social worker urges her to be realistic and find some “nice clean work.”

After the session with the social worker, Susanna finds Valerie and complains about how ridiculous it is that the social worker wants her to find a job as a dental technician. Valerie, however, does not seem to understand either, and tells Susanna—just as the social worker did—that dentistry is “nice clean work.” Luckily, Susanna writes, she got a marriage proposal, and was immediately released from McLean. “In 1968,” she says, “everybody could understand a marriage proposal.