I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Hannah Greene

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Hannah Greene

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden takes place in the late 1940s. The main setting is

in a mental hospital just outside Chicago. But it also goes back and forth between the hospital

and the main character’s home in Chicago.

This book is about a girl named Deborah who is diagnosed with schizophrenia. She is sent

to a mental hospital after trying to commit suicide. Deborah lives in her own world of Yri and has

lost touch with reality. In fact, she wants no part of the real world. During her life she feels that

she has been deceived in so many ways and has become cynical. She has no friends except for the

secret Gods and Goddesses she makes up in her head. In the beginning of the book Dr. Fried is

introduced. She is a doctor that is going over Deborah’s papers and speaking about how she may

succeed in making Deborah better. This foreshadows how important she will be in Deborah’s life.

Also how influential she will be to Deborah strengthening her health situation.

After cutting her arms, Deborah is moved to the Disturbed Ward or “D” ward. There she

finds many interesting people. She continues to open up to Dr. Fried and tells her more and more

about Yri. This in turn makes the Gods of Yri upset and makes Deborah go into these spells

where she become unresponsive. The Gods also criticize her and put her down which makes her

do things such as burn holes in the arms with cigarette butts. Dr. Fried finally gets to Deborah by

telling her that she shouldn’t quit trying to get healthy and really gets to her. After that Deborah

begins to realize how important living is and she begins to let in the real world. She finally is

moved back to a B ward and is allowed off the grounds. She stops letting the Gods rule her and

goes back to school to get her life back together.

Deborah’s conflict in this book is an internal conflict. Its whether to let the world in and

live in reality or to continue living in the self hating, but comfortable life she’s made up inside her

head. Deborah would like to be live in the real world, but she somehow doesn’t feel she fits in

and that her world Yri is above the real world. She however does eventually choose the real

world with the help of her hospital friends and Dr. Fried.

There are many characters in this book. Of course there is the main character Deborah.

She seems like she could be a real person.