55 pages • 1 hour read
Joanne Greenberg (Hannah Green)I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1964A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 8-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 8 Summary
Esther is informed that Deborah is in the Disturbed ward; she asks to visit, but is dissuaded and begrudgingly chooses not to interfere.
Dr. Fried notices a pattern in Deborah’s moods: She becomes upset and retreats whenever she reveals secrets about Yr. Deborah explains that Lactamaeon, the second in command of Yr, once told her, “Three Changes and Their Mirrors, and then Death” (56). Deborah believed the first change was her tumor, and its mirror is the “broken flower” (56) she continues to feel. The second change was the antisemitism she experienced at the camp. The third change was moving to the city, and the mirror became death, but Deborah is unsure if this death was the day she attempted suicide. She recalls coming home from the last surgery and her parents happiness, but she felt that her life was ruined. Before her surgery, Deborah dreamed of a red geranium growing in the hospital. A voice said that if flowers can grow there, so can she. Then, the dream turned dark, and the flowerpot smashed. Deborah later saw a broken flowerpot with a red flower, and the same voice said the first change and mirror were complete.
At camp, Deborah was called a “stinking Jew” (57) and reported it to the camp counselor. However, she couldn’t remember who said it and was accused of lying and using her religion to cause trouble. Afterward, a voice quickly pulled her from reality and into Yr. The third change, moving to the city, highlighted family problems and was mirrored by Deborah being called clumsy by a gym teacher. She spent three days in Yr. The voices talked of “Imorh” (59), or death.
Dr. Fried believes that the gods of Yr are really Deborah’s own hindsight—a defensive strategy. She tells Deborah that she belongs in the world, albeit in a difficult way due to her mental health condition. Deborah is resistant but knows that Dr. Fried is right; she sees herself as “one of the nuts” (60).
Deborah is hit over the head with Helene’s food tray. The attendants attempt to calm Helene, and Deborah later realizes she was attacked because Helene accidentally revealed a secret to her.
Chapter 9 Summary
Dr. Fried asks Deborah what was happening while the mirrors and changes were taking place. Deborah says her school friends turned from her for unknown reasons. She describes the “Imorh” following her. Deborah draws a picture for the doctor of a girl with a crown and a bird’s nest in her hair. She carries a heavy scepter, and people think she is lucky, but she is tortured. Dr. Fried is encouraged by Deborah’s creativity.
Carla approaches Deborah in the Disturbed ward, where she says she can act without expectation. People mention Doris, who successfully left the facility. That night, the ward goes into a panic; Deborah experiences strong symptoms and gets another cold pack. Afterward, she sees Carla in the bed beside her; hearing of Doris and her normal life frightened all the patients. Deborah lashes out at Carla, saying her life is easy. She apologizes moments later, and Carla forgives her, which surprises Deborah.
Chapter 10 Summary
At home, Jacob and Esther discuss Deborah after receiving a letter. Jacob is angry that Deborah is in the Disturbed ward, and Esther placates him. Suzy is tired of the focus on Deborah.
Esther is denied a visit with Deborah, but briefly meets Dr. Fried. She plans to tell her family that she saw Deborah, claiming she appeared fine. Jacob is suspicious and insists on going with her next time.
Dr. Fried tells Deborah that viewing destruction within her is a choice she is making. In blaming others, Deborah escapes accountability. Deborah she feels that she destroyed her sister, saying that she attempted to kill Suzy when she was a baby. Her parents stopped her, and the incident was never discussed. Deborah considers the power of an unaddressed lie and remembers a vision in which Lactamaeon took her to the Fear bog.
Chapter 11 Summary
Mr. Hobbs, a ward attendant, ends his life, leaving the patients feeling mocked. When the replacement, Ellis, arrives, the patients sense that he is bad. They learn that Ellis was given a choice between jail and working in the facility. A patient, Sylvia, speaks for the first time in a year, exciting the others. Another patient, Lee, seems stuck, and Deborah wants to help her. The voices of Yr shout that she will be punished for embracing reality. Deborah then sinks into a state of total disconnect. When she wakes again, she feels cold, despite the heat, and walks around in a state of confusion. Anterrabae tells her: “When you admire the world again, wait for our darkness” (92).
Ellis views the patients as being rightly punished by God. The patients, in defense, mock the Bible and try to tempt him sexually. Ellis also sees Mr. Hobbs’s suicide as sin. The patients mock Ellis whenever they see him; another attendant, Mr. McPherson, asks Deborah to stop bothering Ellis. Mr. McPherson says that he sees Deborah as wiser and more capable of good behavior than some of the other patients. He points out the privilege and money needed for to stay in such a facility. He wonders why she would hurt Ellis when she has never hurt anyone else during her stay. Deborah believes Mr. McPherson respects her, and she feels joy for the first time in years.
Chapter 12 Summary
Dr. Fried revisits Deborah‘s belief of a volcano inside of her. She asks Deborah if she understands that she created Yr, which Deborah denies. She pushes Deborah to realize that her illness and symptoms are related, but separate. Dr. Fried asks Deborah to think deeper into her past, and Deborah remembers the shadow that her grandfather cast over her life; he pushed her to be the best in school, to never show pain, and he hit her to toughen her to the world. He molded Deborah to be cutting and witty, and celebrated the acts of bullies as proof of the world’s jealousy. Dr. Fried mentions that Deborah’s mother miscarried when Deborah was a baby and went away to heal; Deborah suddenly recalls a cold crib with bars, and an indifferent nurse. The bars of the crib are those she sees when she falls into the Pit. Deborah wonders why she had such a strong reaction to being left by her mother, and Dr. Fried notes how Deborah relives the memory of abandonment. Dr. Fried acknowledges Deborah’s progress and touches her arm, but Deborah recoils, feeling burnt.
Chapters 8-12 Analysis
In this section, Deborah, with the help of Dr. Fried, delves deeper into an analysis of her own mind and life, demonstrating the themes of Connection and Communication and A Fight for a Life. The process is hopeful and revelatory, giving Deborah needed insight, as well as foreshadowing her recovery. Deborah continues to invest in her own health, trusting the process with Dr. Fried, even with difficult days laced throughout. For example, Deborah speaks to “Three Changes and Their Mirrors, and then Death” (56), which sheds light on her belief system about the inevitability of the challenges she has faced. Although Deborah is not a fully reliable narrator, she shares her own experiences exactly as she remembers them and shows openness to the idea of recalling memories incorrectly. In her sessions, it is revealed that Deborah was always told she was special, but was also hit by her grandfather to toughen her up. Further, her bullies were, to her grandfather, proof that she was worth envying: Deborah was emotionally abused by both family and outsiders and left to process these experiences entirely on her own. She is also able to dig deeper into her past, recalling her mother leaving her as a child to recover from a miscarriage. Deborah internalized this sense of abandonment, growing to believe that she could only rely on herself and that she is an outsider in all spaces. This is reflected in her unconscious construction of Yr and the Pit, which has the same bars as the childhood crib she recalls being left in. Deborah’s willingness to engage with Dr. Fried signals to her great need—and prior lack—of Connection and Communication. When she is finally approached by an adult who is interested in her emotions and promises to support her, she fights her own metaphorical demons to connect and heal.
Deborah’s tumor removal is connected to the mental image of a flowerpot being smashed, which, through symbolism, demonstrates the theme of The Inner World Versus the Outer Reality. The broken flowerpot holds a red flower, symbolizing the tumor in her reproductive system: It is a part of Deborah that she feels was taken without her permission, thus breaking her. In a sense, the flowerpot continues to break with each challenge she faces, from antisemitism to family abuse. And, after being taught never to show pain, she bore these experiences in silence. However, Deborah and the other D-ward patients panic when they hear of Doris, who assimilated to the outside world; many of the patients feel that will never be able to leave the facility, but Deborah begins to suspect that she can be like Doris. Indeed, Dr. Fried tells her that everything she views and feels about the world is a choice, and this belief allows her to regain control.
Additionally, Deborah is asked to show kindness to Ellis, which marks a turning point in her recovery, as it signifies that she is respected as a person and not just a patient: The staff expects her to model good behavior, which delights her. Indeed, despite Yr and its voices continuing to threaten her, Deborah continues A Fight for a Life and strives to see hope. Significantly, Deborah also feels Connection and Communication with the other patients of the ward, particularly Carla. She refers to herself as “one of the nuts” (60) and notes that some sort of belonging must be a sign that she is in fact of this world. In the mental healthcare facility, Deborah is learning the value of community, leadership, and open communication.
