Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- What makes a person go insane? Do you think Deborah in some way chooses insanity, or is her illness more of an evolution that occurs in response to life events, such as her surgery and her anti-Semitic summer camp?
- How would Deborah be treated in a contemporary high school? How do you think the teachers, classmates, and counselors would have responded to Deborah's symptoms now, as opposed to in the 1940s and 50s?
- Why does Deborah find it so hard to make friends? What is it about mental illness that makes it so isolating? How does this become a vicious cycle? What does it take for Deborah to break that cycle?
- How is Dr. Fried different from other mental health practitioners in the novel? What makes her so effective? Why is her approach the most effective way to reach Deborah?
- How do Deborah's parents play a role in her illness? How do parents' expectations affect their children?
- How does Deborah's perception of herself differ from various other characters' perceptions of her? What factors contribute to these differences in perception? How does her perception of herself change during her three years of treatment under Dr. Fried?
- How does the idea of "Maybe," that hope of getting well and getting out of the hospital, affect different characters in D ward? Which characters does it affect most deeply, and why?