Depression In It's Kind Of A Funny Story

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The main theme of Ned Vizzini’s novel It’s Kind of a Funny Story is depression. It is not however, about being depression in the conventional sense. Rather, it is about how depression doesn’t have to control a person’s life, and how it can be defeated. The theme specifically focuses on living through depression, and coming back from it. This theme is a main part of why the story was written. It’s Kind of a Funny Story was inspired by Ned Vizzini’s brief hospitalization for depression in 2004. Like Craig, he stayed at the clinic for five days, and the day after he was released, he began writing It’s Kind of a Funny Story. The novel takes place in New York present day, and follows the life of Craig Gilmer, a clinically depressed fifteen year …show more content…

Craig is depressed, and is struggling to find meaning and purpose in his life. He can’t sleep, he can barely eat, and he is has difficulty speaking and finishing his thoughts and sentences. After a particularly difficult night, Craig decides to commit suicide, but at the last second stops and calls the suicide hotline instead. After speaking on the hotline, he checks himself into a mental hospital to deal with his depression. While in the hospital, he meets a number of adults suffering from different mental illnesses, and they start to change how he views himself, his choices, his ideas, and his …show more content…

Each part had a different shape and a name (for example, Part 4: Hospital), and was accompanied with a small shape. Altogether these shapes make up the picture on the front cover, of a head with a map inside. This picture is also an important part of the plot of the book. In the story, Craig starts to draw people’s heads with maps inside that describe their personalities. Drawing these maps makes Craig realize how much he loves drawing, and helps him to battle his depression. “‘This’- I pointed at the brain maps- ‘This is something different. This is something I love. So I’d better do it.’” (pg. 415). This quote shows how important drawing and the maps becomes to Craig, and also connects the different parts of the stories. The different shapes for each part come together to make the map inside Craig’s brain, which is also his first brain map. This was really noteworthy to me because of how everything was interconnected and came full circle together. It’s Kind of a Funny Story definitely enhanced my knowledge and understanding of depression. Before reading this novel, I had basic knowledge of what depression is and how it affects people. After reading it, I have a greater grasp of how controlling it can be for a person, and how it can change their lives. My knowledge of what different people experience when going through depression and how they react to it is greatly

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