The amount of maturation developed throughout the second half of I Never Promised You A Rose Garden is outstanding. The numerous events and actions Deborah endured showed her newfound will and ability to make it past her illness. Overall, the theme of maturation was thoroughly expressed, leaving no doubt in the reader's mind what the plot's intentions were set to revolve around.
In the beginning of the half, Deborah moved from "crazy" D Ward down to more civilized B Ward in an attempt to make herself well before she lost the protectiveness of her doctor, who was to be taking a vacation. She "worked against time, wishing to resolve everything before Furii left…The therapeutic hours were infused with the desperate urgency created by Furii's leaving, and if the insights were not brilliantly lit, they were at least hard-worked and honest." These simulations symbolize her want and need to mature, but at the same time represent her absence of progress. Obviously, pretending one is something will not make it reality, and this Deborah soon learned.
Her development level gradually regressed as was noted when she continuously burned the flesh of her arm with a cigarette in an attempt to free the inner pain she was experiencing. "The backfires became the only way of easing the stifled volcano inside her. She continued to burn the same places over and over, setting layers of burns one on top of another." This got her no where, and only dispensed a realization to Deborah that something had to be done, for she did not want her life to consist of this torture. One of the first signs of maturation she expressed was when she discarded the matches she possessed that would have been used for further self-deterioration. "She reached into her sleeve and drew out two packs of matches she had taken from Furii's table and threw them angrily on the paper-littered desk." This sentence ending the twentieth chapter, the reader knows that it represents a turning point in Deborah's character.
As the days went on, Deborah made more improvements with her therapy and changed her attitude to a more pleasant one. The feelings she had now become accustomed to were presented more and more each day, with a smile here and a laugh there. From days when she used to seclude herself from the world and live in darkness, this was certainly a step forward, creating in Deborah the want to develop faster. "Because she was going to live, because she had begun to live already, the new colors, dimensions, and knowledges became suffused with a kind of passionate urgency." She looked past her fear of distrust and acquired a friendship with one of her fellow roommates, and later was allowed the privilege of walking the hospital grounds outside by herself. All of these actions represent the maturation process Deborah was going through and the coming of age she was experiencing.
The final instance of the theme came when Deborah attended schooling in order to achieve a high school diploma, which she had never gotten the chance to earn. She did this in order to face the real world for the first time as a new person and be able to make something with her life in the future. Overall, she was on her way to succeeding in the destruction of her own fantasy world.
As you see, the development with the theme of maturation was successive throughout the story and well expanded in many areas. It took on new depths at various parts and gave the reader a more thoughtful perspective of how to perceive the emotionally gripping novel. I enjoyed the experience very much.
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