Analysis Of It's Kind Of A Funny Story By Ned Vizzini

It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini follows Craig Gilner, a 15-year-old boy from Brooklyn, New York, on his journey after being released from a nearby mental hospital and his quest for the cause as well as the cure of his dangerously severe depression. His disorder leads him to be unable to attend school, hang out with his friends, hold down food, and make appropriate decisions. After struggling to find the cause of his disorder for many years with no luck, he checks himself into a mental hospital one night just minutes before attempting suicide. Throughout his 5-day hospital stay, he diagnoses the problem himself. Less than a year prior, Gilner had studied for months on end to get into his dream high school, Executive Pre-Professional …show more content…
A “mental shift” to Craig is what will cure him, and while it is not a real medical phenomenon, for Craig it means the world. Throughout the story, he talks about “fake shifts”. These are short periods where all his symptoms disappear, yet they are “fake” because he quickly returns to his old ways. If his brain were to stay where it “shifted” to, he would be cured. Right before Craig is checked out of the hospital, he makes the decision to switch schools, as it is what is causing him so much anxiety. He decides to attend an art school because art is what made him feel normal and calm in the hospital. As he is walking out of the hospital he has a moment of realization. He finally notices that he will never experience a full shift or get rid of his disorder, but he can learn to cope with it. In the beginning of the passage Vizzini includes a vast amount of imagery to help the reader imagine Craig's body going through this experience. He explains it, “I haven’t cured anything, but something seismic is happening in me… most of all I feel my brain, up there taking in blood and looking out on the world and noticing humor and light and smells and dogs and every other thing in the world—everything in my life is all in my brain, really, so it would be natural when my brain was screwed up, everything in my life would be. I feel my brain on top of my spine and I feel it shift a little bit to the left.” (Vizzini, 443). Craig is now aware, he understands life is precious, and that it is a gift. He is aware that his brain is powering everything else causing him to feel the “shift”. While this shift is not real, it is a symbol that proves he is better. It is an internal episode but Vizzini uses imagery to show the significance as the shift is a motif throughout. This part of the passage is insanely important in