i never promised you a rose garden by hannah green

She also becomes friends with an educated patient who begins teaching her Latin. Deborah makes friends with a girl named Carla at the hospital. Because of this experience, and because she was treated cruelly at a summer camp full of anti-Semites, Deborah finds it difficult to trust people. Deborah explains that the doctor told her the surgery wouldn't hurt, but she was in immense pain following the procedure.

Fried, Deborah's Doctor, learns from her file that she had a tumor removed from her urethra when she was only five. As a Polish immigrant, he was impoverished as a child, and he finds the concept that his child is ill, even though he adequately fed and clothed her, difficult to grasp. Jacob is still uncertain about sending his daughter away and wonders what's wrong with her. Back at home, the Blaus' pretend that Deb is away at school or sick at home.

The hospital attendants watch her closely, even in the shower, as she recently attempted suicide.

When they arrive at the hospital, Deborah doesn't kiss her father goodbye. There, sounds from the real world torment her. When she does reveal Yr secrets, a Yr god takes her to the Pit. There's also a Censor that keeps Deborah from revealing her inner world to others. There are gods, gatekeepers and 'Powers' in Yr that are in control of when Deborah can visit Yr and drown out the real world. The Collect within the Midworld are collective voices that can overcome both worlds in Deborah's mind, the real and the imagined. Yr consists of the 'Here' and the 'Now' and the Midworld that fits in between the two. While to Deborah, the real world is full of 'shadows,' Yr is much more robust and alive. Meanwhile, in the next room, Deborah is thinking of Yr. Jacob believes that the doctors may have gotten Deborah's diagnosis wrong, but Esther is firm that they're doing the right thing. When they stop in a motel for the night, Deborah's parents question the validity of what they're doing. As the novel opens, Jacob and Esther Blau are driving their eldest daughter, Deborah, to a mental hospital. Holt, Rinehart & Winston published the novel in 1964. There, she overcomes her belief in an imaginary world, learns to cope with her schizophrenia, and finds her first real friend. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden is a semi-autobiographical novel by Joanne Greenberg that follows 16-year-old Deborah Blau as she enters a mental hospital.

I never promised you a rose garden by hannah green