A Look at I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenburg

The setting of Joanne Greenburg's, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, is crucial to the novel. The book takes place in Midwestern America during the 1960's. The majority of the novel occurs in a mental institution, where Deborah (the protagonist) spends three years battling schizophrenia. While in the outside world, Deborah felt trapped and confused, because the culture of the 1960's was lacking in its understanding of mental illness. Once she moved to the hospital, however, she was free to recognize her sickness, and express her symptoms more freely. Deborah's psychiatrist, Dr. Fried assisted greatly in Deborah's realization, understanding, and recovery of her illness. The patients, nurses, and staff of the hospital contributed largely to her journey and recovery as well.

The main characters in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden are Deborah Blau and her family. Deborah is a sixteen year old girl living with a severe mental illness. After a suicide attempt, the family recognizes her illness, and she spends three years in a mental institution. Deborah's father, Jacob Blau, has a hard time dealing with her illness because he feels that he has failed her as a parent. Their relationship is one of surface images. Jacob is content as long as Deborah seems fine on the surface, but Deborah (rightly) feels that he doesn't understand her at all. He is quick-tempered and often seems he would rather hide from an ugly truth and hope it goes away instead of handling it in the direct manner of his wife, Esther Blau. Esther was ironically relieved by Deborah's suicide attempt, because it gave her illness the recognition needed in order for the couple to send her away to seek professional help. Esther was firm in insisting on Deborah's staying at the hospital to get better, even when signs of improvement were few.