Analysis Of Silver Water By Amy Bloom

What is the first thought that comes to mind when a person meets someone who has a mental illness? The story “Silver Water” written by Amy Bloom, addresses themes that are associated with mental illness. Told from the point of view of her older sister, Violet, Rose, a young girl is diagnosed with mental illness. She spends her life cycling through therapists with the love and support of her family. Due to an issue with insurance plans, she doesn’t get the treatment she needs, and in the end, she kills herself. In “Silver Water” by Amy Bloom, she specifically addresses the negative connotation that is associated with mental illnesses and whom they affect; she shows this by the string of bad therapists Rose had, Rose’s own trained therapist father did not want to admit she had a mental illness, and the lack of friends Rose had and the people that were portrayed in the halfway house Rose lived in. At the beginning of the story, Rose has her first psychotic break at 15 years old, in which she goes to the woods and sit there with a blank expression for hours. After three weeks, she begins to sit inside her house and lick the hairs on her arms, back and forth. Rose’s mother approaches her father about a possible solution to Rose’s behavior by saying, “What is your professional opinion? He picked up the newspaper and put in down again, sighing” (1). Her father setting down the newspaper while sighing represents his hesitance and reluctance to face the truth of his daughter’s