Hurry Down Sunshine Character Analysis

Hurry Down Sunshine The story of “Hurry Down Sunshine”, is one of the most refreshing stories that has been published in a long time because it does not give the cliché of melancholy description of the victim’s past life. Instead it shows the connection that a father has with his daughter whose life is crumbling down around her. The story begins with Greenburg’s daughter Sally, who, “is struck mad.” To any father, this would be devastating and the quick descent visibly takes Sally as she experiences sleepless nights, grandiose, and delusions about everyone being a genius. Sally is also determined to talk in such a way that the words begin to pile up from her thinking so fast that speaking is difficult. The beginning is shown Sally having a psychotic breakdown that resulted in her having to be held down by her parents and her scratching her father’s face. Sally is brought into the hospital and Michael signs the consent form and the paramedics restrain her onto a gurney. The strange thing about this is that Sally does not fight or resist them. She keeps on rambling on and on about everyone being a genius, light, and what light is about. As Sally is sent to a psychiatric hospital where she is given treatment that seems to make her a shell of her former self. This does not imply that everyone with a mental disorder is violent; …show more content…
Sally is surrounded by disappointment because her father’s trouble with having a happy marriage. She does not have a good mother figure in her life and this does not give her a structure to rely on during this dark time in her life. Although Pat is there, she seems to not be able to connect with Sally on the level she needs her to. Even though this would not prevent her slip into madness, a person to be there for her would have helped Sally get through