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Chapter 19
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in It’s Kind of a Funny Story, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Mental Health
Art and Self-Discovery
Peer Pressure vs. Self-Empowerment
Friendship and Romance
Summary
Analysis
Bobby leads Craig to the dining room, where the other patients are much older than him. Bobby asks if Craig smokes cigarettes and explains that this is one of the few hospitals that has a smoking lounge for psychiatric patients. Bobby shows Craig how to use the showers, then he takes him down the hall, pointing out the patients Noelle and Humble. Bobby admits that he’s also suffered from serious depression since he was 15, Craig’s age. At the end of Bobby’s tour, Smitty tells Craig that they’ve got his room set up, and it’s time for him to meet his new roommate.
The smoking lounge in the hospital shows yet again how treating mental health effectively does not necessarily mean being strict about following rules. Although smoking is objectively bad from a health standpoint, it also offers an opportunity for the patients to socialize with one another, showing how sometimes mental involves making compromises rather than strictly following every regulation.
Themes
