She's Come Undone

Dolores spends the next seven years at Gracewood Institute, a psychiatric hospital in Rhode Island. Four of these years she is kept there involuntarily, and the final three, she chose to be there. Dolores admits that her memories of these years are spotty and vague, as she was put on tranquilizers and spent most of her time watching television.

Dolores starts by recalling a conversation she had with Dr. Shaw, her third therapist at the institute, in which he tried to convince her to find herself beautiful. Dolores finds it ironic because Dr. Shaw himself was quite handsome. He was better than the first two therapists, however, who both seemed to want to do nothing but rehash the same topics over and over. Dolores remembers Dr. Shaw as her “fool and […] magician” (262), who seemed to be able to unlock things in her she was hiding from herself, but who often fell for her charades as well. Dr. Shaw helps Dolores visualize a better, healthier version of herself, but Dolores begins losing weight by visualizing mold on her food instead. She never reveals this to the doctor, instead letting him believe that she is doing as he says.