Study Guide

The Danish Girl Chapter 17

By David Ebershoff

Chapter 17

Einar devours books about gender development and convinces himself that he possesses female organs.
One afternoon, Carlisle takes Einar to a tennis match between a French woman and an American woman.
Carlisle tells Einar he knows about Lili, and like Greta, he wants to help, too.
Einar allows Carlisle to take him to more doctors.
The first, an American psychiatrist named Dr. McBride, thinks Einar is a homosexual and that he needs to fight his desires.
The next, Dr. Christophe Mai, is pleasant, but wants Einar committed to a hospital for people with schizophrenia.
That night, Einar asks Greta if she thinks he is insane.
She doesn't, not at all.
The third doctor Carlisle and Einar visit is Dr. Buson, referred to Carlisle by Hans.
Carlisle says Hans is suspicious of Einar and Lili, and that Einar should just tell him the truth because he would understand and be supportive.
Dr. Buson seems helpful at first—he says that Einar can definitely choose who he wants to be—but then he says all Einar has to do is have a lobotomy.
Um…. No.
That afternoon, rain falls hard and Einar feels hopeless.