Ten Days In A Madhouse Analysis

Ten Days in a Madhouse was written by Nellie Bly. It was published by Open Roads Media (Bly). The place it was published was New York on October 27, 2015 (Bly). It was interesting and was an informative book that gave insight into what insane asylums were like in the 1880’s. This book was well-written, showed the mistreatment of women in insane asylums in a way that was historically accurate, and it was persuasive in getting attention for the asylums.
Nellie Bly was a journalist who advocated for women’s rights. When her father died when she was young, she was forced to try and find work (Biography.com Editors). So, she began going to school but couldn’t finish college because she didn’t have enough money (Biography.com Editors). The

job she wanted was being a teacher, but she ended up writing instead (Biography.com Editors). She experienced a bias against women and that fueled the start of her wanting to help get women more rights. She wrote for a newspaper called the Pittsburg Dispatch (Biography.com Editors). Her desire to get more rights for women may have allowed for bias to be in her book because of how she wanted to influence people.
Nellie wanted to investigate the conditions of an insane asylum, but she faced a problem (Bly). There was no way of truly knowing how the patients were treated unless she was in an asylum herself (Bly). So, she decided she would try and fake being insane to get into one (Bly). It wasn’t an easy task, but she thought it could work (Bly). She went to stay at a house for women in order for someone to try and get her admitted into an insane asylum (Bly). When Nellie Bly did this, she was successful because the other women were starting to be fearful of her (Bly). They sent her to doctors and a judge and they conducted tests on her to see if she really was insane (Bly). She kept acting like she was insane and the doctors pronounced her as such (Bly). She was sent to the insane asylum on Blackwell’s island (Bly). She knew that she would quickly get out because she would be rescued by the people she was working with (Bly). As the title of the book indicates, she was there for ten days and ten nights before being freed (Bly). While Nellie Bly was there, she experienced very poor conditions and not enough of the basic needs (Bly). There was an evident lack of drinking water, food, and clothing (Bly). Also, she suspected some people were put in the asylum who weren’t actually insane (Bly). Also, the nurses who were supposed to be taking care of the people abused the patients (Bly). Once Nellie Bly had gotten sufficient information for the investigation of Blackwell’s island, she was freed (Bly). Her work allowed for money to be given to improve the conditions of insane asylums (Bly).
The purpose of Nellie Bly’s story was to improve the conditions of the insane asylums and to get more women’s rights. She offers new information that many people didn’t know about. Her audience was general readers and anyone who could help contribute to her cause. The theme throughout the story was suspicion and a sense of pity. Nellie Bly had to experience being in an insane asylum and she could understand what the other women in there were going through, so she pitied them. She was also suspicious because she doubted that doctors really knew when people were insane. Her goal was to get attention for the asylums, give the people in them more resources, and write about it to get people to fix the problems within them. Women having rights to good conditions in the asylums was controversial and Nellie believed they should be treated better. The only sources used in this book were her own experiences on what she went through when she pretended to be insane. She didn’t use any secondary sources or try to see the situation from the doctors’, nurses’, or government’s perspective on the issue. Her experiences were explained well and gave a good picture of what Blackwell’s island was like. She didn’t include any diagrams, but they were not necessary because of the imagery used.
One of the first things Nellie Bly noticed when at Blackwell’s island was that some people didn’t seem insane (Bly). Nellie said that she wished she could have freed some of the women in the asylum because she said, “Who, I am convinced, are just as sane as I was and am now myself.” (Bly 7). Most of the women admitted never got out (Bly). Nellie Bly only had her past experiences with people to judge whether these women were insane or not. Even though she did not have much experience though, the knowledge the doctors seemed to have was not sufficient in determining whether people had a mental illness or not. Nellie Bly seemed to be logical in deciding who seemed normal. At this time, doctors admitted people that would not be considered mentally ill today. There were many things that they believed led to becoming mentally ill in the 1880’s that are no longer believed be a cause. For example, laziness, bad habits, religion, and greediness could all supposedly cause someone to become mentally ill (Evon). According to Evon, these were the presumed causes of certain mental illnesses documented from about the 1860’s to 1890’s. So, it seems reasonable to come to the conclusion that some doctors during the time period that Ten Days in a Mad-house took place could have put sane people into an asylum as Nellie Bly did.
Ten Days in a Mad-house talks about the poor conditions the women faced and it wasn’t only Blackwell’s island where it happened. The book talks about how the food the women were given was not very edible and was often spoiled (Bly). They weren’t allowed to get water to drink whenever they pleased either (Bly). Also, it was usually cold in their rooms and they weren’t given enough clothing to keep them warm (Bly). They were also called names, choked, and ridiculed by the nurses (Bly). The lack of anything but their basic needs was common in the 1800’s (Women in the Insane Asylum). There needed to be more money dedicated to the insane asylums in order to get more resources for the people in them. To help with the costs, prisons were sometimes combined with asylums (Women in the Insane Asylum). This indicates that conditions during this time period were poor along with those in the story, indicating that it was historically accurate.
Nellie Bly says that because of her visit, “the City of New York has appropriated $1,000,000 more per annum than ever before for the care of the insane.

This shows her ability to be persuasive in getting people to do something for a cause. Her writing pushed the reader to see there should be changes in the asylums. The point of the book was to get better care, and that is exactly what she accomplished. The writing of this book aided her because it gave more people the ability to read about her concerns and change their opinion. The writing was persuasive because it showed her emotions and gave an understanding of the struggles she and the other women in the asylum faced. Today, the conditions have certainly been improved compared to those back in the 1800’s. Even though there are still some problems, the ones that Nellie was concerned with have been changed for the better. Even though technology and knowledge were required to have these improvements, having awareness of the problems with insane asylums was one of the first steps to changing them. According to a study, 80 percent of people who have a mental illness in 2013 don’t get treatment until about ten years later (21st Century Treatment of the Mentally Ill). So, this shows an improvement in doctors not falsely diagnosing the majority of people who have a mental

illness.
All in all, this book was captivating, was historically accurate in showing how people had unfair treatment in insane asylums, and was convincing in getting consideration from people. Nellie Bly succeeded in faking being insane, investigating the conditions, and reporting her findings. The doctors couldn’t be completely sure people were insane and the living conditions were harsh. This book explained her experiences well and was persuasive in trying to convince the reader that conditions in the insane asylums had to be changed.