Insanity is a sensitive subject in today's society that has been discussed quite a lot throughout American literary history. Specifically, the treatment of mentally ill women was a hot topic in the late nineteenth century that is still discussed in today's society. The book Ten Days in a Mad-House by Nellie Bly exposed the horrid treatment of women who had been institutionalized in the 1880s. She invested a large portion of her life into that work and truly sacrificed comfortable living to experience exactly what mentally ill women were going through. A work that seems to directly contradict Nellie Bly's writing style is an essay called "The Death of the Author," by Roland Barthes. The piece explains how meaning in literature is often contrived based on the life of the author who wrote it, but the words themselves should be where the meaning originates from. These two opposing ideas create an interesting dialogue when juxtaposed. Contradictory to the beliefs of Barthes, understanding of the author's background can greatly enrich the meaning of a text.

In order to accurately capture the horrendous treatment of women locked away in mental institutions in the late nineteenth century, the author of Ten Days in a Mad-House made the drastic decision to pretend to be insane so she could be locked away herself (Bly 190). This exemplifies how committed Bly was to the subject and how much she desired to bring the issue to light. She certainly achieved this goal, because the book was filled with extremely detailed and horrifying imagery that truly gave the public a deeper understanding of the issues taking place behind the walls of mental institutions everywhere. She experienced the horrors firsthand and provided a unique perspective on the treatment of the mentally ill. Bly provides an extremely accurate description of the insane asylum, noting the stench that she smelled as they approached it (Bly 190). The most striking sentences in the book are those which describe the patients' appearances and emotions. "They looked so lost and hopeless. Some were chattering nonsense to invisible persons, others were laughing or crying aimlessly ... " (Bly 194). These emotions could not have been accurately documented if she had not been there to bear witness to it. Bly also goes on to explain how poorly the women were treated by the nurses, who constantly barked orders at them. "'Stop at the heater,' was then ordered, 'and get in line, two by two.' 'Mary, get a companion.' 'How many times must I tell you to keep in line?' 'Stand still," and, as the orders were issued, a shove and a push were administered, and often a slap on the ears" (Bly 195). These orders were demoralizing and showed the extent of the treatment that the inmates received. Without these hard-hitting quotes from the nurses, it would be hard to imagine exactly what it must have felt to like to be in that situation. 

Roland Barthes, the author of the essay, "The Death of the Author," takes a somewhat contradictory approach when it comes to interpreting writing. He explains in the essay that very often, readers will give too much attention to the author and his or her background and purpose for writing. He believes that the interpretation of the language, and nothing else, is of utmost importance. Barthes goes on to say, "Thus is revealed the total existence of writing: a text is made of multiple writings, drawn from many cultures and entering into mutual relations of dialogue, parody, contestation, but there is one place where this multiplicity is focused and that place is the reader, not, as was hitherto said, the author" (Barthes 6). When considering Barthes' beliefs in accordance with Bly's book, there is a bit of a disconnect. Bly committed herself to her work by staying in an insane asylum for ten days and experiencing the awful treatment the other patients were experiencing. Without the author's insight and experience in this case, the book would be completely void of emotion and accurate imagery. It would just be a bland report about insane asylums in the nineteenth century, which most likely would not be very accurate without the contributions of a firsthand account. I think that both texts would agree that language is of utmost importance. Bly carefully chose strategic diction to accurately describe her experiences, and Barthes directly stated that language is the most important element in terms of interpreting texts. This is common ground that both texts share, but from there the differences begin to appear. 

It is important to consider the time periods when comparing both of these texts. "The Death of the Author," was written in 1957 by a male social critic, while Ten Days in a Mad-House was written in 1887 by a female journalist who first used the technique of "stunt journalism" to gather information for a story (Bly 190). In the 1880s, the literature and writing worlds were already quite developed, but many more great authors were still to be discovered.  "Modern society" and big cities were just beginning to form, and along with them new ideas were coming about. Also, there was very little knowledge of mental health in those days, and as Ten Days in a Mad-House describes, the mentally ill were locked up and shut away from society. It is very likely that this treatment actually made their conditions worse. The 1950s were quite a different time period. More authors had come and gone, making the task of being original in writing that much more difficult. Cities were completely developed and metropolitan areas were still growing. Medical understanding was also drastically improving. Overall, more ideas had been shared since the 1880s and many more opinions and philosophies were circulating around. Barthes claims in his essay that complete originality was nearly impossible in the 1950s, and still is. "The text is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres of culture" (Barthes 5). When comparing this claim with Bly's book, it is apparent that Barthes' claim is false. Bly had a very unique and personal experience that only she could accurately describe, because she was the only outsider present in that dark asylum. Of course it is possible that there is another publication out there that is similar, but every individual is capable of having unique opinions and accounts of the same events. On the other hand, it is true that almost every topic imaginable has been written about at one time or another, but that doesn't mean someone can't put their own spin on it and introduce a new opinion or idea concerning that topic. 

When comparing the two works, one clear theme jumped out to me. The importance of how invested an author is in his or her work. On Barthes' end, he believes that the author's purpose should not be a concern of the reader, and the language by itself is all that matters. On the other hand, Bly seemed to believe that in order to write quality pieces, it was essential that the author was totally immersed in the subject they were writing about. I tend to agree more with Bly. Her account of her experience in the insane asylum was incredibly unique and a fresh insight into a topic that hadn't been explored that much in that time period. Another topic that came up was that of originality. Barthes expressed in his essay that being original is simply impossible, but Bly's book directly contradicted that belief because her experiences were incredibly fresh and something the public didn't have much experience with. However, in today's day and age, Barthes' claim is slightly more accurate. So many different works have been published, so coming up with a completely original idea that has never come up in history before is becoming increasingly difficult. 

Another interesting element that differs between the two works is the writing style. Barthes' style of writing is quite chaotic and complicated, with lots of difficult words and run-on sentences. The language itself is incredibly philosophical and theoretical, and some of the diction makes it easy to misunderstand the author's point. Bly takes a simpler approach, using direct but descriptive language to get her points across. She also takes more of a story-telling approach, which is to be expected since she is giving an account of her experience in the asylum. Her piece was much easier to understand and much more interesting to read. Barthes' skipped around a lot and went on confusing tangents, using words that most people probably are not familiar with. Granted, the two formats of essay and book are quite different, so the writing styles aren't supposed to be the same. I definitely enjoyed Bly's writing style more, because it was much easier to understand. Using over-complicated words and run-on sentences can cause the reader to get lost and miss the author's point completely. Although it is possible that Barthes did this on purpose, trying to confuse the reader so they wouldn't try to worry about what the author's intentions were. On the other hand, Bly's piece was intended to educate the general public about the treatment of mentally ill women, so she probably chose to use simple language to ensure that more people would understand her key points. Both authors' writing styles depended on how they wanted their audience to receive their message.

Looking at these two works side by side made it apparent that although the author's importance may be dissipating in the present day, it was extremely important in the late nineteenth century. The cutting edge "stunt journalism" that Bly pioneered helped to expose the horrors of insane asylums and the mistreatment of the mentally ill. It also became apparent that a simpler writing style was much more favorable when it comes to understanding the author's point. Barthes' confusing and complicated writing made it very difficult to understand what he was trying to say, impeding the effectiveness of his argument. Bly's book also contained much more imagery and helped the reader to visualize her experiences very easily. Overall, the ideas in "Death of the Author" completely contradict those exhibited through Ten Days in a Mad-House and it is very clear that the author is still of utmost importance in today's society. 

