
When reading a story, knowing the historical or cultural context can make a huge difference in the reader’s understanding of the piece. A country’s culture has a lot to do with their ideals and how the people act and treat each other. Women’s rights were not very prominent in the United States in the 1890s so women were treated as inferior beings. Some women began fighting for equal rights starting in the 19th century, but were unsuccessful in establishing much ground towards equality. As time passed however, women became more successful in their fight for equality and they gained more respect. Regardless of equality, people struggle to express their individuality through all the conformity. At all ages people conform to society for different purposes even if they do not want to so their creativity is stifled. In “10 Days in a Mad House” by Nellie Bly, the women who are considered crazy are given no freedom and, although treated equally within the confines of the asylum, they must follow the orders of the doctors in control of everyone and conform to the ways of the asylum. The women in the story have their freedoms stripped and are given no individuality or rights within the system of the asylum. In her story, Bly illustrates the similarities between feminism and individuality, institutions and their lack of freedom to express oneself and the unequal treatment of women within the asylum.

To an extent, one can draw similarities between individuality and feministic ideals. Feminists are those who demand the equality of men and women in all aspects of society. This can be tied to individualism or people who want to express themselves in a unique manner so they stand out and are not doing what everyone else is doing. Women, if treated as inferior are more likely to try and conform to society as an attempt to be viewed as an equal instead of trying to stand out. After a woman achieves equality, then they will be more likely to focus on them self and show their creative side and display their true personality. According to Spivak, women had to face challenges such as poverty or homophobia to gain their equality before they were able to show their individuality. Within the institution that Bly stayed in, the women received no respect and as a result, neither equality, nor a unique personality was ever an option. This limited them to almost nothing but the routine life and choices they lived with on a daily basis. The individuality article discusses being an individual is based on acting in a manner one chooses to and not how they are instructed to do so. Feminism is like individuality because it “can only be grown gradually through one’s own activity, moving in a meaningful direction” (Individuality 312). Both feminists and individuals slowly work towards their goal which is to either be seen as an equal or as an individual. They both want to be able to express themselves in a manner of their choice without being looked down upon so they can show their true personality whenever they choose to.

If given the opportunity, most people would choose to express themselves however they desire. Unfortunately, this was not the case in the insane asylum; the women were forced to do everything exactly how they were instructed to do so. The journal is about how one should be them self and not fall for the conformity of society. It talks about how starting at a very early age, children are taught basically all the same things ranging from manners to education, and they only differ in the morals they learn from their families. This idea is very common in the story because the patients are all taught to do the same thing and act exactly like everyone else. The journal was written not too long after the story was published so the idea of individuality had not changed much. Historically, the further back in history, people would dress more similarly and live similar routine lives. As the years went on people started to become different than each other and conformity became more evident. Sometimes to gain ground, one must conform to the ways of those in charge of them to get their respect. The journal says “conformity is one of the necessary highways to be traveled to arrive at successful living” (Individuality 312). This is shown in the story because if someone tries to stand out, they will get punished for it. When each patient got to the asylum, they were given one outfit and all the patients had to wear that same outfit every day. Also, each patient was given a number. The narrator said “they put me, dripping wet, into a short canton flannel slip, labeled across the extreme end in large black letters, ‘Lunatic Asylum, B. I., H. 6.” (Bly 287).  This entirely takes away from one’s individuality because in the eyes of the nurses and doctors, the patients are just some number with no name or personality. According to the journal, individuality is doing things differently than the ordinary and the patients in the asylum do not have the freedom to do anything how they choose to (Individuality 311). The doctors and nurses of the asylum are like strict parents who strongly enforce their children, or the patients, to follow their morals and mold them into the people they want them to be. One could use the article to go as far as to compare the patients to new born kids who have to rid their old morals and are given new ones. Conforming to an extent and knowing when to do it and when to stop can help a person get what they want and it also helps shape their individuality. In the asylum, the patients were given no opportunities to express their creativity and stand out amongst the crowd due to the strict conformity. In addition to conforming, the patients had no sense of feminism or power to fight for it.

Although prominent outside of the asylum, within the confinements of the asylum, the women had no such power to fight for equality or more rights. When the need to fight for equality would arise, a feminist would make a stand arguing they deserve equal treatment as men. Feminism can be seen as a revolution headed by women who are pushing for a cultural change. This was never an option in the asylum because if anyone ever argued for a change, they would be reprimanded. In the asylum, some women tried to demand equality for the patients, nurses, and doctors alike but every time came up unsuccessful. Throughout the years, feminism has been ever changing and pushing for different things. The current wave of feminism is considered to be more privileged because they “are not at the sharp end of daily brutalities” (Feminism 113). The current feminists do not have to suffer through poverty and sexism to the extent of previous generations of feminists. Around the time when the story was written, feminists had much more ground to make up towards the end goal of equality. Spivak addresses “the connection between the police and patriarchal formulations; and to see how rural police relate in turn to assaults upon patriarchy by the rather strong state level and national level women’s movements” (Feminism 114). In the story, the asylum is run by a patriarchal system with the men being the doctors who oversee everyone. The doctors treat and abuse the patients however they want and they never get in trouble for doing so by the police or any federal laws. All the patients are women and they are treated very unfairly but equally amongst each other but “because the asylum was a public institution we could not expect even kindness (Bly 295). They are given orders from the doctors to do everything around the asylum and receive nothing in return. Even when the patients are sick or desperately need something, the doctors will ignore them because they see them as crazy and inferior to the point of being worthless. The women not getting assistance when they were ill or beaten were a few examples of how the previous generations of feminists got the sharper end of the stick discussed in the article. Occasionally, women try standing up for their rights but they are physically attacked which scares them and everyone else from doing so again. 

Nellie Bly’s story “10 Days in a Mad House” relates the themes of feminism and individuality with the patients and their treatment each day they struggle through. For starters, all the patients in the asylum are women controlled by female nurses who take orders from male doctors who do nothing but tell people what to do and never help anyone. This patriarchal system belittles females as a whole, especially the patients who have to do everything they are told. The patients are turned into robots who have to do what they are told and cannot do anything different. In “10 Days in a Mad House”, there is a need for feminists in the asylum due to the lack of women’s rights or any freedom for women at all. Around the time when the story was written, women were facing more serious struggles such as poverty and were viewed as inferior compared to the less serious problems that women face nowadays. The journal about individuality was written recently after Nellie’s story so the culture was very similar at this time and people had the same ideas about expressing oneself or how one should act. The historical and cultural aspects of individuality and feminism in the story develop the notion that one must stand up for their rights and do not allow society to conform a person into someone they do not want to be.  
