
Over time as a society changes, words that were once appropriate to say can shift to having derogatory and hurtful meanings. In our day of age, children are taught to not casually use the word “retarded” for this very reason. It is viewed as being a hateful slur that is offensive to those who actually have a mental illness. However in the past, it was acceptable and the norm to use this word. Going even further back to the eighteenth and nineteenth century, those who were diagnosed as mentally ill were barely even treated like they were human beings. When the  York Lunatic Asylum Scandal came out, it brought light to this issue and people took notice. The way mental institutes historically were, influenced the setting and the way characters act in the story 10 Days in a Madhouse, along with being what inspired Bly to write the story in the first place.

The living conditions from 10 Days in a Madhouse are based off of how real asylums actually were. Anne Digby’s article, “Changes in the Asylum: The Case of York, 1777-1815” goes in depth on how asylums were inhumane, specifically focusing on The York Asylum. When comparing this article to the text, the two share a lot in common. To say conditions were bad would be an understatement. In the text, one patient warns Bly, “you must force the food down”(Bly 286). This interaction is based off the fact that, the “food was wretched even by the standards of contemporary workhouses”(Digby 225). To have to “force” oneself to eat food implies that it is inedible and not up to the standards humans deserve. This word choice makes sense when the food is known to be “wretched”. The history of living quality, or rather lack thereof, extends past just the awful food situation. There was a filthy atmosphere, not enough clothes, and lack of attention given to the patients. All of these factors add up to patients in the story getting physically ill. The conditions were so bad that one patient, “begged the night previous for God to take her home”(Bly 294). Just as in real life, the madhouse was a terrible setting to be in, to the point where some would rather be dead than live in such a place. The living conditions from Ten Days in a Mad-House parallels those in Digby’s article, with the way Bly describing the madhouse being accurate and on point with how inhumane asylums were at that time. 

If it weren’t already bad enough for patients to live in an asylum, they were also mistreated and violently attacked. According to Digby, when the York Lunatic Asylum was first created it’s goal was to help those who needed it in a humane manner with the hope to restore them back to health. Although this was the basis that the asylum was founded under, the institute did not follow their original ideals. Workers would slap, hit, choke, drag, and verbally abuse patients just because they could. Because of all the mistreatment occurring, a new rule was made that stated any worker who hits or hurts a patient in any way will be fired(223-24). While reforms may have been made to the York Insane Asylum, that was only after the abuse of patients was discovered. Many other places like the madhouse still had violence present, just hidden from the public.

The history of abuse towards patients accounts for why the characters in the story act the way they do. After hitting one of the patients, the nurses “actually choked her. Then they dragged her out to the closet and I heard her terrified cries hush into smothered ones”(Bly 297). The nurses were so cold hearted and cruel in the story because they are historically known to mistreat patients. Bly is able to depict this with the violent imagery used to describe the way the nurses punished their patient in the story. The characters in the story match how the people were at the time. This includes not only the nurses, but the patients as well. Being hit and choked to the point where one gives up is dehumanizing and must have an effect on the victim. The patients when Bly first arrives at the madhouse, “looked so lost and hopeless”(285). After knowing what actually goes on at the madhouse, Bly’s initial judgement of the patients is completely justified. How could one not lose hope after being mentally and physically abused day after day.  

Not only was the treatment of patients bad, but it was very easy to be diagnosed as mentally insane, and nearly impossible to prove one was not. In 1864, about twenty years before 10 Days in a Mad-House was published, “anyone could be committed to an insane asylum in Massachusetts on the simple certificate of two physicians hired by interested parties”(Himelhoch et al. 359). In the story, Bly writes about witnessing a patient, “gently but firmly pleading her case. All her remarks were as rational as any I ever heard… without one word of sympathy or encouragement she was brought back to where we sat”(Bly 282). The process of getting sent to a madhouse was extremely easy, only taking a couple of doctors to declare one insane. This resulted in many sane people, like the one Bly witnessed, being falsely committed. Even if one were not actually mentally ill, it was nearly impossible to plead one’s case and get released. The patient Bly overheard was making valid and rational points, yet was still dismissed due to the fact that “professionals” had already diagnosed her. Once institutionalized, the odds of getting out were extremely slim. This is why the process of institutionalization is unjust; since it didn’t take much to get sent to a madhouse, yet one could easily end up spending the rest of their life in one.

Scandals like the York Insane Asylum getting out, are the reason people like Bly became suspicious of madhouses in the first place. Bly had to have been influenced by something to have the desire to uncover the truth about madhouses.York asylum is just one example where the inhumane truth of asylums became public. Articles like these, bring major awareness to the serious issue of mental institutes being immoral and dehumanizing. An issue that before being publicized, had not been known about. The issue is hard to ignore when there is evidence indicating, “whippings, rape, and contamination from a filthy environment, threatened physical integrity”(Digby 225). And even harder to ignore when it was discovered thirteen old women were forced to spend the night in four hidden eight feet square cells, with inches of filth in them(225). This type of disturbing content getting released, is what inspired Bly to not buy into what asylums may look like on the outside, but rather delve deeper to discover the hidden truth. To get to this truth, she went the extra mile and actually pretended to be mentally insane. Going through and experiencing first hand what being institutionalized was truly like. 

The history of mentally insane asylums greatly impacted the content of Bly’s writing. The details of her story parallel how matters truly were at that time. This means that the setting and living conditions are accurately described in her work. Along with this, the characters and how they act are based on how people in that situation would realistically be. Overall, this made all aspects of the story believable. Not only did the history of mental institutes contribute to what Bly wrote, but it influenced why she wrote as well. The living conditions and treatment of mentally ill patients were inhumane and cruel. Changes had to be made for the rights of patients, and Bly obviously saw that. She saw the truth as the answer, enlightening others of her horrific firsthand experience in a madhouse. The only way to bring about change is to first raise awareness. Without the truth being known, how would anyone know that a change even needs to be made. It only takes one person to question what is commonly accepted and discover what was before unknown. 
