In Nellie Bly’s, Ten Days in a Mad-house, Bly admits herself into an all women’s lunatic asylum. During her ten days spent in the asylum, she discusses all the horrible things she witnessed from the moment she walked in, to her very last day there. During examinations she saw women being verbally abused and questioned until they themselves started to believe they were crazy. When reading texts that have historical backgrounds it is important to know the factual truth behind the stories in order to make connections and the elements that helps to develop the culture.   

There have been several occasions where the neglect and mistreatment of the mentally Ill has been called to the attention of the public. One specific incident was at the Topeka State Hospital in the 1960’s. Just as in Bly’s reading, there was serious neglect and harmful behavior happening behind closed doors. However, the government soon intervened, but this still left patients with nowhere to go except for places that were just as corrupt. First impressions were given as “chaos, darkness, deprivation, and prison-like incarceration". It is important to have historical background knowledge when reading about these events. 

There are certain elements from this text that help us to better understand the culture from which it comes from. These elements include the way these mentally Ill human beings were seen and treated. The 1960’s was a time if inequality, such as, towards women and African Americans, and towards the mentally Ill, it just wasn’t as obvious as the other situations. Patients were beaten, left in their own urine and facies for days, not fed for days, and often times ran around naked. It is unethical for a person to have to live that way, mentally ill, or not. In today’s culture actions of that nature are unacceptable, however; it still happens more often than people are aware of.  

Bly’s reading calls many, shocking details to attention. The whole purpose of her admitting herself into that women’s home was for the sake of the mentally Ill patients inside. Having the background information from research articles on the history of the situation helps to provide a better understand of just how bad these incidents were. The abuse and mistreatment not only happened in the mental homes, it occurred in the places they were sent to beyond that as well. The caretaker to patient ratio had a lot to do with this awful mistreatment of patients. There often times not enough worker to look after all the patients in these homes. It helps the reader to know this tin order to understand how disconnected the relationships between workers and patients were. The overall important of having this background information is to make connections between a personal story and historical events that took place as well.
