Change is difficult for a lot of people, and often people shy away from it. Other times change is necessary for moving forward and finding a way to make that change is the difficult aspect. In The Things They Carried, and “Ten Days in a Madhouse” both are fighting for change but in different ways, which each respectively make people more thoughtful. These works give us real stories with first hand experience that provides the real truth about two events that people understood were happening, but were not getting the whole story about. Both authors use their writing to get the reader to be more critical is their thinking and reasoning, in a way that provokes change. 

 The Things They Carried was a re-telling of stories that Tim O’Brien, the author, had experienced in his time during Vietnam. These aren’t the typical war stories of glory and triumph that our parents and grandparents like to share with us. These stories give us an inside view into what it actually was like to live in the trenches and fear for your life constantly. It showed us the terror and chaos that war produces. According to Tim O’Brien, the author, “A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue. As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil. (O’Brien)” He doesn’t say this in order to discourage us from reading other war stories but rather approach them with a sense of understanding and critical thinking, such that we can gain more from the story and realize the truth, where the true value of the story resides. This already is forcing change in the mindset of the general public. 

O’Brien continues on to tell stories of his troop, who ultimately became his friends. He experienced tremendous loss during his time in Vietnam, and he witnessed it first hand, making the images and emotion that much more vivid. He gave us insight into what the people fighting for us really sacrifice. “They carried the sky. The whole atmosphere, they carried it, the humidity, the monsoons, the stink of fungus and decay, all of it, they carried gravity. (O’Brien)” This is just one example of O’Brien trying to persuade us that the reality of war, is far different than what most people see. He shows us that the conditions they experienced truly represents the weight of keeping their country safe for others. It’s not that they experience some rough times, but rather that they live in a completely different world so that everyone else has the ability to choose which world they want to live in. He does this because it gives the reader the opportunity to make realizations about the influence that war has and makes people to step back and give more thought into why change is necessary and how it can propel us forward. 

It doesn’t end there as well; O’Brien explained that when he came back from overseas, the things he saw didn’t automatically go back to normal as many people assume. “But the thing about remembering is that you don't forget. (O’Brien)” He has dealt with it for his entire life since returning, which is the case for lots of soldiers returning. We all here about post traumatic stress disorder victims, but O’Brien forces us to realize that it is more commonplace rather than a rarity. With this he is able to show people that the soldiers accept this sacrifice and many others in order to change the world for the better, even though many people see war as doing the opposite. He gives us insight into the mind of a soldier that we usually don’t see and ultimately forces people to understand their own mindset in terms of others. This change then becomes beneficial to our society as a whole.

This is similar to “Ten Days in a Madhouse”, where horror and chaos were also present but delivered in different ways. Nellie Bly wanted to do real reporting, since opportunities were limited for women at the time. She chose to create a facade of being mentally ill in order to gain access to the inside of a “Madhouse,” or mental institution for the sake of finding out the treatment of the mentally ill. She found that the reality nowhere near matched what society had already come to assume. “The insane asylum on Blackwell's Island is a human rat-trap. It is easy to get in, but once there it is impossible to get out. (Bly)” This was not simply the case for Bly’s tenure but instead the reality for hundreds of women that didn’t have a way of fighting back. One of the women stated, “but as we have been sent here we will have to be quiet until we find some means of escape. They will be few though, if all the doctors, as Dr. Field, refuse to listen to me or give me a chance to prove my sanity. (Bly)” Bly wanted to make sure that this obstacle being present, could be changed so that these women were given a fair chance to prove their sanity and to make sure that the one’s who couldn’t were still treated as a human should rightfully be. Not only in this time period, but also in the present a doctor is much more likely to be believed over someone who is deemed to be “insane”. It is hard to overcome the assumptions of society, that if a woman was there she must be insane. During this time period there was no further thought given. Releasing these stories compelled her readers to change their mentality when trying to understand the life of a person deemed insane. It brought awareness not only to what was going on, but gave people the opportunity to have influence on how these women were being treated. 

The goal of an insane asylum, most would assume, is to provide treatment to the insane in hopes of one day, letting them become functioning members of society once again, or in some cases finding ways to improve living with an altered mental state. What Bly found inside the “madhouse” was nothing short of sick. There was inhumane treatment of people who really had no choice to do what they wanted with their own bodies. Bly spoke about the conditions could drive a sane woman to insanity. She says, “to take a perfectly sane and healthy woman, shut her up and make her sit from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. on straight-back benches, do not allow her to talk or move during these hours, give her no reading and let her know nothing of the world or its doings, give her bad food and harsh treatment, and see how long it will take to make her insane. Two months would make her a mental and physical wreck. (Bly)” These are just a few examples of the conditions these women endured. Bly uses her research to exploit the wrongdoing’s of the employees, especially the nurses and doctors who at times gave little attention to the patients and forced them to be in a situation that was not right or helpful to them. Bly released her research in pursuance of change of not only the conditions but also the attitude of the public towards these women.

Stories often reside around the triumph and heroics of war, which is important in its own right. The truth, though, gives the most value to the reader in terms of understanding the writing and the reality of what war truly is. In a review of the book A. O. Scott reveals, “War — perhaps especially a war that, on the American side, began in deception and continued in confusion — has a way of blurring such distinctions. What happens in combat can be grotesque, absurd, senseless and transcendent, sometimes all at once” (Scott). The reason The Things They Carried holds so much value in the literary world is the brutally honest interpretation of war and it’s meaning. Tim O’Brien really showed people what it is all about, making us as humans appreciate the world as we live in it, and gives an inside look as to what they endure. It wasn’t easy for him to write down his worst memories but it prompted change that wouldn’t have occurred otherwise.  The same could be said in Nellie Bly’s case. Had it not been for her search of the truth, in terms of insane asylums, we could still be unknowing of the issues that were present. Papova elaborates by saying, “Ten Days in a Madhouse is well worth reading in its entirety, for the timeless reminder of how little it takes for power structures to mutate into abuse of marginalized groups and how crucial it is for us, as a society and as individuals, to empower. The Nellie Bly’s who call attention to injustice, effect change for those less privileged, and perhaps, above all, find the soft beams of kindness, those expansive rays of the human spirit, even amid the harshest of realities” (Papova). In this gleaming analysis the thing that stands out the most is Bly’s ability to stand up to injustice and create change, not matter the circumstances. 

Today, we can still see the value in the truth. There is still a lot of injustice apparent in the world and a lot of issues that people are either unaware of, or are hidden from in order for it to continue. By understanding these authors and their texts both individually and as a comprehensive reading, it brings to light the issues, and gives us a platform for combating these issues.  It puts the reader in a situation where they are in control to create change. The only remaining part of the equation is if the readers are willing. 
