Nellie Bly’s novel “Ten Days in a Mad-House” was written in 1887, a time when mental health was not taken seriously. Mental health was not well understood and posed as a mystery for the most part. Nellie faked insanity so she could be admitted to a mental institution and write about it. She was admitted to the Women’s Lunatic Asylum for ten days and wrote her novel based on this experience. People with disabilities and/or mental health issues were usually neglected and ignored during this time period. Mental institutions were inhumane and patients were treated poorly. People with mental health problems were viewed as unimportant and as wastes of human life. The historical context of when this novel was written is important because Nellie’s entire experience in the madhouse and her novel would be different if it took place at a different time in history. Anecdotal evidence from Nellie’s experience shows how the historical setting of the novel affects the living conditions of the madhouse.

In the first paragraph of the excerpt of Bly’s novel she already notes a horrible stench that is later found out to be the kitchen. She smells this in passing while she is in a wagon which shows how strong the smell is. This starts the story off showing that the madhouse is extremely unsanitary. Few patients “were able to eat the butter” (Bly 286) and the nurse tells Nellie that she “’must force the food down’” (Bly 286) because it is so disgusting. The nurses and staff acknowledge how repulsive the food is that is served to the patients but they do nothing about it. Treating the patients as animals who did not deserve better food was common during this time period. This is just another example of neglect from the caretakers of the mentally diseased.

Neglecting those with mental health disorders was not uncommon in the 1800s and early 1900s. Nellie Bly’s experience in the madhouse demonstrates this perfectly. For example, towards the beginning of the excerpt when she is being examined by a doctor and a nurse she says the doctor “gave the nurse more attention than he did me” and that he “took no notice of my remarks” (Bly 284). Throughout the whole novel Nellie Bly and the other mental health patients in the madhouse are ignored by the medical staff. This was normal protocol at this time because there was not a lot of information on people with mental health disorders. It was easier for doctors and nurses to ignore patients and view them as outcasts instead of trying to actually help them and figure out what it was that was causing these mental problems.

The staff of the madhouse contributed to Nellie Bly’s horrible experience there. The staff used abusive tactics to keep the patients controlled and compliant such as “a slap on the ears” and “a shove and a push” (Bly 285). It was often believed in the early 1800s that people with mental health problems were possessed by the devil which made it easier for people to justify abusing them. Nellie Bly recalls how when she started to slightly protest being bathed the staff threatened to “use force and that it would not be very gentle’ (Bly 286). The staff in the madhouse Bly was admitted to was harsh and cruel to not only Bly but to all of the patients.