The fictional story, “Ten Days in a Madhouse”, by Nellie Bly is about abuse in mental asylums. Nellie Bly was able to thoroughly characterize the female patients in “Ten Days in a Madhouse” due to the strong background that women are more vulnerable to mental illness. The stereotypes of women and the way they express fear and sadness also contributed to the way they were treated in mental asylums. Many factors and social aspects of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s affected women. Mental illness and cultural responses to mental illness strongly affect literature. Based on the stereotypes of women and their association with mental illness, Nellie Bly was able to portray better female characters. Cultural events, such as the way women were treated during this time period, also had an influence on literature. The background knowledge and stereotypes of women and their ties to mental illness heavily influences Nellie Bly’s “Ten Days in a Madhouse”. 

Women are more susceptible to depression, anxiety, personality disorders, and eating disorders (Wenegrat 1996). Based on the connections between women and mental illnesses, authors such as Nellie Bly, can construct a plot about women in a mental asylum. The patients in “Ten Days in a Madhouse” show signs of abusive treatment from caregivers which creates fear and vulnerability. Being able to create fear in patients in mental asylums is a sense of power and superiority. “They dragged her out to the closet, and I heard her terrified cries hush into smothered ones” (Bly 297). Nellie Brown described her experience of hearing other patients being taken into closets and never seen again. The fear of being taken into the closets and abused was real to all the patients in “Ten Days in a Madhouse”. Nellie Bly was able to easily portray female characters with mental illness due to the vulnerability and background knowledge of women and their ties to mental illnesses. 

There are many gender stereotypes labeling women as unstable and emotional. “Women are sensitive, they over think every little thing and they care way more than they should, but that’s what makes their love so strong” (Smith 2015) Studies have shown that women report more sadness than men, and react to unpleasant feelings by crying or yelling to express this sadness (Hess et al 2010). Since women have a greater emotional reactivity, they are more likely to suffer from mental illnesses such as depression and sadness (Magaldi 2015). Females are expected by men to be more emotional and sensitive to negative feelings. (Srichand 2015). Through these stereotypes of women and their feelings, authors are able to easily portray women as depressed. 

The disturbing care given by the nurses, was common back in the 1800’s. “After they had gotten all the amusement out of her they wanted and she was crying, they began to scold and tell her to keep quiet” (Bly 297). Nellie Bly expressed her fear of being trapped in her room in an emergency and left to die by her nurses to her doctor. Her doctor tells Nellie Brown that the nurses would never leave the girls locked in their rooms, but she does not believe him. “‘But you know positively that they would not wait to do that’, I said, and these women would burn to death’” (Bly 288). Nurses are stereotyped as caring in a normal health care center. However, in mental asylums, nurses are often reported as being abusive to patients. Different nurses practice different ways to interact with patients. Abusive caregivers are overlooked because being abusive becomes “normal” in the eyes of a patient (Abrahams et al 1998). The abuse Nellie Brown described in “Ten Days in a Madhouse” has the research facts to create a sense of reality in each abuse story. In the 1800’s, being physically abused in a mental asylum was not rare. Nurses used physical abuse as a way to force the patients to behave. Nellie Bly was able to describe the beatings that occurred in the closets from papers and articles about others’ personal experiences of being abused in mental asylums. 

Patients at mental asylums are often not provided the essential items they needed in order properly care for themselves. Many patients will go weeks without eating or drinking anything substantial.

 “Placed close together all along the tables were large dressing-bowls filled with a pinkish-looking stuff which the patients called tea. By each bowl was laid a piece of bread, cut thick and buttered. A small saucer containing five prunes accompanied the bread” (Bly 285).

Older mental asylums have the reputation of bad care and being under developed. Nellie Brown forced herself to eat the food to prevent starvation. Along with the lack of food, there was also a lack of supplies. Patients had small amounts of clothing and supplies for living. “We numbered forty-five patients in Hall 6, and were sent to the bathroom, where there were two coarse towels” (Bly 289). Women were highly lacking the proper items for taking care of themselves in these mental asylums. 

The lifestyle expectations of women in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s contributed to mental illness in women. Women lived a routine and structured life, often performing the same tasks everyday. The patients in “Ten Days in a Madhouse” had a routine day forced upon them by the caregivers. Their daily routine consisted of waking up, eating, cleaning, bathing, and being abused. Women in this time period were seen as inferior and powerless, especially the patients. The nurses had the power of controlling the care the patients were given. Other than abusing their patients, nurses also abused the power they were given when caring for their patients. 

Through the stereotypes and social expectations of women and mental asylums in the late 1800s and early 1900s, “Ten Days in a Madhouse” was able to portray the female patient roles and the abusive caregiver roles. Stereotypes, such as women being more emotional and crazy, gave Nelly Bly a way to create these mentally ill female characters and correctly show their characteristics. Even though “Ten Days in a Madhouse” is a fictional story, it portrays the undesirable truth behind mental asylums in the late 1800’s. Many women were abused during this time, mentally as well as physically. Mental asylums during this time period were under established, which also caused patients to be abused through lack of proper materials and necessities to live a healthy and safe life. Many cultural changes and events are able to influence literature by providing background information to properly create a story based on cultural and historical events.
