Nellie Bly's Ten Days In A Madhouse

Drunk History is a Comedy Central show in which the host, Derek Waters, shares a few alcoholic drinks with a guest and then that guest tells the audience about a historical event. This often leads to inconsistencies between the narrative given and the actual event. In the episode “New York City”, the story of Nellie Bly and her investigative assignment to Blackwell’s Island Asylum is given by writer and actor, J.D. Ryznar. The story given by Ryznar, despite his state of inebriation, is fairly accurate when compared to outside sources such as her official website, the actual text of her book on the event: Ten Days in a Madhouse, and her page on Biography.com.

The Roaring Twenties fostered a split between America’s past and future. Prior to World War I, America remained rooted in the conservative nature of the nineteenth century. After the war ended, Americans broke away from their traditional habits and intellection as they transitioned into a modern era. The rapid social and economic change influenced innovation that caused people’s morals to deviate from their upbringing. Many people began to take bold moves that later influenced a decade full of cultural advancement and prosperity. Among the many influential figures of the 1920s, Louise Brooks became an icon of the decade. Brooks developed her fame as soon as she began her career, and her personality stood out among other women, and

In the short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Stetson, I think the Husband did try to drive to drive his Wife insane. One of the reasons I think that is because within the short story it mentions how awful and repellent the color of the wall, yellow, is. The wife also describes the color yellow and also says other negative things about it, “The color is repellent, almost revolting… No wonder the children hated it! I should hate it myself if I had to live in the room long.” (649)

Nellie Bly was born May 5th, 1864 in a small town called Cochran Mills in Pennsylvania. Nellie’s real name is Elizabeth Cochrane. Nellie was a Journalist; she began her newspaper career at the age of 18. Nellie got her pseudonym from her editor, who refused to openly allow a female to write for his paper.

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," a nervous wife, an overprotective husband, and a large, dank room covered in musty wallpaper all play important parts in driving the wife insane. The husband's smothering attention, combined with the isolated environment, incites the nervous nature of the wife, causing her to plunge into insanity to the point she sees herself in the wallpaper. The author's masterful use of not only the setting (of both time and place), but also of first person point of view, allows the reader to participate in the woman's growing insanity.

Saul Bellow wrote many novels; one of his novels “Leaving the Yellow House” is about an elder woman who lives in a yellow house and is incapable to take care of herself. Her neighbors tell her that they will help her only in return for her house. The Rolfe’s are the only neighbors that really care about Hattie and do not want her house in return. “Leaving the Yellow House” was one of Saul Bellow’s most known short story.

Unspeakable Conversations by Harriet McBryde Johnson is an article about her experience visiting Princeton University to exchange views and challenge Peter Singer, a professor who strongly believes that all disabled people, like herself, are “better off” not been born at all. The article provides an insight into Johnson’s life as a disabled person. She takes the readers on a journey that explores both sides of her own and Singer’s contrasting beliefs. She protests the prevalent stigma and prejudice of disabled people and gives voice to this marginalized community. Johnson challenges stereotypes of disability, uses her a personal experience to better understand the world and help others, and attempts to directly address oppression by arguing against Professor Singer’s theory and assemble a group of diverse and like-minded people for social change.

In the novel, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, the theme of growing up is prevalent throughout the book. Throughout the novel, a young mexican girl named Esperanza goes through experiences as she matures that involve her friends, society, dangers that expose her to the outside world and help her to realize what the real world is like.

This made her more than a match for her brothers and sisters. She didn’t think sickness of any kind was a cause for pampering. She did not have the beauty or cleverness of her sisters, or even the popularity, but she had a toughness about her that none of her siblings had. But the physical strength and toughness could not make up for the many frustrations that Blackwell faced growing up. She was always the odd one, or the one who was left out. She wrote many of her private thoughts in a journal. One time she wrote that it felt strange to be left completely out of sight. Other times she wrote that she would be punished for doing things that her brothers and sisters did, and got away with.

Literature is defined as written works published on a particular subject. Literature can also be viewed as witness, because it can be a source of proof based on the events it was written on. Literature as witness allows readers to get a deeper understanding of the issues that have happened based off of what the books are about. Those who read literary texts such as historical novels, memoirs and novels are witness to historical events. These texts can be viewed as witness because the events mentioned are based off of true life events. Some may argue historical fiction is not real and therefore could not be viewed as a reliable source. Even though historical fiction is made up of fictional characters, the conflicts that are mentioned are based

Fever 1793, written by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a historical fiction book that depicts the tragedy of the yellow fever virus outbreak in Philadelphia. Mattie Cook, the main character, deals with a tremendous amount of death and change throughout the book. The theme of the book, that people will do the right thing even if they know that risk, is supported by the author throughout the use of repetition and similes.

1962 was known as the freedom summer, which developed the fight for civil rights among black people in the US and worldwide. This historical setting of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest influenced the ideologies throughout the inscription of this novel. Ken Kesey developed his conceptual ideas of isolation through the setting of the characters. These concepts are developed through the protagonists, B Randle Patrick McMurphy and Nurse Ratchet. McMurphy challenges all aspects of rules and regulations within the psychiatric ward. McMurphy’s rebellion forces the reader to observe his understanding of insanity. The ward is a metaphor of a social statement being made by the author, perceiving society as the same as the ward; controlled, under authority and McMurphy is an example of chaos, change, and hope for the patients within the ward itself. “I hide in the mop closet and listen, my heart beating in the dark, and I try to keep from getting scared, try to get my thoughts off someplace else-try to think back and remember things about the village and the big Columbia River” , (chapter 1, lines page, 121, line 23). McMurphy’s actions throughout the novel are foreshadowed thus positioning the reader to question if he’s truly insane “And the third boy mutters, "Of course, the very nature of this plan could indicate that he [McMurphy] is simply a shrewd con man, and not mentally ill at all." Chapter 2, Line.1, .Page 32-37).

Madness is the state of being mentally ill. It is the spectrum of behavior characterized by abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Madness manifests as the violation of societal norms, including becoming a personal danger to one’s self. As a woman in the male-dominated society of the 19th century, the narrator has no control over her own life. This lack of control contributes to her descent into madness. The rest cure prescribed by her physician husband provided the environment for her madness to flourish because it was only in her imagination where she retained some control and could exercise the power of her mind. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman centers on the deteriorating mental condition of the female narrator. Gilman’s demonstrates of the progression of her madness throughout the story is reflected in the narrator’s change in attitude toward her husband, her growing obsession with the wallpaper, and her projection of herself as the woman behind the wallpaper.

Kei Miller's The Last Warner Woman tells the story of Admine Bustamante – or Pearline Portious as she is called in her birth certificate. She is born in a leprosarium in Jamaica, where she is praised for her “gift of warning”. She eventually migrates to Britain and is later institutionalised in St Osmund Mental Hospital because of her visions. The narration of the novel switches between two points of view, that of Mr Writer Man, who is Adamine's son, and Adamine herself. In the following, I will discuss the link between mental illness and leprosy that is presented in The Last Warner Woman and how the different focal characters view mental illness.

In the first paragraph of “The Boarding House” Mrs. Mooney is referred to as “a determined woman.” This reference suggests that even when under her abusive, alcoholic husband’s