I have watched patients stand and gaze longingly toward the city they in all likelihood will never enter again. It means liberty and life; it seems so near, and yet heaven is not further from hell
Nellie BlyRead
I shuddered to think how completely the insane were in the power of their keepers, and how one could weep and plead for release, and all of no avail, if the keepers were so minded.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the power dynamics between the mentally ill and their caretakers.
Nellie Bly's quote highlights the vulnerability of those who are mentally ill when placed in the care of others, emphasizing how their pleas for freedom or understanding may fall on deaf ears. It serves as a profound commentary on the control that caretakers wield over their patients, revealing a disturbing truth about the sanity of those who are supposed to care for the 'insane'.
Themes
Mental HealthVulnerabilityPower DynamicsCaregiversInsanity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared in discussions about mental health advocacy to shed light on the struggles faced by those in institutions.
More from Nellie Bly
All quotes →How can a doctor judge a woman's sanity by merely bidding her good morning and refusing to hear her pleas for release? Even the sick ones know it is useless to say anything, for the answer will be that it is their imagination.
Nellie BlyRead
'VERY WELL,' I SAID ANGRILY, 'START THE MAN, AND I'LL START THE SAME DAY FOR SOME OTHER NEWSPAPER AND BEAT HIM.'
Nellie BlyRead
I always had a desire to know asylum life more thoroughly - a desire to be convinced that the most helpless of God's creatures, the insane, were cared for kindly and properly.
Nellie BlyRead
People in the world can never imagine the length of days to those in asylums. They seemed never ending, and we welcomed any event that might give us something to think about as well as talk of.
Nellie BlyRead
COULD I PASS A WEEK IN THE INSANE WARD AT BLACKWELL'S ISLAND? I SAID I COULD AND I WOULD. AND I DID.
Nellie BlyRead
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