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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote questions the validity of judgment based on superficial interactions without understanding the deeper issues.
Nellie Bly's quote critiques the dismissive attitudes of authority figures, particularly doctors, towards women and their mental health. It highlights how the dismissal of a person's concerns can perpetuate their suffering, as decisions about their well-being are made without truly listening to their experiences. Bly emphasizes the notion that societal norms often invalidate the voices of those deemed 'ill' or 'irrational', leading to a cycle of misunderstanding and oppression.
Themes
JudgmentSanityAuthorityMental HealthVoiceDismissalUnderstandingWomen
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about women's rights and mental health awareness.
More from Nellie Bly
All quotes →'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
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.
Nellie BlyRead
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