Genre
Non-fiction (investigative journalism).
Setting and Context
Set in 1887 on Blackwell Island.
Narrator and Point of View
First-person narrative.
Tone and Mood
Assertive and informative.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The main character is Nellie Bly, and the antagonists are the doctors.
Major Conflict
There is a major conflict between the doctors and their patients. The patients need medical care, but the doctors are corrupt and put their interests first. The doctors are corrupt, and patients do not get their services if they do not bribe them.
Climax
The climax comes when Bly discovers that the asylum is a human-rat trap, and the facility is there to benefit the corrupt doctors. Once a person gets into the asylum, it is impossible to leave the facility.
Foreshadowing
The harsh realities about the asylum on Blackwell Island are foreshadowed by Pulitzer's request when he asked Bly to spend ten days on the island to investigate patients' conditions.
Understatement
The suffering of the patients in the asylum is understated. Bly discovers that the facility is a human rat trap, and patients are only attended to when doctors are bribed. Therefore, the suffering of the patients in the asylum is severe and out of control.
Allusions
Bly's ten-days-stay in the mad house alludes to the harsh realities the patients in the asylum go through at the hands of corrupt doctors.
Imagery
The harsh conditions in the asylum are described using sight imagery. For instance, Bly paints a picture of the bath in the asylum, and the situation is disheartening. Patients are forced to take cold showers, which makes them distressed. When the narrator decides to take a shower, her teeth shatter, and her limbs are covered in goosebumps and blue with cold. The water is ice-cold, which makes patients shiver and quake.
Paradox
The main paradox is that, despite being sane, the doctors in the asylum declare Nellie insane. Therefore, the doctors are doing exactly the opposite of what is expected. It implies that many patients in the asylum are mistakenly admitted to the facility.
Parallelism
n/a
Metonymy and Synecdoche
n/a
Personification
Corruption is personified as a dehumanizing individual who denies the patients their rights to receive proper medical care.
