Prepping
How easy would it be for a person to convince trained professionals that they were insane and deserving of being committed to an asylum? Apparently, in the 1880’s, it was absurdly easy. Lacking access to personal experience and with a dearth of second-hand information, the author’s preparation for acting crazy ironically came down to just one attribute: a blank, unblinking stare.
Diagnosing
Adding another layer on of the absurd ironic circumstances of Bly’s preparation is the reaction to those “trained professionals.” And if ever a description required air quotes when spoken out loud, it would be to call the doctors that examined the author professionals trained in the delicate art of diagnosing mental conditions. The extent to which the doctors examined Bly before making their diagnosis was almost as absurdly thin as Bly’s preparation. Ultimately, she was professionally determined to be by one trained physician as “positively demented.”
The Existential Irony
What does it mean to exist in the world of the sane as opposed to the insane? The answer that Bly delivers turns out to be far more complicated than one might think. After having put all her extensive preparation to use—that’s irony, too—and been diagnosed as demented and sent to the asylum, the author instantly drops all pretense and proceeds to act “as I do in ordinary life.” And this sane behavior manages to accomplish just one ironic thing: convincing those working in the asylum that she was even crazier than she at first appeared.
The Grand Jury Visit
After her expose is published, a grand jury is convened to look into the conditions of the asylum where she had been sent and which suffered under such horrific conditions. The members of the grand jury along with others in the judicial system were to arrive secretly at the asylum for a surprise inspection intended to confirm the veracity of the author’s claims. Ironically, once there it was as if every single specific item of complaint made by Bly had been distinctly addressed and significantly improved to the point that Bly writes of it “the institution was on exhibition, and no fault could be found.” The ironic circumstances of the asylum suddenly seeming to be in exactly the opposite state from which Bly had described turns out to be less than ironic and not even surprising: word had gotten out of the “surprise” visitation beforehand.
Charity
The fundamental expectation of charitable contribution is that it is done with good intentions. The reality, of course, is very often quite different and even occasionally reaches the point where those extending the charity ironically seem downright resentful of the expectations by those receiving it:
“You are in a public institution now, and you can’t expect to get anything. This is charity, and you should be thankful for what you get.”
