Ch. 10-13 Reading Questions: Ten Days in a Madhouse

What was served for supper to Nellie Bly and the patients for her first meal in the asylum?

• Mutton, soggy vegetables, tea

• moldy bread, expired milk

• stale bread, butter, and pink tea

• mystery soup made in a copper bowl and stale bread

Answer explanation

"Placed close together all along the table were large dressing-bowls filled with a pinkish-looking stuff which the patients called tea. By each bowl was laid a piece of bread, cut thick and buttered."

- Chapter 10, paragraph 3

What amount of privacy was given to patients at bath time?

• Private bathrooms with a private 1-person shower per patient

• A communal bathroom with with private showers and shower curtains

• One big bathroom, no doors, everyone can see

Answer explanation

"I gave one glance at the group of patients gathered at the door watching the scene, and I jumped into the bathtub with more energy than grace."

Chapter 11, paragraph 1

Why did a woman laugh at Nellie in the bathroom?

• Nellie said a funny joke

• Nellie wore funny pajamas

• Nellie didn't realize that she would be given a bath unwillingly

• She thinks Nellie looks funny

Answer explanation

"At this I noticed one of the craziest women in the ward standing by the filled bathtub with a large, discolored rag in her hands. She was chattering away to herself and chuckling in a manner which seemed to me fiendish. I knew now what was to be done with me. I shivered."

-Chapter 11, paragraph 1

How could the asylum pajamas be described?

• cute and cozy

• luxurious, made of the finest of silk

• uncomfortable flannel slip with BIH6 across the back

Answer explanation

"They put me, dripping wet, into a short canton flannel slip, labeled across

the extreme end in large black letters, "Lunatic Asylum, B. 1., H. 6.""

Ten Days in a Madhouse, Chapter 11, Paragraph 2

What did B. I. H 6

• Bly Inmate House 6

• Bewildered Inmate Hall 6

• Blackwell's Island Inmate 6

• Blackwell's Island Hall 6

Answer explanation

"The letters meant Blackwell's

Island, Hall 6."

Ten Days in a Madhouse, Chapter 11, paragraph 2

What did every asylum patient have to wear on the walk outside?

• handcuffs

• hats

• pajamas

Answer explanation

"When all the patients had donned the white straw hats, such as

bathers wear at Coney Island, I could not but laugh at their comical appearances."

Ten Days in a Madhouse, Chapter 12, paragraph 1

Who did Nellie Bly encounter on her first walk at the insane asylum?

• Men from the prison

• The most violent women on the island

• another undercover reporter

Answer explanation

"We had not gone many paces when I saw, proceeding from every walk, long lines of women guarded

by nurses. How many there were! Every way I looked... they were fearfully

dirty.

"Who are they?" I asked of a patient near me.

"They are considered the most violent on the island, she replied."

Ten Days in a Madhouse, Chapter 12, paragraph 2-3

Which staff member showed cruelty to the old woman who was suffering from the cold temperatures?

• Agustus Glupe

• Miss Grupe

• Miss Greenwich

Answer explanation

"At this I saw Miss Grupe sit down on her and run her cold hands over the old woman's face and down

inside the neck of her dress. At the old woman's cries she laughed savagely, as did the other nurses,

and repeated her cruel action. That day the old woman was carried away to another ward."

Ten Days in a Madhouse, Chapter 12, paragraph 17

Who came to see Nellie Bly?

• Her mother and father

• her editor

• a gentleman

Answer explanation

"I went to the sitting-room at the end of the hall, and there sat a gentleman who had known me

intimately for years."

Ten Days in a Madhouse, Chapter 13, paragraph 9