Nellie Bly

Nellie Bly (http://www.squidoo.com/nelliebly?utm_source=google ())

A girl who started in a small town, changed many lives, she changed the way of reporting and the way men thought about women in the 1800s. This girl is no other that daredevil reporter, Elizabeth Jane Cochran or commonly known as Nellie Bly. Elizabeth was born on May 05, 1864 Cochran mills, Pennsylvania. She wrote an angry letter to a newspaper about an article discriminating against women; the writer, George Madden, was really impressed with her work though it was an angry letter. In 1887, Elizabeth moved to New York and got a job as a reporter, her first assignment was going undercover in a mad house, and where she first established her journalism skills. Went undercover many times; "Six Months in Mexico" she was going to find the corruption in the government, mostly known for her greatest accomplishment, going into the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island, where she worked as a patient, she also wrote an article  "Around the World in 72 Days". Her undercover work saved many people by uncovering the truth behind closed doors.

Determination, the meaning can be different to anybody. Determination in this case, is to follow what you want, do not give up on something you can't do a day without. Determination is my hero, Nellie Bly. Like any other human being, Nellie wanted to do something else with her life then write for a small town newspaper. "Nellie arrived in New York hoping to land a job at a major newspaper, but none was offered. Determined not to leave without work, Nellie was eventually assigned to go under-cover"(Fritz Arthur) Bly knew she had what it takes, and want it to take it bigger, what says bigger than New York! Her goals where high, and in New York, it's hard to adjust and make it big. Remember, hard, but not impossible. "Pittsburgh was not big enough for her ambitions, however, in 1887, she left only this note for her editors: "I am off for New York. Look out for me. BLY."(Sean McCollum) Nellie knew if she wanted to go places she had to be in a place where everyone would know her, she wanted a bigger challenge then what she's use to. Nellie made it big in New York giving up wasn't an option, she was underestimated but she knew she could do anything. Nellie Bly was suddenly famous for her first undercover article in New York.

(http://www.squidoo.com/nelliebly ())

"Honesty is the best policy", it is true. When adjusting to a friend, the first thing you want is honesty, with no honesty there's no responsibility, nor trustworthiness. That is not a friendship, Nellie had many readers in which she had to write honestly for them to be able to do something; a bigger force, makes a bigger change. Trustworthiness was the first thing Nellie wanted to show her readers, in which she succeeded and gained her readers trust. "Nellie Bly eschewed these topics for hard pressing stories on the poor and oppressed. Drawing from her mother's experience, she wrote on the inherent disadvantages women had in divorce proceedings. She also wrote numerous articles on the lives of poor women who worked in Pittsburgh's bottle factories."(Arthur Fritz) By Nellie telling her audience her life story she's creating a bond in which the audience trust her, since she trust them, so whatever Nellie writes about, her audience will believe her. Responsibility to take on an undercover mission in which she had to stay in character in a mad house, it was really hard for her to stay in character, but she knew it was her responsibility to inform her readers what's going on outside the closed doors. "The story embarrassed New York City officials into taking action. They launched an investigation, and then approved additional funds to improve the treatment of the mentally ill."(Sean McCollum) Blys' daring work made the newspaper world take notice of a gutsy new reporter. She told the truth to help the women in the mad house, Nellie experienced it firsthand. Honesty is the best police in which Nellie could present; she did it to help others by informing her readers, her readers made a change.

A hero always need courage, courage is used for recurring, well that is what's been pictured for many years in the entertainment world, like Superman, had courage, rescued the world and the girl. Difference is that with Nellie Bly, it was real. Nellie Bly went in a mad house, to experience what women were experiencing. She saved many women by uncovering how they treated them. "With Cochrane's first assignment, she volunteered to commit herself for ten days to the Women's Lunatic Asylum at Blackwell's Island (now Roosevelt Island), under the name of Nellie Brown. She practiced her behavior as a catatonic amnesiac before being accepted."(Matthew Lavelle) Going to a mad house alone, and practicing being mad, is really bad because after a while Nellie, can start becoming insane, but of course that didn't stop her from uncovering the truth. Saving other female reporters, also uncovering the truth, was big for Nellie, she wasn't alone. "When she reported on President Porfirio Diaz imprisoning a journalist for criticizing the government, Nellie soon found threatened with arrest and left the country."(Arthur Fritz) Hard working as she is, Nellie found the courage to reveal the truth, knowing she would be deported, she knew it was the right thing to do. Nellie found had the courage to do what is right. Courage comes in everybody, people might not sense it yet, but that's the fun part, it will come when the time is ready. Nelly found her courage through the art of journalism.

Nellie Bly is an inspiration for showing dedication to her work, uncovering the truth behind closed doors, and setting an example to women, that they can do the same thing men can. Nellie Bly had the thought that women can do the same thing men can and,  as society knows, it is true. She did not keep her thoughts to herself; she showed the world what was behind the closed doors, she had a great voice in her writing, "Never having failed, I could not picture what failure meant."(Arthur Fritz)

Nellie Bly inspires me because she wrote the truth and she never gave up. Not many people could do what she did. She was very independent and supported the women suffrage. She's my inspiration for this essay, I came to respect her, and she's my hero. 'Energy rightly applied and directed will accomplish anything.'(Arthur Fritz)