This is one of the few examples of the patients being allowed to do anything other than eating, sleeping, or bathing, and it is very telling that this, of all activities, is allowed by the Lunatic Asylum staff. While Bly’s writing materials are confiscated from her, and she describes herself as bored and with nothing to do on several occasions, playing the piano and singing a lullaby are allowed. Singing a lullaby to a child is a common part of motherhood, and allowing the patients to participate in it both restricts them to, and reminds them of, their role in society as women. At the same time, this choice of activity may also infantilize the patients to a certain extent. The institution of the asylum controls the lives and free will of patients, and considers them not capable of caring for themselves, and in a way reduces them to children. This detail could also be analyzed as Bly and Tillie Mayard singing a children’s lullaby directly to the other patients of the Lunatic Asylum. The hospital staff and Bly both seem to think of some of the other patients as incapable, and it is possible that Mayard feels similarly, and chose a song she felt would be appropriate for an infantilized group of people.