Lowry's The Giver and Davidson's My Mother's Case od Dementia Ignorance Is Bliss

If a girl likes chocolate cake yet monitors her calorie intake very closely, she would be happier not knowing the fact that a whole cake is about 3,000 calories. Someone telling her that the thing she loves has a lot of calories would make her unhappy as she would worry about it. This real life example shows that ignorance brings bliss because people who don’t know about the horrors or other things in the world are happy. When people are not aware of some things can hurt others, they have less to fear.

By being shielded from any sources of information or having dementia, people are jubilant. They won’t have to always worry about events that most people fear such as being kidnapped or not having enough money to support people they love. This phrase is heavily shown and proven in the book The Giver by Lois Lowry and the article “My Mother’s Case of Dementia” by Sara Davidson.

When people have a lack of knowledge of horrifying events and chaos and confusion of the world, they feel blithe. Shown in The Giver and a dementia survivor in “My Mother’s Case of Pleasant Dementia”, people not being horrifies of events brings bliss. Rosemary, the previous reciever in training, had received many painful memories. After the Giver sensed her pain, “[He] backed off, gave her more little delights. But everything changed, once she knew about pain'” (Lowry 178). The Giver had once cherished Rosemary’s lovely laughter in his empty dwelling.

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But after Rosemary found out about all the things shielded from her, she changes her outlook about the world completely. Once Rosemary knows about the pain, she doesn’t laugh as much as she used to. This is significant because knowing and having to carry the burden of the cruel things people experience such as loneliness or desertion causes Rosemary pain. The realization that these things happen in the world causes her grief which is why these matters are better left in the dark.

Barbara Ross’s father, a dementia survivor, had forgotten his two acrimonious divorces and that his business had gone bankrupt yet “He still said that he’ dead the most wonderful life and was the luckiest guy in the world'” (Davidson 63). Her father becomes forgetful of all the treacherous things that he was afraid of happening again. By forgetting about the bad events that happened over his lifetime, her father became cheerful and cherished life. Not knowing about all the bad situations he had gotten into, he was happy instead of maybe still grieving over his divorces and bankruptcy. Not knowing about the things that scare people brings people joy as shown through Rosemary in The Giver and Barbara Ross’s father in “My Mother’s Case of Pleasant Dementia”. True bliss is also accomplished when people don’t actually know about the horrible things that happen in the world which is shown by a mother in “My Mother’s Case of Pleasant Dementia” and by the character Jonas in The Giver. Shelley Hoon’s mother, who is pleasantly demented, “[…] was hard-nosed, never laughed and if she was angry, you’d dive under the couch. Now [she is] totally sweet, laughs and find pleasure in simple things” (Davidson 63).

Hoon’s mother’s personality had completely changed after being diagnosed with dementia. Her change in personality from a strict person to a kind hearted one could’ve possibly caused by the very bad experiences throughout her life. Not knowing about the horrible things that happen in the world, due to constant forgetfulness and memory loss, she becomes less grouchy. Being less grouchy not only puts the people around the grumpy person in a better mood but also changes that person’s personality to one that people will love. Not knowing many hard truths about her surroundings, she enters a bliss state, feeling happy for even simple things. In The Giver, Jonas had received the memory of death and war and “[He did not want to go back. He didn’t want the honor, didn’t want the wisdom, didn’t want the pain. He wanted his childhood again, his scraped knees and ball games” (Lowry 152).

Jonas experienced true pain for the first time. The reality of the world just suddenly hit him. He had also said that he would rather die than bear the horrid memory of death. Jonas wants his childhood of innocence back, he doesn’t want the honor nor the wisdom. Jonas shows that many cold truths of the world are better off left hidden from people’s ears. He craves for his childhood again, a time in his life where he didn’t know about stuff like broken bones or war. As shown with the two literary pieces, if people do not know about the many bad things others can do such as abuse, murder or theft, they are better off and would be happy with their life. Ignorance on the events in the world causes people to be in a bliss state. When people aren’t scared of things, don’t know about being different or when people have no idea about the disastrous situations that go around them, they are happier.

Through a utopian novel and an article about a real life disorder, people will understand better about those who still have their innocence and the bad things that happen to them after losing it, or those who have already lost their innocence but experience life with the innocence of a new born child. With a splendid understanding that ignorance is bliss, people can learn not to ruin someone else’s bubble of happiness. For example, if a boy hates cream cheese yet his favorite cookie recipe includes cream cheese in it, telling him the truth will ruin his liking towards the bookie, thus also spilling the joy of eating his favorite cookie. As shown through this example, knowing that ignorance leads to bliss, people know not to ruin others happiness by making them lose their innocence.