Ignorance is Bliss: Unexpected and Unpleasant Knowledge
Analysis of Short Stories
Knowledge is power, according to many who have been educated. Yet others will say that ignorance is bliss. In "Genesis", "Roman Fever", "I want to Know Why" and "A Painful Case" the main characters would likely be of the opinion that ignorance is bliss and not all knowledge is a good thing. Adam and Eve of "Genesis", Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade in "Roman Fever", the narrator in "I Want to Know Why" and Mr. Duffy in "A Painful Case" would gladly return to the state of ignorance they were in before they each went through a revelation. The unexpected revelation in each of these stories has unpleasant mental effects (and physical in the case of Adam and Eve) on the characters that are given knowledge that they do not want or understand.
"Genesis" is a creation legend, the beginning of the Old Testament of the Bible. In the book of "Genesis" God first creates heaven, earth, light, seas, the sun and the moon, plants, water creatures, fowl, and land animals, and finally man and women in his image. The first two chapters of "Genesis" detail the creation of the world by God and the creation of man by God. After their creation man and woman "were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." (Genesis, 28) The third chapter of "Genesis" details the temptation of mankind to taste the forbidden fruit. The serpent temps the woman who in turn temps the man. In the time before the temptation, man and woman know naught of "good and evil." (Genesis, 28) Once they have both tasted of the forbidden "the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." (Genesis, 28) After eating the fruit they become ashamed of their naked bodies, and as a direct consequence of disobeying god they are cast from the Garden of Eden to make their own way in the outside world. In this story the revelation that Adam and Eve have is that they are naked, and furthermore that they should be ashamed that they are naked. Their actions, discovered because they are ashamed to be naked, result in their expulsion from Eden. They are also cursed that birth will be accompanied by sin and pain, and that they shall have to work he land to have food to eat. Adam and Eve's disobedience lead them to gain the knowledge of good and evil, and to be cast from the Garden of Eden for their sin. Neither Adam nor Eve knew the gravity of their actions or what the repercussions of their actions would be, but by gaining knowledge of good and evil they knew that they had sinned against god and that they were responsible for their actions.
There are two major revelations in the story "Roman Fever" by Edith Wharton. Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley, two long-time acquaintances, each has a revelation that they deliver to the other. The reaction of Mrs. Ansley to Mrs. Slade's revelation is evident as it is described in the story, but the reaction of Mrs. Slade to Mrs. Ansley's revelation is never disclosed. Neither of these women particularly likes the other, yet they have known each other since they were girls and each finds herself with a daughter that would rather be off taking rides in planes with pilots than reminiscing with their mothers. As a result of their daughters Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley find themselves sharing each other's company while their girls are away. At first the two women seem to be getting on well enough on the surface, but underneath it is evident that they truly do not have any ambivalent feeling for each other. Mrs. Slade makes the first revelation of "Roman Fever" to Mrs. Ansley. They are reminiscing about the winter they spent as girls in Rome, when in an angry outburst Mrs. Slade makes her revelation. She eagerly tells Mrs. Ansley that a letter arranging a tryst between Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade's dead husband was really written by Mrs. Slade. Mrs. Ansley reacts with confusion, demanding to know how Mrs. Slade could know the contents of the private letter. When Mrs. Slade confesses that she wrote the letter, Mrs. Ansley is horrified. "Mrs. Ansley's hands dropped to her knee. The face they uncovered was streaked with tears. 'I wasn't thinking of you. I was thinking - it was the only letter I ever had from him!'" (Wharton, 237) She is so shocked by finding out that the only letter she ever had from the man she loved was a fraud that she is overcome with tears. She does not even seem to acknowledge that Mrs. Slade maliciously tricked her, instead fixating on the loss of the letter, a symbol of her tryst with Delphin Slade. Even after a time, Mrs. Ansley continues to fixate on the letter, asking Mrs. Slade "It was the only letter I had, and you say he didn't write it?" (Wharton, 237) Again, this serves to illustrate that Mrs. Ansley is more upset that the letter is a fake than that it was Mrs. Slade who wrote the fake love letter. The revelation that Mrs. Ansley gives Mrs. Slade comes soon after, in two parts. The first, and much less shocking revelation from Mrs. Ansley is that Delphin Slade did indeed meet her for the tryst at the Colosseum. Mrs. Slade is aghast, she at first believes that this is the ravings of a delusional mad woman, until Mrs. Ansley calmly explains that Delphin knew to meet her because responded to the fake letter. Mrs. Slade emotionally responds "Oh, God - you answered! I never thought of your answering..." (Wharton, 238) Mrs. Slade is the more emotional of the two, and she barely has time to recover from the first portion of Mrs. Ansley's revelation before she is told the second portion. As the two women are leaving the restaurant Mrs. Slade confides that she feels somewhat sorry for Mrs. Ansley. "Yes; I was beaten there. But I oughtn't to begrudge it to you, I suppose. At the end of all these years. After all, I had everything; I had him for twenty-five years. And you had nothing but that one letter that he didn't write." (Wharton, 239) It is then that Mrs. Ansley reveals the second part of her secret, stating simply "I had Barbara" (Wharton, 239). One can only imagine Mrs. Slade shock at this revelation, for her reaction is not included in the story, but the outrage she must feel that Mrs. Ansley's daughter, Barbara is also the daughter of her dead husband can be pictured quite easily. The revelations of these two women change their lives. Each must deal with these revelations in their own way, though the reader is only able to see small amounts of the coping processes of these two women. Neither is a better person for having told her secrets, nor for hearing the secrets of the other. All they have done is hurt each other out of jealousy, spite and malice. Neither woman wants the knowledge that they have received, but they have been given it, and would likely want to return to their original states of happy ignorance.
The revelation that the narrator of Sherwood Anderson's "I Want to Know Why" is an unspoken revelation. The narrator of the tale has an obsession with racehorses, priding himself on being able to pick a winner though he would never exploit or dishonor the horses by betting on them. Before one of the biggest horse races, a race that features two of the narrator's favorite horses, Sunstreak and Middlestride, he is at the horse's paddock where he finds a connection with one of the horse trainers. The narrator says of Jerry, "[he] knows me and has been good to me lots of times, lets me walk into a horse's stall to look at him close and other things." (Anderson, 287) The day of the race the narrator and Jerry share a moment that the narrator believes strengthens their bond. "I looked up and then that man and I looked into each other's eyes. Something happened to me. I guess I loved the man as much as I did the horse because he knew what I knew. Seemed to me there wasn't anything in the world but that man and the horse and me." (Anderson, 287) Sunstreak wins the race, and afterwards the narrator is so affected by the incident at the paddock, "I liked him that afternoon even more than I ever liked my own father." (Anderson, 287), that he has a strong desire to see Jerry again. He follows the road that he has seen Jerry and his friends drive down, and sees the men park by a farmhouse and go inside. The narrator become curious, and in his desire to be nearer to Jerry he peers though one of the farmhouse's windows. He sees Jerry in the company of prostitutes, drinking and bragging about the earlier race. Tillford "bragged in that bad woman house as I know Sunstreak wouldn't never have bragged. He said that he made that horse, that it was him that won the race and made the record. He lied and bragged like a fool." (Anderson, 288) This disturbs the narrator, but not as much as what comes next. "And then, what do you suppose he did! He looked at the woman in there, the one that was lean and hard-mouthed and looked a little like the gelding Middlestride, but not clean like him, and his eyes began to shine just as they did when he looked at me and at Sunstreak in the paddocks at the track in the afternoon." (Anderson, 288). The narrator is so shocked by this revelation, that the man he felt such a connection with has so disrespected the horses, that he almost cannot help but stay and continue watching. The narrator puts it quite clearly when he says "The tall rotten looking woman was between us just as Sunstreak was in the paddocks in the afternoon." (Anderson, 288) What the narrator had once viewed as pure and good has become ugly and rotten. "Then, all of a sudden, I began to hate that man." (Anderson, 288) the narrator begins to tell us, "I wanted to scream and rush in the room and kill him. I never had such a feeling before. I was so mad clean through that I cried and my fists were doubled up so my finger nails cut my hands." (Anderson, 288) The narrator's feelings are spelled out, showing his shock, disappointment, and anger. It is also very obvious that the narrator wishes that he had not seen Jerry Tillford in the farmhouse, because he no longer takes as much enjoyment from being by the horses. The reader is told, "things are different. At the tracks, the air don't taste as good or smell as good. It's because of a man like Jerry Tillford, who knows what he does, could see a horse like Sunstreak run, and kiss a woman like that in the same day." (Anderson, 289)
James Joyce's "A Painful Case" also contains a revelation that is difficult for the main character to deal with. The main character in "A Painful Case" is Mr. James Duffy, a bachelor who lives a very orderly and structured, and very lonely, life. He becomes acquainted with Mrs. Sinico, a married woman with one child who also leads a boring and lonely life. Mrs. Sinico and Mr. Duffy gradually spend more and more time with each other as time goes on. Mr. Duffy eagerly accepts Mrs. Sinico as an equal, and enjoys her as an intellectual companion. Mr. Duffy begins to bloom in the company of Mrs. Sinico, and begins to come out of his shell of isolation. Mrs. Sinico however seems to be looking for more than just intellectual companionship. One night after one of their usual discussions, Mrs. Sinico catches Mr. Duffy's hand and holds it to her cheek. In response Mr. Duffy breaks off their relationship, severing every bond between them: "every bond, he said, is a bond to sorrow." (Joyce, 302) After breaking off their relationship, Mr. Duffy returns to his regular routine for the next four years, except "he kept away from concerts lest he should meet her." (Joyce, 302) After four years of unbroken routine Mr. Duffy happens to read a newspaper article detailing the death of Mrs. Sinico. The article does not make it clear whether she intended to commit suicide or she was merely too drunk to notice the train coming. The effect of this article on Mr. Duffy is obvious and immediate. In a startling contrast of his character up until this point of the story, Mr. Duffy abandons his routine, and does not finish his dinner. While this might not seem very telling to a casual reader, this break in routine is very important to understanding Mr. Duffy's mental state. The importance of Mrs. Sinico's death is made clear because it affects him enough to cause him to not just alter but abandon his routine, something he has not even done when the junior partners of the bank he works at retire or when his father dies. The revelation of Mrs. Sinico's death affects Mr. Duffy very deeply, and at first he blames her for her death completely, and reviles the thought of ever having bared his intellectual's soul to her. "Not merely had she degraded herself; she had degraded him! ... Evidently she had been unfit to live, without any strength of purpose, and easy prey to habits, one of the wrecks on which civilization has been reared." (Joyce, 304) His disgust quickly fades, and he begins to wonder what he could have done to save her. Moreover, he begins to understand her plight, "Now that she was gone he understood how lonely her life must have been, sitting night after night alone in that room. His life would be lonely too until he, too, dies, ceased to exist, became a memory - if anyone remembered him." (Joyce, 304) He comes to realize that his own plight is even more desperate than Mrs. Sinico's, for while she had a husband and wife to remember her after her death, he has no one to carry on his memory. Finally, he comes to the most painful realization of all when he sees a pair of lovers in the park. "One human being had seemed to love him and he had denied her life and happiness: he had sentenced her to ignominy, a death of shame. He knew that the prostrate creatures down by the wall were watching him and wished him gone. No one wanted him; he was outcast from life's feast." (Joyce, 305) Mr. Duffy has discovered how miserably lonely he is, and even more painful, that he is the architect of his own demise. He is the only one responsible for his loneliness, he was given a chance at some happiness but he discarded it out of hand. It seems highly doubtful that Mr. Duffy will ever be able to seek comfort in routine again for he now realizes just how isolated he has made himself, It is impossible to imagine that Mr. Duffy is happier now that all of the connections he had with Mrs. Sinico are severed, and ever harder to imagine that Mr. Duffy is glad of the revelations that Mrs. Sinico's death brought him.
Knowledge is a very powerful force, but it can also be a very destructive force. Knowledge can be used to heal people or hurt them. In the case of Adam and Eve in "Genesis", the knowledge gained by eating the forbidden fruit sealed their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. In "Roman Fever" the secrets that Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade have kept for years are used as weapons in a battle that neither woman walks away from unwounded. Seeing a man that he respects engaged in dishonorable behavior profoundly changes the narrator in "I Want to Know Why", so much that he is no longer able to enjoy the things that previously brought him joy. Mr. Duffy, the main character of "A Painful Case", undergoes personal revelations about his own character and the quality of his life when a woman who was his companion for a time dies. None of these characters anticipates the revelation that they are given, and none are truly prepared for the repercussion of the revelations that they experience. It would be difficult to believe that these characters wouldn't wish to return to the time before the revelation occurred.