As children, we’re often viewed by society as being pure and innocent, a metaphorical tabula rasa. However, the various evils of time commence attacking us from the moment of our birth, both in body and mind. Our body withers and ages, crumbling into dust as the years drag by. And our mind?

We lose our innocence. This loss of innocence is commonly seen as a rite of passage in today’s society, though with it comes a greater cost than simply the knowledge of the workings of the world. By acquiring this knowledge about the world, we lose our carefree sense of happiness. Ignorance is bliss, it is said, and nowhere can we see this better in action than with the loss of innocence in those around us and within ourselves.

At first glance, the concepts of ignorance and innocence may appear to be different, though they are actually the same thing, when placed in the context of this article. As we grow, we acquire knowledge of the real world, something that eventually causes us to lose the initial bliss we were born with. The real world is a dangerous and dark place, something that can be understood only through the experience of pain. Our ignorance melts away in the heat of this understanding, followed with our childlike innocence on how the world works.

Oftentimes, this change in mindset occurs quite slowly, over the period of several years during our teenage periods. The discovery of greed, perhaps, or the understanding of jealousy. It may happen in a different manner for each person, though there’s no denying that all of us reading this article have unequivocally at least began to lose our innocence.

Due to this slow change, I believed that it was possible to track the differences in ignorance and bliss as people slowly grow older. As one’s age grows, both their ignorance and their bliss happen to slowly fade. Interestingly, there’s exists a parallel with 1984 with this acquisition of knowledge and destruction of bliss. The three social classes of people in the novel, as shown below, clearly embody patterns seen in adults, teenagers, and young children. In order to see this in action, I decided to interview people from three different categories: adults, teens, and children. As I expected, this broad difference in the innocence of the three varied quite a bit, and their insights into various questions were quite eye-opening.

As expected, all of the adults that I talked to immediately responded that their innocence had been lost. However, they all believed that it was, in the end, a positive thing. The adults generally mentioned that the realities of society and responsibilities have forced them into a position in which their loss of innocence was the only way to handle the way things were. Without the maturity that came with this loss, they wouldn’t have been able to cope or make sense of the reality that they were placed into. When talking to them, I couldn’t help notice that many of the judgements about the world that they had made were highly negative, likely stemming from the painful experiences that came with dealing with their rite of passage. In addition, these adults placed a larger emphasis on happiness stemming from concepts like power and money, rather than a materialistic point of view.

While performing these interviews, I definitely saw a parallel between the views of adults and the Inner Party: the group that controls the government, and thus, the men of the country. With infinite authority at their fingertips and knowledge of the uncensored truth, these powerful people can be thought of as adults. Both adults and the Inner Party knew the way that the world truly worked. In addition, both had an innately negative view concerning the world, likely stemming from the pain of experience. As O’Brien, an Inner Party member, mentions, “But always – do not forget this, Winston – always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler.” (267). Greed is a concept that shows most directly in both adults and the Inner Party.

Moving on, the teens had responses that ranged across the board. Many were mellow, insisting that their innocence had not been lost and that they had been able to isolate their knowledge of the world and emotions from their innocence. Others dejectedly mentioned that their innocence was completely lost. However, the great majority had responses in the middle. As a teenager myself, I definitely feel the stresses and responsibilities of the real world pressuring me. However, at the same time, my inner child (so as so speak) runs rampant, asking questions about the world and imagining extravagant scenarios.

The behavior of teens bears a strong connection to the Outer Party, limited members of the government. Teens often glimpse at the truth that lies beyond their world, though many make the decision to stay innocent and within their little protective bubbles. In either case, teenagers are marked by a slow and laborious understanding of their world, and both ignorance and bliss disappears at slow, yet steady rates. Likewise, the members of the Outer Party often glimpse at the truth of the government and its power, though many decide to not pursue that lead and stay ignorant. Members of this Party often fall on a wide spectrum of ignorance, with some, like Winston, knowing the truth at the cost of happiness. In addition, doublethink is a concept that can be uniquely associated with teens. Many of those I interviewed denied that their innocence had been lost, though their experiences showed otherwise. Likewise, the government uses doublethink to enforce false beliefs in the minds of the Outer Party. As Smith so eloquently puts it, these teens expressed the ideas of “To know and to not know, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them.” (35).

And finally, children. As these interviews were conducted through the eyes of parents, there may have been a slight chance of bias, though there’s no doubting the simple truth: all of these kids were positively innocent. As their parents mentioned, many of these young children saw the world through a positive lens: they believed that the world had much to offer, and were highly optimistic were learning about new things.

As I saw it, the proles are what can thought of as young children. Vast potential surrounds them all, yet they cannot see beyond themselves and are blind to the workings of the world. This ignorance, however, breeds pure bliss and they are satisfied with the way that their world is structured. Pure and untainted, children view the world in a similar way. Their belief in goodness breeds a sense of bliss in the world, coupled with trust. Winston Smith reveals this childlike nature of proles, stating that “"Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.” (72).

The society in our lives is highly structured around this concept of age. Children depend on their parents to nurture them, both in terms of providing the needs of life and the concepts needed to survive the real world. Before undertaking this interviewing journey, I always imagined the idea of the loss of innocence to be a negative thing. After all, who would like to trade the bliss that arises from ignorance for the pain that stems from knowledge? However, I now see that my view was quite shortsighted.

As I look inward, I now see that my loss of innocence has meant something to me. The knowledge of how the world works has prepared me to do things I could never imagine: do things that I would not have been able to do without this loss. I’m now more capable than I ever was before, though the price paid has been that of innocent happiness. Perhaps bliss isn’t the way to heaven after all.

-G

Special thanks to Aryan Kumar, Estelle Pinai, Neeharika Jaladanki, my Lit Group, and various interviewees who wished to remain anonymous.