Is ignorance bliss in Alice Walker’s short story “The Flowers”?

One may be happier in certain situations when one’s oblivious to the truth, but calling ignorance bliss wouldn't, perhaps, be right.  

In the story “The Flowers,” Myop’s existence, until she encounters the disturbing truth, can certainly be described as blissful. However, the bliss disappears as soon as the horrid truth is revealed to her.

Indeed, Myop had been very happy and content. With wildflowers, "silver ferns," the woods, the stream, the harmless creatures like chickens and...

One may be happier in certain situations when one’s oblivious to the truth, but calling ignorance bliss wouldn't, perhaps, be right.  

In the story “The Flowers,” Myop’s existence, until she encounters the disturbing truth, can certainly be described as blissful. However, the bliss disappears as soon as the horrid truth is revealed to her.

Indeed, Myop had been very happy and content. With wildflowers, "silver ferns," the woods, the stream, the harmless creatures like chickens and pigs, "the warm sun" and her mother, Myop’s world was untouched by the miseries of life. Hers was a paradisiacal world, unblemished by suffering or sorrow.

Myop was absolutely clueless about the darker aspect of the world surrounding her. This made her all the more vulnerable.

Myop’s accidental stepping upon the skull of a man who had been lynched is her epiphanic moment. It takes her a little while to make sense out of the skull, "the rotted remains of a noose” and the “frayed, rotted, bleached, and frazzled” piece of rope hanging to an oak tree.

The truth about the world is out before her. It’s not a perfect place because in it there’s violence, bloodshed, hatred and agony. The aghast and stunned Myop drops the flowers from her hand in dismay.

So, we see that Myop’s bliss rested on her illusionary idea of the world around her. Her inexperience and ignorance kept the truth away from her. 

So, if you call Myop’s earlier existence blissful, you’ll have to admit that it was very short-lived. It had always stood on the verge of getting shattered, and it does get shattered at last, causing her great disappointment.

Hence, the bliss that ignorance offers is unreal and, therefore, ephemeral.