"We lived as usual, by ignoring. Ignoring isn't the same as ignorance, you have to work at it... in a gradually heating bathtub, you'd be boiled to death before you knew it"(56, The Handmaid's Tale).
In this quote, Offred reflects on the fact that, in her previous life, even though she knew that the world was changing, she chose to ignore it. She chose to pretend that realistic events weren't occurring, simply because "they had a dimension that was not the dimension of her life," and it wasn't personally affecting her. However, Offred, in stating that she "had to work at it," suggests that ignoring is a conscious decision and that, especially as a situation seems to affect the individual on a more personal level, it becomes an excessively harder choice to make. At first, she asserts that ignorance is more peaceful, as it is only a naiveness attained from being unaware, sheltered, or youthful. Consequently, as demonstrated within the bathtub metaphor, ignorance also suggests a dangerous sense of comfort with the "usual". As the bathtub water gets hotter, or as the chaos in Offred's life gets worse, she has to choose to be unobservant, but the water and her life will reach a level of discomfort of which she cannot turn away from. At this point in a person's life, she must step away from denial and move towards change and making a difference. However, if the individual is ignorant to the environment around her, she will not pick up on any of the stimuli until it is too late. She will not assume anything is out of the ordinary, and will therefore never even possess the opportunity to strive for alteration or salvation. Therefore, I believe that even though ignoring is the more difficult road to take, it should not be traded for ignorance, because the latter is not bliss but rather a death by monotonous stupidity.
