<p>SAT scale, please.</p>
<p>Prompt: Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?</p>
<p>Essay:
The idiom “Ignorance is bliss” exemplifies the burdenous nature of knowledge at times. If people know certain things, it makes it extremely difficult to make decisions, especially if the argument is not one sided. This is shown through The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, A Separate Peace by John Knowles and astronomer Galileo.</p>
<p>In The Bluest Eye, Pecola Breedlove, an adolescent African-American girl is regarded as horrendously ugly. As she is driven insane by the community’s taunts and derisive behavior, Pecola prays for blue eyes, a symbol of beauty popularized by young white actresses such as Shirley Temple. Pecola becomes increasingly insane and wills herself to have blue eyes and believes her subconscious telling her she actually possesses them. Amidst Pecola’s struggles, the protagonist Claudia struggles with her knowledge of Pecola’s insanity. Claudia feels violently torn between telling Pecola that she doesn’t have blue eyes, thus foundering her dreams and ignoring Pecola shying away from the truth. Claudia’s knowledge makes her much more troubled than the seemingly blissful Pecola, showing the negative consequences of knowledge.</p>
<p>Furthermore, in A Separate Peace, the protagonist Gene causes his best friend Finny to fall out of a tree, fueled by extreme jealousy of Finny’s athletic prowress. As a result, Finny’s femur is shattered and he believes the event to be a hapless accident. As the only person wary of his crimes, Gee struggles with the knowledge he has, questioning whether or not he should confess to his friend. With such knowledge, Gene feels pressured to make the decision of being truthful or ruining his friendship. With this, Gene’s anxiety shows his knowledge proves to be a burden, and not a benefit.</p>
<p>In the early 16th century Italy, Galileo observed and measured that the Earth’s orbit was around the sun and not vice-versa. This dangerous ideas were certainly against the social norm, and Galileo was accused of being an iconoclast by Pope Gregory III. After warned to not reveal such slanderous information to the public, Galileo was forced to make the decision to inform the public or to save himself from the wrath of the Pope. this difficult decision was brought only by his knowledge, which troubled him relentlessly</p>
<p>Knowledge can be a burden, especially when making decisions permanently affect another person or people. As shown by Claudia, Gene, and Galileo, knowledge proved to force them to make difficult choices and hindered their progress.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>