Ignorance Is Bliss Roald Dahl Analysis

Have you ever heard the old saying “ Ignorance is bliss”? Well you see Roald Dahl's tale of the unexpected “The landlady” is a short story about a young man named Billy Weaver who is on a business trip in a small town called Bath, and he is looking for a place to stay. In the story Billy asks a man about hotels in the area and the man tells him that there is a “bell and Dragon” not too far away. While Billy is on his way to the hotel he notices a sign that says “Bed and Breakfast” which distracts him and draws him in forgetting all about the “Bell and Dragon” Because Billy ignored all the signs around him showing that something was wrong and it resulted in his death . This shows that while Ignorance may be bliss it can also be your misfortune.
Now from the very beginning of the story you can see that Billy is extremely naive and fooled easily, being only seventeen and all, when he sees a cheap place to stay he doesn’t think anything about it.
Billy was given multiple hints throughout the story that something was not right but all he cared about was how cheap the bed and breakfast was to stay at. For example “‘You see,it isn't often I have the pleasure of taking a visitor into my little nest.” The old girl is slightly dotty, Billy told himself. But at five and sixpence a night,who gives a damn about that?” This line shows that Billy actually did notice that the landlady was a bit crazy but he chose to ignore the signs. The text also indicates that the landlady was picky as to who could stay at the Bed and Breakfast and had been waiting for a young handsome man to come along and grace her with his presence. Later into the story when Billy was signing the landlady's book he noticed two other names written in the book years ago that he’d seen before but he could not remember where, sparking his curiosity. Billy questioned the old woman about the names in the book and at first she seemed to brush the topic away “‘Now wait a minute,” he said. “Wait just a minute. Mulholland ... Christopher Mulholland ... wasn’t that the name of the Eton schoolboy who was on a walking-tour through the West Country, and then all of a sudden ...” “Milk?” she said. “And sugar?” “Yes, please. And then all of a sudden ...” And again the
lady distracted Billy with tea that had a questioning scent which he took without hesitation. When Billy finally began to notice his tragic mistake it had been too late for the landlady had already poisoned his drink.

Billy never fully took notice into his surroundings because he was blinded by the thought of things being perfect