KidLit Forum

The Pollyanna syndrome. Is this a sort of disability?

The internet sources say that the "Pollyanna principle" (also called Pollyannaism or positive bias) describes the tendency to agree with positive ideas.

From this statement I'll focus on the "Glad game" she learnt from her father. Comming from a more mature figure, this game has other conotations. For instance, he ignores or avoids dealing with negative events, looking always for the good side and denying the bad. He made the game up when Pollyanna received a pair of crutches. In this case, he told her to be glad about the crutches because "we didn't need to use them!" Or our way of saying "it could have been worse." So it's not a reason to commit suicide for this. Stay positive. But the fact that they were poor and the awareness of it could not be washed away by optimism. Ignoring the bad by staying positive is not a real foundation of positive thinking. You must aknowledge both of them and try to remain focused on the bright side of things. As a child, Pollyanna could play "her" game more easily because she didn't have to worry about many things. She wanted to be free and to live her childhood properly. But she actually did a great thing at her aunt's house...

Self disability

A heart is like a nice pair of rollerblades. If you keep them in a box, you outgrew them. So they won't fit your feet anymore. You will grow and they will stay small and still. Therefore, if you don't use your heart, maybe it'll be like the rollerblades. When you do decide to try it, it won't be any good. This is what concernes the dispirited people in New England where Pollyanna arrives. The disabled hearts and minds are a pleasure for Pollyanna to put together using her ingenious "game". This "disability" isn't so visible, only in the attitude of Aunt Polly who is very grey and empty and who is ashamed to put some colour on her face and who is afraid to feel something.

Phisical disability

Pollyanna's accident shocked everybody. How come a pure creature like her happened to be so cruely punished? I might add here a bit of life's irony. The game isn't working anymore for she has lost her freedom, her legs which helped her run, climb, jump etc. She cries and she's completely desperate. Try to be glad now about something if you can. But Nancy, the small witted but sincere and kind maid, and all the New England "disabled" people try to teach her how to "re-glad", because "we've heard now that she's fretting her poor little life out of her, because she can't play it [the game] no more - that there's nothing to be glad about." Now the image of crutches is returning to its owner and now, not that Pollyanna will be glad that she can walk, but she will have to "wear" them insted of her legs for a while.

It's very hard to be glad in harsh moments... Pollyanna is after all a fictional character. The big picture is what people in real life do.

Happiness is also a matter of perspctive. What is good for me can be bad for you... but that's another story.

1) In the novel there are different kinds of invalids— physical ones or emotional ones. For example Miss Snow and Mr. Pendleton. What strengths do they gain from their weaknesses? At what point in the novel do they begin to see the fascination of a different kind of life? How do they find new strengths by the end of the story?

2) Aunt Polly said, "Will you stop using that everlasting word 'glad'! It's 'glad'—'glad'—'glad' from morning till night until I think I shall grow wild!" Don't you feel tired sometimes of hearing Pollyanna talking about being "glad" all the time? How would you react to a child who acted like Pollyanna, always glad and never angry?

3) There are several ways the Glad Game can be played. How many of them seem to be silly or foolish? How many of them seem to be a key to life's difficulties?

4) Nancy has full access to Pollyanna's game. However, she always gets the wrong "glad" idea. Why?

Porter`s novel "Pollyanna" seems to be centered on the character of Pollyanna, an eleven-year-old girl who possesses a life philosophy based on "The Glad Game". This game that she learned from her father consisted in a perpetual search for the good and positive in every situation that she encountered. This positive outlook upon life has been both acclaimed and criticized.
From my point of view the novel can be also seen from two points of view:
-on the one hand this exaggerated optimism can be attributed firstly to her young age, she is only 11 years old, age which is rather marked by naivety, innocence and sheer happiness. Then, coming from a poor family I think it was quite easy for her to understand the meaning of the glad game, because it would have been a waste of time to mourn upon the crutches, when there is more to life than a doll or a pair of crutches. From this moment on, this "gifted" Pollyanna seems to be the wind of change for the little town in New England. A if frozen and populated with bitter individuals, Pollyanna seems to be the antidote that can alleviate social and personal bitterness. From this perspective the novel turns to be an idyllic one, a child`s presence that conquers everyone and everything.
However, there are a few moments in the novel in which it seems that Pollyanna acknowledges her situation, that of being an orphan and quite lonely: Fifteen minutes later, in the attic room, a lonely little girl sobbed into
the tightly-clutched sheet: "I know, father-among-the-angels, I'm not playing the game one bit now—not one bit; but I don't believe even you could find anything to be glad about sleeping all alone 'way off up here in the dark—like this. If
only I was near Nancy or Aunt Polly, or even a Ladies' Aider, it would be easier!" After such a scene we might be inclined to find her excuses for her playing the glad game.

-on the other hand perceiving everything all the time covered in a pink mist can be very harmful and very unhealthy. Being always positive you neglect or more damaging you deny the true facts/happenings in life. Starting this game at an unripped age it might lead to an "unhealthy" view upon life and moreover to a certain labeling by the outer world. The biggest drawback of being always optimistic and positive is the fact that you are never prepared for the bad, you have no weapons to fight against it so you might feel overwhelmed and helpless, situation that has numerous consequences, the worst of all being suicide. This everlasting optimism can be seen by the others as an insensitive attitude towards the real world; for example in her discussion with the gardener, Tom, Pollyanna says the following:"She told you, then, too, about that 'ere—game?" "Oh, yes. She told me long ago." The old man hesitated, then went on,his lips twitching a little. "I was growlin' one day 'cause I was so bent up and crooked; an' what do ye s'pose the little thing said?"I couldn't guess. I wouldn't think she could find anythin' about that ter be glad about!""She did. She said I could be glad, anyhow, that I didn't have ter stoop so far ter do my weedin' 'cause I was already bent part way over." Even if she is only a child I find her quite insensitive and impolite sometimes.
Other times I find her quite artful and cunning, using the glad game in her advantage, for example in her discussion with aunt Polly over a more beautiful room: "Why, no, of course you didn't, Aunt Polly!" she hurried on, with a hot blush. "I forgot; rich folks never have to have them. But you see sometimes I kind of forget that you are rich—up here in this room, you know." or :"And of course now I just love this room, even if it hasn't got the carpets and curtains and pictures that I'd been want—" With a painful blush Pollyanna stopped short. She was plunging into an entirely different sentence
when her aunt interrupted her sharply. "What's that, Pollyanna?" "N-nothing, Aunt Polly, truly. I didn't mean to say it."
"Probably not," returned Miss Polly, coldly; "but you did say it, so suppose we have the rest of it." "But it wasn't anything only that I'd been kind of planning on pretty carpets and lace curtains and things, you know. But, of course—" "Planning on them!" interrupted Miss Polly, sharply.

In my opinion, this optimism that characterizes Pollyanna, it is indeed an exaggerated one. But, as we take the events in fairy tales as such, overlooking the fact that they are fantastic / exaggerated, and focusing on the final teaching, I think we should look at the "Glad Game" in an overall way. Of course it has its good parts and its parts that are less good, but it can be a guide for those much too negative. Thoughts are very powerful.

I think Pollyanna, through her game, teaches us that we can train our thoughts to be positive and hopeful or we can just allow them to be negative. This very simple game changed the attitudes and lives of many people in Beldingsville. As for example, we have the conversation of Pollyanna with the minister, which I really like:
"Well, that's what father used to call 'em," she laughed. "Of course the Bible didn't name 'em that. But it's all those that begin 'Be glad in the Lord,' or 'Rejoice greatly,' or 'Shout for joy,' and all that, you know—such a lot of 'em. Once, when father felt specially bad, he counted 'em. There were eight hundred of 'em."
"Eight hundred!"
"Yes—that told you to rejoice and be glad, you know; that's why father named 'em the 'rejoicing texts.'"
"Oh!" There was an odd look on the minister's face. His eyes had fallen to the words on the top paper in his hands—"But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" "And so your father—liked those 'rejoicing texts,'" he murmured.
"Oh, yes," nodded Pollyanna, emphatically. "He said he felt better right away, that first day he thought to count 'em. He said if God took the trouble to tell us eight hundred times to be glad and rejoice, He must want us to do it—SOME. And father felt ashamed that he hadn't done it more. After that, they got to be such a comfort to him, you know, when things went wrong; when the Ladies' Aiders got to fight—I mean, when they DIDN'T AGREE about something," corrected Pollyanna, hastily. "Why, it was those texts, too, father said, that made HIM think of the game—he began with ME on the crutches—but he said 'twas the rejoicing texts that started him on it."

Another quote that I like, and which is representative:
"What men and women need is encouragement. Their natural resisting powers should be strengthened, not weakened.... Instead of always harping on a man's faults, tell him of his virtues. Try to pull him out of his rut of bad habits. Hold up to him his better self, his REAL self that can dare and do and win out!... The influence of a beautiful, helpful, hopeful character is contagious, and may revolutionize a whole town.... People radiate what is in their minds and in their hearts. If a man feels kindly and obliging, his neighbors will feel that way, too, before long. But if he scolds and scowls and criticizes—his neighbors will return scowl for scowl, and add interest!... When you look for the bad, expecting it, you will get it. When you know you will find the good—you will get that....

Nowadays, negativity and depression seem to be more normal and more common. These thoughts and moods severely limit a person's ability to enjoy his or her life. So, I think we could learn a little bit from Pollyanna.