Since its publication in 1993, The Giver has been one of the most popular middle-grade dystopian novels on the market. After over twenty years, Lois Lowry’s captivating Newbery award winning, coming-of-age tale has finally been adapted by director Phillip Noyce into a unique translation for today’s society. In order for the film to adapt to a modern screen as well as explore more mature themes, the parts of the novel that revealed the age demographic it was written for as well as the era it was written in were forced to change. The most significant changes that happened during the translation process include the age of the characters, the memories Jonas receives, and the advanced technology that is incorporated in the on-screen dystopia. Although there are many changes made to the details of the story, the overall plot, tone, and themes remain the same.
The novel emphasizes early on how age has become irrelevant to society by stating in chapter 2 “after Twelve, age isn't important. Most of us
…show more content…
While most audiences will watch The Giver and harshly compare it to the original novel, it is apparent that Noyce has created a film that depicted his own ideas and feelings making it a translation rather than an adaptation (Chahir). Noyce conveyed all of Lois Lowry’s expansive and insightful themes into his film, using the 1 hour and 38 minutes allotted to delve deeper into said themes and in turn incorporated some of his own. He utilized a very explicit collection of images and ideas in order to make his translation that much more relatable to his target audiences. The changes Noyce made to the characters’ age, the memories, and the technology only continued the evolution Lowry’s epic adventure that is The
Have you ever read a book and watched its movie and thought that the movie was nothing like the book? The Giver’s story was not adapted well onto the big screen. There were many changes that were made, some of which completely altered the whole course of the storyline. For example, Fiona working at the Nurturing Center instead the House of the Old and the characters taking injections instead of pills also changed the way Jonas acted especially towards Fiona throughout the entire movie Some of the many trivial changes that were made did not affect the movie as much.
What are memories to you? In the book The Giver, by Lois Lowry. There is a boy his name is Jonas. He is the Receiver of Memories. Jonas experiences the memories over the course of the book. Memories help us understand there are consequences to your actions. Although some readers may believe that memories are not important. The memories Jonas had helped him with the journey at the end of the book.
Lois Lowry describes a futuristic world with controlled climate, emotions, way of living and eliminating suffering in her book The Giver. The main character, Jonas, shows the reader what his world is like by explaining a very different world from what society knows today. Everything is controlled, and no one makes choices for themselves or knows of bad and hurtful memories. There is no color, and everything is dull. As he becomes the Receiver who has to know all the memories and pass them down to the next Receiver, he realizes his world needs change.
Set in a community with no climate, emotions, choices, or memories Lois Lowry tells the tale of Jonas in The Giver. Jonas is selected to be the receiver of memory, which means the memories of generations past, before the community was created, will all be transferred to him to hold. As Jonas receives memories his concept of the world around him drastically changes. Jonas starts out as twelve-year-old boy with perceptions different from those around him, he then begins to see the community for what it really is, and he makes a plan to change it.
Safety and comfort is a choice that most people prefer. However, sometimes familiarity isn’t always the best selection. There are times where having to break through comfort zone is a better choice. Freedom is an element that is essential to life. Personal choice is so significant, a plethora of individuals actually surrender many things to receive it.
“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are… You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first (Morrison).” Individuality defines the purpose of living on planet Earth; it is what sets humans apart from robots, how who we are inspires our actions and the motivation behind them. Some novels hope to instill this belief through the use of a dystopian society. One such novel tells the story of a young man named Jonas, who gains wisdom through a man called the Giver, who transmits memories of the past to him in order to bring about some change in their dysfunctional society. In The Giver, Lois Lowry utilizes a dystopian setting to stress the importance of feeling and individuality over apathy and sameness.
In the novel, The Giver by Lois Lowry, the author makes it clear through the main character Jonas that freedom and safety need to find an equal balance. Lowry shows the importance of deep emotions and family through Jonas. Jonas becomes the new receiver of memory and learns about the past. He also learned about the way it was when people knew what love was. Jonas’ father releases newborn children because they don’t weight the correct amount of weight or they don’t sleep well through the night. Release is a nice way of saying kill; the people of the community don’t know what kill means. They don’t have the freedom to expand their vocabulary. Lois Lowry makes it clear that safety has a negative side and you need that you need freedom to have a high functioning community.
There is a quote that goes “Things end, but memories last forever.” What if memories didn’t last forever. What if everybody forgot things past their generation. Nobody would have a recollection of the past wars or governmental officials. Would the society be better off with no memories or would everyone just repeat the past.
He walked around feeling carefree and enlightened. The bright yellov/ of the sun complementing the green ofthe trees so nicely. He had never felt this way, after all, some people see them just as colors, but not him. He associated these images with feelings. Then he looked down at another person.
How would it feel knowing you're different from everybody in your community? “The Giver” by Lois Lowry, shows the struggles of a boy named Jonas, who has been given the assignment of Receiver of Memory, which means he holds the memories of all the members in his community. He doesn't know how to handle being different. In his community, everyone and everything is the same which is a problem because without experiencing knowledge and wisdom a community cannot grow.
In The Giver Lois Lowry creates a utopian society to show her opinion on it. She uses Jonas and irony to show why a dystopian can be better than a utopian. Lois Lowry states her opinion on Utopian society through the use of verbal, dramatic, and situational irony.
When reading The Giver, readers feel the desperation of the community members as they sense that they are lacking something. They don’t know what, but they can feel that something is missing from their lives. Lowry’s purpose for writing this text was to make the reader reflect on the freedoms they encounter in their lives and see the value in something that we may take for granted every day of our lives. Seeing a community struggle without freedom and individuality helps readers value what they have. In modern societies, there is also a level of numbing of individualism, most of which is done by social media as well as mass media.
The Giver provides a chance that readers can compare the real world with the society described in this book through some words, such as release, Birthmothers, and so on. Therefore, readers could be able to see what is happening right now in the real society in which they live by reading her fiction. The author, Lowry, might build the real world in this fiction by her unique point of view.
What is growing up? Merriam Dictionary.com states, definition is, to grow toward or arrive at full stature or physical or mental maturity. Everyone has their own definition of growing up, some from an older age perspective and some from a young age. In this book, there are many different perspectives of growing up in both perspectives, which this essay will be about. The theme of The Giver by Lois Lowry is growing up and it is supported by these symbols Asher, Lily, and Jonas.
Never Lose Love Did you know that currently in the United States of America that sixty million people are married? That is a lot of people, right? In the story The Giver, by Lois Lowry, it is about how a boy is selected to be the Receiver of his Utopian Society, where nobody can experience love, memories, pain, etc. The Giver and Jonas are the only two people in the entire community that can feel love. This is so because the community wanted sameness and they were selected.