Jimmi Hendrix said “Anything not founded on truth will fall eventually, like a castle made of sand melts into the sea.” All societies have proven that truth can be hidden or its appearance seemingly modified, but ultimately what is truth and what is lies will be separated. In The Giver, Lois Lowry depicts a society that has been sheltered from all “bad” in the world and disguises murder, emotions and even death by renaming them, hiding them, and divulging only partial truths. In doing so, the lies of the government and community are masked, and given a new name: equality. However, within this society, a minority of the population receives this unseen reality. These individuals alone holds the ability to see beyond the illusion of perfection, …show more content…
When Lois Lowry first introduces Jonas and the world in which he lives, Jonas is oblivious to the underlying deception behind everyday acts. The plot is driven by Jonas’s newfound knowledge on the lies the government is founded upon. As the plot progresses, Lois Lowry uses also the act and concept of Release as a guiding factor in conveying her theme. As Jonas is introduced to war and pain, he also watches a Release, something has been taught to see simply as an aspect of life, however it is revealed to be murder, disposal of the elderly, treatment for unhealthy infants, and even a punishment. Jonas watches his father as he “pushed the plunger very slowly, injecting the liquid into the scalp vein until it is empty.”(149) In the following moments Jonas realizes “he killed it! My father killed it.” Previously Jonas’s father had spoken on Release, saying he got “the smaller one(child) all cleaned up and comfy… then I wave bye-bye.”(137) The fact that Jonas and his father both knew the truth, despite what had been hidden from the public eye, is a key aspect in Lois Lowry’s portrayal of theme. An additional instance in which Lowry uses sequence event to convey her theme to the reader, is the contrast between the game war, that Jonas’s friend Asher plays and the war of reality. Children in Jonas’s community play war, as children now play tag, what they believe to be a harmless and exciting playground, is something Jonas later finds to be resembling of actual violence, and is appalled by the game’s popularity. Those who participate in the child’s game war, are oblivious to any deeper meaning, as the truth has been masked, however, once again, the Receiver holds memories of war beyond their shielded society. On the whole, Lois Lowry’s use of sequence of events in the depiction of her theme is extremely
What determines a society to be either a utopia or a dystopia? Would it be everyone following the rules? In the book The Giver, by Lois Lowry, a new “Utopian” culture blossoms from the previously failed society. The Giver’s nation starts out with the intention of creating a utopian society; however, the strict limitations turn it into a dystopia where there are receivers, like Jonas, that hold the good and bad memories from the past culture. Jonas will experience great pain and great joy through his job as the Receiver instead of the whole community sharing the burden. The Giver’s world is a dystopia because of the following three reasons: they kill people that disobey the rules, they do not get to pick their own jobs, and, above all, they beat children if they do not use precise language.
Jonas's father did not understand the value of life really was. The Community makes sure that their residents do not know the true meaning of release. Just because they ignore the fact that several murders happen frequently, does not mean that the reality behind it disappears with it. Ignoring this, does not make the residents of the Community live a blissful life. In the beginning of the novel, when the Jonas talks about what release means, he says, “… to be released… a terrible punishment, an overwhelming statement of failure,”(Lowry 20).
At the end of “The Giver” Jonas finds a small village in elsewhere, however, many people are skeptical that this is true.. On page 166 of “The Giver” the author wrote, “Using his final strength, and a special knowledge that was deep inside him, Jonas found the sled that was waiting for him on top of the hill.” Some people believe that he actually found the sled and others believe that he was hallucinating because he was freezing to death in the cold. I believe that Jonas was hallucinating from the cold because it seems more practical. My justifications for this belief are first, his state of being, second, it can be hypothesized from the quote, “His entire concentration now had to be on moving his feet, warming Gabriel and himself, and going forward” which is found on page 165, and finally this theory could be proven by looking at the descriptions of the memories given to him versus what
Lois Lowry uses Jonas’ conflicts to develop the theme that ignorance only brings happiness temporarily. Lowry uses Jonas’ internal struggle, dialogue between characters, and Jonas’ training as the Receiver of Memory to highlight and develop this theme.
The Giver and Matched are both futuristic societies with a lot of rules. In The Giver the Elders choose their match as well as their children. Jonas starts loving Fiona but isn’t allowed and stops taking the pill. In Matched the officials choose their match but they can have their own children. Cassia is matched with Xander but also loves Ky and doesn't know what to do. In both story they all get jobs for the rest of their lives but in Matched they just call it vocations. Jonas gets the Receiver of memory and Cassia is supposed to be the sorter.
He starts to believe that a world of sameness where no one can decide or make choices for themselves is boring. Lois Lowry is warning readers that living in a world of sameness is not something to create as it is boring and dull, but if the world follows conformity and does not value diversity and difference enough, society could become that of Jonas’s. When he turns twelve, his job for the rest of his life is decided as the Receiver. His job is to receive all the memories the previous Receiver has held on to. While this is beneficial for Jonas as he is able to leave the society and his job of the Receiver behind and get freedom, the community is left without someone to take the memories from The Giver.
Evelyn Sanchez (esanchez47@student.cccd.edu) Professor Leighton English 143, Final Essay 21 May 21, 2014 What the heck happened to Jonas? Topic #2. The Giver is actually one of my all-time favorite books, so I’ve looked into why she left the book so inconclusive in the past. The Giver is basically about a boy named Jonas who lives in a perfect society. He lives in a household with his two parents and his little sister Lilly.
society, everyone wears the same clothes, follows the same rules, and has a predetermined life. A community just like that lives inside of Lois Lowry’s The Giver and this lack of individuality shows throughout the whole book. This theme is demonstrated through the control of individual appearance, behavior, and ideas.
Lois Lowry’s The Giver considers something the world takes for granted: personal empowerment. These simple day-to-day decisions create what the world is. Without self-empowerment and right to believe in a personal decision, what is the human race? The world can only imagine, as Lois Lowry does in The Giver. She asks: What if everything in life was decided by others? What if spouses, children, the weather, education, and careers were chosen based upon the subjects’ personality? What if it didn’t matter what the subject thought? Jonas, the Receiver, lives here. He eats, sleeps, and learns in his so-called perfect world until he meets the Giver, an aged man, who transmits memories of hope, pain, color, and love. Jonas then escapes his Community with a newborn child (meant to be killed), hoping to find a life of fulfillment. On the way, he experiences pain, sees color, and feels love. Irony, symbolism, and foreshadowing are three literary devices used to imply the deeper meaning of The Giver.
In The Giver, by Lois Lowry, the reader is left with an uncertain ending about what happens to the main character of the story, Jonas, and his little friend, Gabriel. The plot of a story usually ends with a resolution, where the conflict of the story is resolved; however, this is clearly not the case with The Giver. It is not possible to be completely certain on the ending of this book by reading this story alone; however, it is possible to gather the evidence and assume what likely occurred in the ending of The Giver. One cannot be sure on what happened at the ending of The Giver; however, I believe that Jonas and Gabriel did not survive. I also believe that there could have been a more effective ending to the story; I highly disagree with Lois Lowry’s choice of leaving it up to the reader to decide what happens in the ending of the story, for it leaves too many unanswered questions. Overall, I did not enjoy the ending of The Giver due to its ambiguity.
We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others” (97). In the book The Giver by Lois Lowry, no one has seen a rainbow after a storm, no one knew what colors were; what choosing was; what it meant to be an individual. Everyone lived in complete Sameness, and never learned what it meant to be an individual. By eliminating as much self expression as possible in Sameness and society, Jonas's community has rejected the individuality of a society where people are free to move society forward. In The Giver individuality is represented by colors, memories, and pale eyes.
The story in The Giver by Lois Lowry takes place in a community that is not normal. People cannot see color, it is an offense for somebody to touch others, and the community assigns people jobs and children. This unnamed community shown through Jonas’ eye, the main character in this novel, is a perfect society. There is no war, crime, and hunger. Most readers might take it for granted that the community in The Giver differs from the real society. However, there are several affinities between the society in present day and that in this fiction: estrangement of elderly people, suffering of surrogate mothers, and wanting of euthanasia.
The book The Giver is a Dystopia because the people in their community have no choices, release and because the people don't know or understand what life is. The world in the beginning of the book seems like a utopia because how smoothly it runs but it actually is a dystopia because no world or place ever is perfect. This place or the givers world still has many flaws.
Movie The Giver, directed by Phillip Noyce, is based on Lois Lowry’s book and tells the story how the perfect world would look like. Where everyone is happy, safe, and there is no pain. Jonas is the main character and I will be analyzing how his values and beliefs changes though the movie. This movie is interesting because everyone lives within boundaries where past memory does exist just for the chosen ones. Jonas is one of those people who learns past wisdom and suffers while trying to understand what is the right thing to do.
The purpose of this book was to show us a possible version of a "Utopia".