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Importance of individuality in the giver
Critical appreciation of "the giver
Importance of individuality in the giver
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In many works of literature, a character has a significant influence on another character. Lois Lowry demonstrated this concept in The Giver. When one of the main characters in the novel passed on a positive influence to another character. In this work, the people lived in a community that was designed to be nearly flawless. No person could see color, feel neither hatred nor love; no one had a choice in either occupation or education. In this novel, children were assigned to a family when they were young and were raised by two parents. In addition, it was an absolute most for them to have one other sibling. Only one person knew about life as we know it society today. In the community, that person was known as the "Receiver"; the one and only person in the entire community that had any memory of the past; love, war, peace, family, work etc. Since he soon aged, it became necessary t find a new "Receiver" to whom these memories could be transmitted.
In the novel the main character, Jonas, started off as an eleven-year-old boy that lived his entire life in sameness, which wasn't very different from anyone else his age in the community. At the age of eight, he received his front button jacket and at nine he received his bicycle, and so on. Jonas had no true mother, father or sister. Instead he had a family to whom he was assigned. Jonas was born by a birthmother, named by a committee and then assigned to his father and mother. Birthdays in the community were celebrated as a community. Everyone that was eleven turned twelve at the end of the year, regardless to their true date of birth. At the ceremony of twelve, all children were given their occupation and began training immediately. This was the day that Jonas was chosen to be the new "Receiver". This was considered to be the most honorable occupation in the entire community as well as the most demanding. Jonas had to begin training with the current "Receiver of memory" who was now dubbed "The Giver.".
Jonas was assigned to train with "The Giver" at his personal annex. "The Giver" now transmitted all his current memories to him one at a time on a daily basis. These memories (memories of war, peace, love, hate, snow, rain, sunshine, color, etc.
Jonas, the protagonist, is assigned the job of holding memories for the community. This is so that not everyone has to experience sad or painful memories. The Giver's job is to transmit these memories to Jonas and, in doing so, reveals the wonders of love, and family, and pain, and sorrow to this young boy. Jonas begins to resent the rules of sameness and wants to share these joys with his community. After receiving his first memory, Jonas says, "I wish we had those things, still." (p. 84)
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.
Throughout his training, the Giver gifts Jonas with many good memories to offset some of the horrific memories. The memory of war in particular is too traumatizing for Jonas to handle, no matter how many good memories the Giver can entrust to him. For example, the passage describes, “From the distance. Jonas could hear the thud if cannons. Overwhelmed by pain, he lay there in the fearsome stench for hours, listened to men and animals die, and learned what warfare meant.
Jonas decides to leave and change the lives of his people so that they can experience the truth. “The Giver rubbed Jonas’s hunched shoulders… We’ll make a plan” (155). Their plan involves leaving sameness and heading to Elsewhere, where Jonas knows the memories can be released to the people. He has a connection with Gabe, a special child who has experienced the memories, unlike the rest of the community. Jonas has a strong love for Gabe, and he longs to give him a better life. “We’re almost there, Gabriel” (178). Even with a sprained ankle, Jonas keeps pushing forward because he wants everyone to experience what The Giver has given him. He wants them to have a life where the truth is exposed. His determination allows him to make a change for a greater future in his community. This proves that Jonas has the strength to change his community for the
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 gets freedom, the community is left without someone to take the memories from The Giver. This is an example of conformity because a few of the Receivers before Jonas had left the community due to the things they were learning and finding out about the community, which changed the way they viewed the society. They then realized that they do not want to do this for the rest of their life, and for their job to sit around and hold memories as no one else is capable of knowing them is not something they want to do. To conclude, Jonas’s action to run away from the society follows in the footsteps of the others, and if others follow Jonas, there may never be a Receiver for the Jonas’s
The day arrived for the Ceremony of Twelve, which Jonas had been waiting for. As Jonas watched his friends receive their assignments, he realized that he was skipped over. Although he knew that he got skipped over, he waited until the end of ceremony in order to show respect. Therefore, he is a good role model to his community. Later, at the end of the ceremony, the Elders explained that Jonas has been selected as the Receiver. “In a firm, commanding voice she announced, Jonas has been selected to be our next Receiver of Memory (pg 60).” “He has shown all of the qualities that a Receiver must have (pg 62).” The Elders believed that Jonas had the qualities for the task, which includes intelligence, integrity, courage, wisdom, and the capacity to see beyond. As a Receiver, he had rules to follow: he could ask any questions, he was not allowed to discuss his trainings to family and friends, he was not allowed to share his dreams, he could not apply medication to training injuries, he could not ask to be released, and he can
Once Jonas begins his training with the Giver, however, the tendencies he showed in his earlier life—his sensitivity, his heightened perceptual powers, his kindness to and interest in people, his curiosity about new experiences, his honesty, and his high intelligence—make him extremely absorbed in the memories the Giver has to transmit. In turn, the memories, with their rich sensory and emotional experiences, enhance all of Jonas’s unusual qualities. Within a year of training, he becomes extremely sensitive to beauty, pleasure, and suffering, deeply loving toward his family and the Giver, and fiercely passionate about his new beliefs and feelings. Things about the community that used to be mildly perplexing or troubling are now intensely frustrating or depressing, and Jonas’s inherent concern for others and desire for justice makes him yearn to make changes in the community, both to awaken other people to the richness of life and to stop the casual cruelty that is practiced in the community. Jonas is also very determined, committing to a task fully when he believes in it and willing to risk his own life for the sake of the people he loves.
As December approaches Jonas feels apprehensive because this year his group will be given their assignments (Lowry 9). He is chosen as the receiver of memory. While this position holds high honor it is also a painful load to hold. Jonas will hold all memories of the past. Receiving memories is not like watching a movie, as Jonas soon expe...
When he becomes 12, he goes through a huge ceremony and all the elders assign them their jobs. In this community, there is no lying, stealing, racism, pain, sunlight, or color. Jonas was chosen to be The Receiver, and he didn’t know what to do because this job was such a big deal. Jonas then goes through training with the current Receiver, who is now The Giver. Training consists of The Giver passing down the memories from when the community was not what it is today.
Dystopian literature brings warning to the modern world and allows the audience to experience a new perception of life. The 1993 novel, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, fits into the dystopian genre because it makes judgment about modern society. She inscribed her novel “For all the children to whom we entrust the future”, which serves as a hope for a better future (Franklin). She targets the younger generation because they are the future. In Lowry’s novel, The Giver, Lowry’s perspective on modern society is that it tends to stay within its comfort zone, which creates limitations in life. The dystopian characteristics of the novel, importance of memory, the history surrounding the novel, and Lowry’s personal background all convey the notion that modern society should freedom bestowed it and to fully appreciate life in itself; society tends to take life’s freedoms for granted.
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.
You know everything about the past and the present from your life, but the citizens of Jonas’ community don’t. Everything is hidden from them, except for Jonas and The Giver, who have all
Jonas hates how his society decides to keep memories a secret from everyone. Jonas says: “The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared” (Lowry 154). Jonas feels that memories, whether it be good or bad, should be shared with everyone. Furthermore, memories allow the community to gain wisdom from remembering experiences of the past. As for The Giver, The Giver disagrees with how the community runs things. He believes that memories should be experienced by everyone as well, because life is meaningless without memories. The Giver says: “There are so many things I could tell them; things I wish they would change. But they don’t want change. Life here is so orderly, so predictable–so painless. It’s what they’ve chosen [...] It’s just that… without memories, it’s all meaningless. They gave that burden to me” (Lowry 103). The Giver is burdened with the responsibility to not share memories even though that is what he feels the community deserves. In addition, he believes the community lives a very monotonous life where nothing ever changes. Everything is meaningless without memories because the community does not know what it is like to be human without feelings. Overall, Jonas and The Giver’s outlooks on their “utopian” society change as they realize that without
However, as Jason’s training teaches him, this is not the case. His teacher, the Receiver of Memory, who tells Jonas to call him the Giver, transmits memories of the distant past to him. It is through these memories that Jonas discovers the meaning of snow, war, pain and love. The Giver tells him that these things existed before the people chose to go to “Sameness”. Ever since, they gave up those things in exchange for a world free of discrimination, crime and pain. However, realising the importance of wisdom gained through experience, they chose the Receiver to bear the burden of all the memories for them. Overwhelmed by all this information and being forbidden to share it with anyone, Jonas grows increasingly embittered against hi...
Jonas plans to change the community by escaping and releasing all of the memories to the community. Jonas thinks for himself he will accomplish escaping and giving himself a chance to go to elsewhere. Jonas hopes to accomplish change throughout the community by releasing the memories if he left so everyone could gain wisdom. In the book Giver says this a way to change the community. Jonas wanted to go to elsewhere and see snow as like he did in the memory. Giver also said the memories had to be shared so leaving would share the memories with the rest of the