Diversity in a population is important for individualism and personal growth. The Giver by Lois Lowry portrays a society in which all members are considered the same with no diversity. Lowry uses the society to illustrate how a lack of uniqueness can cause problems if someone is too different from the rest of the group. Members of the society may start to question their leadership, or even plan something to rebel against it. This dystopian society could prove to be worse than the leaders it would be. In order to protect the community members from making wrong decisions, all sense of individuality is eliminated. The communist-like system of Sameness is put in place to assure that everyone is the same. While most community members are not entirely sure of …show more content…
Every morning, household gathers around the table to share what dreams they had that night, “the main purpose of ‘dreamtelling’ is revealed to be the monitoring of ‘stirrings’ - the term given to sexual desire” (“Themes”) When the first signs of sexual desire are noticed, children are given a pill to suppress them. As a small act of rebellion, Jonas stops taking his pills. The novel The Giver shows readers how too much regulation can hurt a society more than help it. Lowry demonstrates how too much government regulation could result in a dystopia like the one in the novel. As readers discover the negative effects of this system, “it becomes impossible to read the novel as anything other than a savage critique of such systems” (“Plot”). This system of intense government was established to protect the citizen from standing out, however in the long run it proves to be less than the utopian society it was designed to be. Citizens are strictly controlled and trained to be a perfect member of society even though in reality, no human can be perfect and humane at the same
The book “The Giver” by Lois Lowry perceives a utopian society, which eliminates all forms of conflict. What was intended to be a utopia became a dystopia, Individuals are living in a shadowed society, where nothing is as it seems. People are accustomed to having pain taken away from them their entire lives. This becomes a dystopia because they will never know what pain is.
The novel, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is an everlasting story that shows the importance of individuality. This novel is about a young boy named Jonas who was elected as the Receiver of Memories, a person who is given the memories from the world that existed before their current society, Sameness. In this society there is no individualism. People can not choose who to marry, or what they want to do for a living. Over time Jonas becomes more and more wise, and realizes that the supposedly perfect community actually has some very dark and negative aspects. The author, Lois Lowry is a 76-year-old writer who focuses her writing on helping struggling teenagers become individuals. Lowry had a very tragic childhood. After both of her parents were separated and killed in the middle of a war, she was devastated and the only way she was able to block and forget all of the horrifying things that were happening, were books (Lowry). “My books have varied in content… Yet it seems… that all of them deal with the same general theme: the importance of human connections,” Lowry explained in her autobiography. In the novel The Giver, Lois Lowry uses the literary elements symbolism, foreshadowing, and imagery to express the theme: importance of an individual.
...ustrates the significance of developing and experiencing a balanced perspective on life. However, this parental challenge misunderstands that euphemism is used as a literary device to actually convey the horror of infanticide. Lowery further conveys the poverty of emotional experience that emerges when words are used superficially and without meaning. The Giver further demonstrates through the development of the protagonist, Jonas, that it is necessary to experience the negative aspects of life in order to enjoy the good life has to offer. It reveals that the price paid for the illusion of safety in a utopian environment is the demoralization of life and its endless possibilities, or, as more euphemistically referred to in today's society, no pain, no gain.
Firstly, sameness verses diversity is an essential theme in The Giver. In a society where everything is represented the same, the slightest difference is found with the consequence of death. Sadly, if a citizen
Lois Lowry’s utopian novel, the giver, tells the story of a young boy named Jonas whom lives in a world of sameness. The intriguing story addresses issues that are destroying today's society. As readers we can see that sameness benefits towards a perfect world by eliminating racism and discrimination, removing differences in looks, meaning no one is unique and eradicating poverty. Sameness in the giver creates a united and inclusive community where no one feels judged.
The community allows individual freedom and choice. In allowing only one person, the Receiver, to bear the memories of the world, the community frees itself from suffering and conflict. As a result, it gives us the ability to experience true feelings, passion, individual privacy, freedom and knowledge. To maintain the community's order, strict rules are applied to the inhabitants. Releases ( a less offensive term for kills) are performed to the citizens who jeopardize the stability and peace of the community.
Lowry writes The Giver in the dystopian genre to convey a worst-case scenario as to how modern society functions. A dystopia is an “illusion of a perfect society” under some form of control which makes criticism about a “societal norm” (Wright). Characteristics of a dystopian include restricted freedoms, society is under constant surveillance, and the citizens live in a dehumanized state and conform to uniform expectations (Wright). In The Giver, the community functions as a dystopian because everyone in the community conforms to the same rules and expectations. One would think that a community living with set rules and expectations would be better off, but in reality, it only limits what life has to offer. Instead, the community in the novel is a dystopian disguised as a utopian, and this is proven to the audience by the protagonist, Jonas. Jonas is just a norma...
Could you imagine a world where everything is the same? Lois Lowry wrote a novel called The Giver to show her idea of a perfect, or utopian world. Here, there is Sameness. Sameness is when there is no variety in anything and everything is alike. Jonas, the main character, is a 12 year old boy living in this utopian world. The community controls everything that the people do. This is how the community has Sameness. Jonas soon finds out when he is selected to be The Receiver of Memory, that his utopian world may not be as great as he thought it was. Losses of people are forgotten, there is climate control, and everyone is color-blind. These characteristics of the society are equal, painless, and protectful. To
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.
It is one of the few brave books that exposes the horrors of humanity and serves as a cautionary tale for us all. Even in a “paradise” like Jonas' community, people still try to control others in order to keep the world pure, innocent, and shaped in their image, while they are ignorant of the past, of history, and their abilities to harm others even when they have good intentions. The Giver is a vital piece of literature for society today; its lessons of the horrors that can occur in society and the beauty that humanity offers are invaluable to us all. Freedom and choice are vital to a successful and fulfilled society. A world without freedom and choice “is a frightening world. Let’s work hard to keep it from truly happening.”
Even though both the society in The Giver by Lois Lowry and modern society are both unique in their own ways, our society is a better society to live in. Our society gives us more freedom to choose for our own benefits and
Jonas’ community chooses Sameness rather than valuing individual expression. Although the possibility of individual choice sometimes involves risk, it also exposes Jonas to a wide range of joyful experiences from which his community has been shut away. Sameness may not be the best thing in the community because Jonas expresses how much he feels like Sameness is not right and wants there to be more individuality. Giver leads him to understand both the advantages and the disadvantages of personal choice, and in the end, he considers the risks worth the benefits. “Memories are forever.”
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.
Imagine a world with no color, weather, or sunshine. The Giver is a book by Lois Lowry and is based on a utopia where no one makes choices, feels pain, or has emotions. The book takes place in a community where all of this is true. The story is about an 11-year old soon to be 12 year-old named Jonas who is unsure of which job he will get when he is 12. Jonas changes throughout The Giver and as a result, tries to change the community.
The purpose of this book was to show us a possible version of a "Utopia".