Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
What is the symbolism of individualism in The Giver
Symbolism essay on the giver
The giver louis lowry symbolism
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: What is the symbolism of individualism in The Giver
Jonas gradually stepped outside his house. He turned left and right and saw Eights beginning to ride their bicycles and Twelves who were excited to be getting their job assignments. As he strapped on his helmet and edged his way onto his bicycle, he saw an apple his friend was throwing around change. It was instantaneous. There one second, gone the next. His friend threw a confused expression on his face when Jonas asked if he saw the change. Maybe it had been a hallucination. What had it been? It was color. Imagine a perfect society. One in which there is no fighting, no discrimination, no war. This is the society of The Giver. The Giver is filled with symbols and themes that reflect upon the lives of people in modern societies and the control of government in Jonas’s society. The underlying theme in The Giver is the idea of control that is enforced on society in order to achieve perfection, and the symbols, including the sled, the river, and Carl Nelson, illustrate life and the society in which Jonas lives in. Therefore, The Giver reflects upon contemporary society through its themes and symbols.
Within The Giver, there is a recurring theme of control and uniformity that was enforced by the government in order to achieve perfection and form a utopian society such as theirs. Color, being one of the primary sources of discrimination within countries, was a factor that was removed from society. Without the diversity that is achieved with color, their society was able to achieve uniformity and sameness. However, with the introduction of sameness in their community, they were not able to express individuality. Without the distinct colors that we have in life, there would not be any differences or creativity within community which...
... middle of paper ...
...g once able to see in color and eventually losing his ability, it illustrated his society which originally perceived the world with color but then relinquished it. Therefore, the sled, illustrating life and Jonas’s experiences, the river, shoswing change, and Carl Nelson, who represented the acts of the Giver and his society, were symbols within The Giver.
Conclusively, The Giver, through its use of an underlying theme and various symbols reflected on modern-day society and life. With the use of the theme, Lois Lowry depicted how control is necessary in order to form a perfect society; however, there are great losses that need to be endured as well. Furthermore, symbols, such as the sled, river, and Carl Nelson, illustrate the society and life as well. As the prominent Giver put it to Jonas, “We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others.” (95)
“I knew that there had been times in the past-terrible times-when people had destroyed others in haste, in fear, and had brought about their own destruction” (48). In the old days, when people in Jonas’s community valued individual needs, there were lots of terrible happenings: violence; and then the society ended up with general welfare and safety. It is difficult for us to think of a world without color, freedom, music and love, but in The Giver, the society denounces these things in order to make room for peace and safety. In The Giver, by having a society based on general welfare they gave safety to their people. No violence, no criminal activities, nor homicides.
Lois Lowry describes a futuristic world with controlled climate, emotions, way of living and eliminates 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. 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.
Like any child in the community, Jonas is uncomfortable with the attention he receives when he is singled out as the new Receiver, preferring to blend in with his friends. 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.
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 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. When he becomes a 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. Memories that are passed down are things that are normal to us. Memories of sun, snow, pain, and sorrow.
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.
In The Giver, by Lois Lowry, the theme of a society with sameness is harmful to the people is explored through the symbols sled, music, and animals.
One significant similarity between our society and the society in The Giver is that both societies have a way of manipulating its citizens. The society in The Giver is controlled because the citizens do not have any knowledge of any other communities. Only the Giver and the receiver in training have knowledge. In the book Jonas thinks, “.what lay in the far distance where he had never gone. The land didn’t end beyond those nearby communities.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
A dystopian society is what all nations are hopeful to find. In the film, The Giver by Lois Lowry, it seems to be what was achieved. This film brings heaps of critical thought with symbolism and imagery thrown at the audience like there’s no tomorrow. Although the society looks perfect, it is actually quite pessimistic and scornful. Right off the bat, the main character, Jonas captures the audience’s interest with his wit and charm. The audience knows right away that something is different about him. In the film adaptation of The Giver by Lois Lowry directed by Phillip Noyce, the symbolism and imagery including the red apple, color and the triangle proves to be some of the most important elements to the story.
The book The Giver is a dystopian book because you don’t get to make any of your own decisions. You would never know the truth about release. You would never experience life how you should experience it. The world may seem perfect from someone’s view inside the community, but from the outside it is harsh and horrible. Their world could be turned into a utopia eventually, but as of right know it is a