Dystopia In The Giver

Jonas is the protagonist of the novel and a third-person narrator tells the entire story from Jonas perception of things. He is intelligent, curious, caring, and his thought process is very mature for being 11-13 years old. A good quote portraying both his matureness and his intellect is “If everything's the same, then there aren't any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things”(97). This is also one of the first signs that he is displeased with the community. Another quote showing his courage and curiosity is "It hurt a lot," Jonas said, "but I'm glad you gave it to me. It was interesting. And now I understand better. What it meant, that there would be

Jonas’ community appears to be a utopia, but, in reality, it is a dystopia. The people seem perfectly content to live in an isolated wreck—in a government run by a select few—in which a group of Elders enforces the rules. In Jonas’ community, there is no poverty, starvation, unemployment, lack of housing, or discrimination; everything is perfectly planned to eliminate any problems. However, as the book progresses and Jonas gains insight into what the people have willingly given up—their freedoms and individualities—for the so-called common good of the community, it becomes more and more obvious that the community is a horrible place in which to live. You as a reader can relate to the disbelief and horror that Jonas feels when he realizes

Imagine living your life with no feelings, no choices, and no individuality; that is what it is like living in Jonas’ community. Visualize being only one of a few that knows what the world used to be like with joy, excitement, sadness, and fear; but you cannot change anything. All you can do is receive more memories of freedom, love, war, and happiness. Would that not haunt you? You can just watch the people of the community and know moat of humanity has been stropped of them like a band aid on a cut after it has healed, and only a scar is left; but the skin will never be the same.

Jonas discovers what is really beyond his community, beyond all the rules and policies they have to follow; he decides to leave and give all of his memories to the rest of the community so they would know about what they have not seen or experienced before. Jonas discovers that the community has decided too many things for everyone. He realizes Sameness is not right, that it cannot last any longer. He thinks of all the what-ifs. What if the Elders choose a wrong spouse? What if the Elders choose the wrong job for someone?

Jonas began to feel like her wanted to go home. Jonas can't go back to his community, "But he knew he couldn't go back to the world of no feelings for that he had lived in so long" (Lowry 131). Jonas wants to leave the community and never come back to it again because no matter how much he tries to give them memories he can't change them. Jonas decides that it is ok for him to leave his community. “ If he stayed, he would have starved in other ways. He would have lived a life hanged for feelings, for color, for love” (Lowry 174). Jonas made the right decision of leaving his community because he would have been starving for answer on why they never changed the community but he feels happier that he rejected his society and left. (SIP-B) Jonas doesn't want to be a part of his community anymore. Jonas doesn't want to go back to his dwelling to see his family, "I won't! I won't go home! You can't make me!' Jonas sobbed and shouted and pounded the bed with his fist" (Lowry 153). Jonas doesn't want to go back to his dwelling to see his family again because his father lied to him about the ceremony of release for babies. Jonas wanted his childhood back, he didn't want to be the receiver anymore, "Jonas did not want to go back. He didn't want the memories, didn't want the honor, didn't want the wisdom, didn't want the pain. He wanted his childhood again, his scraped knees and ball games" (Lowry 121). That Jonas doesn't want to be the receiver of memory anymore he wants to get his childhood back so he doesn’t have to know about the memories of past communities. Jonas is rejecting his society because he finds out the true meaning of his community and why they took out what they

In today’s society there are many authors who write dystopian novels. They write these novels to give knowledge and to tell how our world is very different from dystopian life. Lois Lowry shows readers how people can suffer in dystopian society. In The Giver, Jonas’ community appears to be a utopia, but in reality it is a dystopia because everyone is under the illusion that there is freedom, dehumanization, and their strict regulations.

To most kids in our society, the changes in Jonas’s world would be difficult to accept because we in America value our freedom to choose and to voice our desires. Did the creator’s of Jonas’s community truly improve society as we know it today?

Jonas starts out with a very low understanding of what it means to be mature. He has no knowledge of pain, love, or any other emotion. He proves this by acting like a normal child. He plays with his friends after volunteer hours. He attends school on a regular basis. Jonas is a stickler for the rules. He has been told that it is wrong to not follow rules and that there

Is Jonas’s community a perfect place to live in, or is a “nightmare” or a not so perfect place to live in? In The Giver, Jonas’s community is a dystopia due to utopian characteristics, dystopian characteristics, and dystopian exceptions. Firstly, I will be

Everybody has their own opinions on whether or not Jonas’s community is a utopia or a dystopia. The author got the inspiration for this story when her father was losing his memory. She then meant to write about a utopian community. Is Jonas’s community utopia or dystopia? Jonas’s community is a dystopia because they have release, no freedom of choice, and no freedom to leave.

The Giver strives to be a utopian society but the still can’t be perfect. The Giver is a book with the main character being Jonas, Jonas has no last name; however, no one else had the last name in their society. The Giver is a Dystopian because they get their memories erased, they are all equal, and they get assigned jobs when they are 12.

Not only has Jonas changed but he has also changed his community, in a good way. Jonas went from being a rule follower, obedient, careful and as the book goes on Jonas breaks the rules, feels, reckless and becomes an hero. We can all learn from this story though. Change is not a bad thing, change can affect our lives in good and bad ways. It depends on what change you choose for yourself. Jonas felt strongly about his decision to leave the community and even though the days were tough Jonas persevered and fought for every last breath he

Sometimes in life, you need to have some boundaries to separate you from the dangers of the rest of the world. In the book, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, Jonas’ society has very strict rules. These rules restrict them from being able to make bad choices. There is also a lack of memories, which means the people in Jonas’ community have a limited memory for specific reasons; to prevent pain, to eliminate suffering, and to avert people from making bad decisions and choices. Jonas’ community is a utopian society because there are very strict rules that everyone must follow, there is sameness, and lastly because of the lack of memories.

Throughout the book jonas becomes more and more angry and against the rules of the community. “I want to wake up in the morning and decide things!” jonas was furious because the other people of the community were not given any power. The people couldn't even see color and were blinded by

You could argue that this book is a dystopia because they aren’t free and can’t make their own choice but the problem is a lot of the time we choose wrong and it affects our whole life. For example, what happens if someone choose to not go to college and end up working at a fast food restaurant for half of their life. Then they can’t support their family if they were even lucky enough to have one without a descent job and they could end up going to college when their 40 or 50 trying to get a descent job. Be honest though no one wants to do that. In Jonas’s community people watch over other people and assign what they think is the right job for them for the rest of their lives and not have to worry about putting food on the table