Emotions In The Giver By Lois Lowry

This novel is about a community where each person is the same. Everybody in this community go by certain rules and if they do not follow those rules they are punished. Everyone is to act the same in this book. Every person is assigned a job when they become a twelve and they are to work at the job until they go to the house of the old. This book is explained by Lois Lowry the author is explaining a whole different world than ours in this world he describes a person called the giver who is the receiver who hands off the job to Jonas one of the main characters who asks the receiver about all his memories and about what his job will be like. Jones had become the receiver. the giver gives him training and tells him what memories were like, the giver tells him why were like giver tells him why were like.

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 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

Not only does Jonas live in a community with dehumanization, he lives in a civilization that has strict regulations. An example of this is on page 84, “climate control snow made growing food difficult, limited the agricultural periods. And unpredictable weather made transportation almost impossible at times. It wasn't a practical thing, so it became obsolete when we went to sameness.” Climate control is a type of sameness, the concept of sameness is an important goal, Jonas enjoys this memory and asks the Giver why he doesn't use his power to bring back the hills and the snow. In fact the memory he is sharing is from generations back, so climate control has been around for a long time. Furthermore Lois Lowry states on page 22, “Three years,” Mother told her firmly. “Three births and that's all. After that they are Laborers for the rest of their adult lives, until the day that they enter the House of the Old.” The elders have controlled the society by removing family connections and loyalty. In addition the author claims in paragraph 2, “There was never any comfortable way to mention or discuss

The word love in Jonas’s society has a very negative effect on people. To start it off, this bland word was very overused. Before is was called insignificant, Jonas’s community would use the word love to describe your feeling to or about someone or something without really knowing true meaning. This next quote that was taken from the novel clearly states that Jonas's parents think that this meaningless word was very inappropriate of Jonas to use. “ Your father means that you used a very generalized word, so meaningless that it’s become almost obsolete.” Although love is one example of an important word in this novel, another is stirrings.

"It was your first Stirrings...you're ready for the pills.'....he swallowed the pill...the feelings had disappeared. The Stirrings were gone." (37-39) This quote shows that there are no feelings in this society. The Elders make the citizens take pills to subdue their feelings. "Love. It was a word and concept new to him." (125) When Jonas is given the memory of love, he interpreted the feeling and repeated the word to himself because he didn’t know the meaning. This is yet another fact that proves the community is unable to progress and move forward if the members do not have feelings. Without feelings, you cannot have empathy. Having empathy is important because it helps us understand what the other person is feeling. People wouldn’t experience the ability to trust, to have human compassion, to have meaningful relationships and there would be a certain loss of

Change is inevitable no matter what difference is made. The Giver by author Lois Lowry is the story of a utopian community that has adopted sameness that actually seems more dystopian later on. The Giver’s protagonist is a boy, Jonas, who is chosen and honored to take the assignment of being the Receiver of Memories. Jonas as the new Receiver of Memories is trained by the previous Receiver of Memories who Jonas calls The Giver. This causes many joys and pains for Jonas, but a curiousness to every new memory that is given. The setting is set in a community that has gained the culture to be a strict community that is controlled by The Elders. Before meeting the Giver, Jonas began as an outcast,later as he met his mentor Jonas was brave, and as he became more mature he became determined.

Jonas is just another member of his community. He spends his life following the rules that his community has imposed him. In all his life, he has blindly followed the rules and has never questioned them. For that reason, it comes to a shock when he receives new instructions that go against everything he has been taught:

What is The Giver you may ask? The Giver is a 1993 American young adult dystopian novel by Lois Lowry. The Giver takes place in an advanced society which seems to be a utopian but ends up being a dystopian as the story ends. There's a 12-year-old boy named Jonas. Their communities eliminated pain and strife by converting everyone to become so called “equal", they also removed emotional feelings like love. Jonas is selected to become the Receiver of Memory which is the person who stores all the past memories of the time before everyone was equal. There may be times where one must receive the wisdom gained from history to help the community's decision making. Jonas has trouble with concepts of all the new emotions and things introduced to him:

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

One reason why Jonas hates this community is because of the rules. If you make one small mistake, you can get in serious trouble, also known as being released (killed). “ When an unidentified aircraft had overflown the community twice….Needless to say, he will be released.” (pg. 13) This suggests that the rules in the society can have a major impact on someone if they make just a slight error. The fact that the person did not follow the directions well enough and got killed is appalling. These unpleasant and ridiculous rules support a dystopian novel because they show how unpleasant living in this community can be.

Ignorance is shown throughout the adventures of Jonas. In the beginning of the story, Jonas and his family are talking about their feelings from the day. While Jonas talks about his feelings of apprehension towards the upcoming ceremony, Lily (his younger sister) talks about her feelings of anger towards a young male who didn't follow the rules. He is then called an

The dystopian novel, The Giver by Lois Lowry is about a boy called Jonas becoming the new Receiver-of-Memories. Throughout the novel, the protagonist, Jonas matures as knowledge is gained, and begins to understand the deepest, and darkest secrets of the community he lives in that is seemly 'perfect'. The author has successfully analysed a variety of social issues present in today's modern world in the novel. Some issues implied are: lack of individuality which allows for easy control, the abandonment of emotions and the importance 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