Euphemism In The Giver, A Novel By Lois Lowry

The Giver is written from the point of view of Jonas. At the beginning of the book Jonas is an eleven-year-old boy living in a futuristic society that got rid of all sorrow, pain, fear, hate and war. Everyone looks and acts almost the same. Everyone is polite and there is no competition. Also the community is not allowed any kind of choices from the moment they were born to the moment they are released. For example, at the age of nine you are given a bike and are not allowed to ride a bike before that age. Also at the age of

“Courage “ she went on “Only one of us here has ever undergone the rigorous training required of a receiver…” this is what the chief elder tells the crowd as she assigns Jonas his assignment. Courage is one of the many themes that The Giver shows. The Giver was written by Lois Lowry and also portrays change and love throughout the storyline. Jonas is the main protagonist in this book and has many of these theme’s as qualities.

At the Ceremony of Twelves, the children get their job; they are given a specific job that fits their actions and by where they had spent most of their volunteer hours. Everything is chosen for you, you can’t make a choice that’s important by yourself, and someone else is to choose for you. The Release of the Old and the Release of some of the unfortunate infants may seem very benign but it isn’t. Other folk believe Release to Elsewhere would nice but what they think is wrong. The workers actually use a syringe and inject fluids into the innocent elder, infant, or voluntary victim to kill them. Jonas’ father had to Release the innocent twin brother because he was identical but was smaller than his sibling. Jonas believes that the people that Release others have no feelings; that they have no regard that they are killing an innocent life just because they were born that way or that they were getting too old.

According to the American Library Association (ALA), young adult novels are challenged with the best intentions. In most cases a parent will read a book that their child might be reading in class to find out if the book is hazardous to their child’s well-being. If the novel seems problematic, the parent then challenges the book. Even though the purpose of challenging a novel is to keep children from reading about issues that may not be seen as appropriate for their age group, censoring children from difficult subject matter is not always the solution. There is always controversy when difficult issues arise in adolescent geared novels. Even though there are many concerns with Lois Lowry’s The Giver,

The Giver by Lois Lowry is about a twelve year old boy, Jonas, living in a utopian society. This story follows Jonas on his way to find out the truth about his Community, and what secrets lie in the past. The society where Jonas lives knows nothing of the real world, and only know of their perfect reality. In the novel The Giver, the most significant theme is control because in the society there is no freedom of knowledge, freedom of love, or freedom to do what they please, which amounts to uttermost control.

The setting of The Giver takes place in a fictional community known as the “Sameness”. Life here is supposed to be "perfect" because there is no pain or suffering. They don’t have to take

The Giver, by Lois Lowry is about a young boy named Jonas who is growing up in a utopian society. In The Giver they have no memories of anything that has pain even involved which meant that the community had to get rid of some joyful things also. Jonas, the receiver, and The Giver himself are the only two that know the memories. The author, Lois Lowry, was given the Newbery medal in 1994. In her acceptance speech of the medal she stated things in her life that influenced her book, The Giver. Many of the events in Lois Lowry’s life had really influenced many of the big events in The Giver.

The Giver, a dystopian futuristic novel written by young adult author Lois Lowry won the 1994 Newbery Medal, and sold more than 12 million copies since its publication, according to USA Today, (McClurg). This literary masterpiece presents the reader with an unusual society that has eliminated pain, fear, war, emotion, and diversity. But as Jonas discovers the previous world, and uncovers many shocking secrets of his society, he finds himself living in an environment filled with vile practices that he can no longer tolerate. Jonas emphasizes the importance of reacting to unlawful orders or inhumane practices. "If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so,” (Thomas Jefferson). We should

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

historical fiction set in the same time period, The Giver by Lois Lowry, a young-adult fiction about a

Lord, Elyse. "Overview of The Giver." Novels for Students. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Mar. 2016. Elyse Lord is one of the many critics who describe “The Giver” as terrifying but offering “hope and a constructive view” of the Utopian world in the book. She explains that other critics praise the book with many awards such as the Newberry Medal. Lord goes on to reason that the story is favored by different readers for its complexity, symbolism, metaphors, ambiguous ending, and can be compared similarly to classic science fiction like “Brave New World” and “Fahrenheit 451.” Contradicting this statement, Lord says that ‘librarians’, ‘educators’, and ‘students’ debate “The Giver” to be censored from public schools around the world because of its graphic scenes and ideas of infanticide and euthanasia. This includes the time Jonas witnessed his father murder a baby and throw it down a trash chute in cold blood. This is ironical compared to the language, emotion, and behaviors being censored in Jonas’s ‘Utopian’ society. Lord argues this through Anna Cerbasi of Port Saint Lucie, Florida, who asked the school board to remove a book that was about a family murdering their child for crying at night and called the book inappropriate for the sixth grade. Lord raises the question of who is to “decide which books are appropriate for which children,” and argues that it cannot be answered with not one but the many books integrated in school curricula that compose

books for all ages. she is known for tackling tough subjects with humor and sensitivity,

The Giver by Lois Lowry follows Jonas in a world that has left emotions, colors and love. Instead the community stays safe with routine and control. That is until Jonas learns about love, feelings and most importantly what the community has left behind. Jonas must now decide how to save his and his little brother's life before it is too late.

Written in third person limited omniscient, and filtered predominantly through Catherine. The unknown narrator slips effortlessly into free indirect disclosure, which adopts the tone and inflection of an individual characters voice. This technique allows the narrator to intrude into the narrative to offer advice, or to foreshadow the characters. However, the narrator frequently breaks from convention and addresses’ the reader directly.

Lois Lowry’s novel, The Giver, offers a thought provoking, well written story, because it changes the perspective of anyone who dares to read it to. Lowry places her novel, at some point in the future when mankind has gone away with changes and choices in life. She forces readers appreciate, or at least re-think the world they live in today. Her novel presents a fully human created environment where people have successfully blocked out conflict, grief, and individuality. Each person follows the same routine every day. Failure comply with standards, to be different, means death. Jonas, the main character, finds himself trapped in this world.