The Giver by Lois Lowry is about a utopian society where there are rules for basically everything that people do. However, after reading the book, I realized that the community truly is not a utopian society but rather a dystopian society. The reasons why the seemingly utopian society is actually a dystopia is because there is no evidence of love, no colors, and the process of eliminating community members is harsh. The community in The Giver is not a utopia as evidenced by its lack of love. This is depicted when The Giver shows Jonas his favorite memory and Jonas says, “‘I certainly liked the memory, though. I can see why it’s your favorite. I couldn’t quite get the word for the whole feeling of it, the feeling that was so strong in …show more content…
Since the community lacks color they miss out on a lot of fun things that can be done using it, as well as the perception of depth and feeling that can be conveyed by color such as in the change of seasons or a basket of fruit. Lastly, the elimination of community members known as “release”, which is extremely deceiving to the citizens of the community proves that this community is a dystopia. When Jonas watches his father release one of the twins, he is mortified to see the truth behind releasing. He sees where the new child is deposited, “... a small door in the wall ; Jonas could see darkness behind the door. It seemed to be the same sort of chute into which trash was deposited at school. His father loaded the carton containing the body into the chute and gave it a shove” (Lowry 151). After seeing what really happens at the releases and having the memory of death, Jonas realizes that releasing is the same as killing. Although he may not even know the truth behind the releases, Jonas feels as though he can’t even talk to his father. Essentially killing someone should not be the case just because they are twins or elderly, the releasers could have simply sent the smaller one or older person to a different community and let them live their lives. One could argue that the society in The Giver is utopian because everything is equal, but there truly is no uniqueness in the community. Everything has and always will be the same which is
The community in The Giver is also not a utopia because without choice you can not have goals and therefore have nothing to strive for, and life can become very boring. In The Giver the people that live in the community have no choices. They cannot choose their own jobs and they cannot see color which limits their choices. Without such choices the
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
What would it feel like living in a world which everyone is same and the life is monotone?In “The Giver”,written by Lois Lowry,there’s a community based on perfection and the citizens who have strict and ethic rules to prevent their community from becoming unethical and unequal.Lowry conveyed her ideas both with in advantages and disadvantages,and the diversity which citizens in the community have lost.
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.
The Giver is considered as a dystopian society because everyone is under the illusion that there is freedom. An example of this is when the text states, “you're ready for the pills, that's all. That’s the treatment for the stirrings.” They can't even have independent thoughts. Medication is given to prevent
The Giver describes a society in search of perfection, which is a recurring theme in literature. Somebody in Jonas’s society decided that eliminating or limiting choices and feeling, among other things, would ultimately create a perfect place in which to live. By eliminating and/or limiting choices and feelings, the creators were able to implement Sameness, which would then provide a conflict-less environment in which to exist.
A true utopia requires sacrifices many people cannot condone. This fact has been shown throughout The Giver. The community decides to sacrifice many things to come to Sameness. Pain, individuality and love are among many things that they have sacrificed (Lowry 124). These sacrifices made the community Jonas lived in seemingly perfect; there is no hunger, no war, no pain, no one will ever be alone. But, a perfect community is completely unrealistic. That is why they have The Giver, the person that knows all the imperfections of the society and help the society to achieve perfection.
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
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.
First, The Giver’s community is a dystopia because there is limited freedom. I know this because in the Document E it says, “Oh,” Jonas was silent for a minute. “Oh, I
Individuality is one of the key components of reaching the utopian standard. However, in The Giver, the community rejects the idea of individuality and instead focuses on developing Sameness, therefore initiating a form of control by allowing them to not express their own personality to shine, and alternately forcing them to contort into these soft putty-shaped beings with zero individuality at all. Conversations between Jonas and The Giver that occur throughout the novel informs the audience that the community lacks a sense of uniqueness and results in an absence of options to choose from.
In Jonas’s world their community is a dystopian society. Their community is a dystopia because the citizens have no choices, the society is in “Sameness”, and the people who run the community make all the decisions.
The Giver by Lois Lowry is a Utopia because no one is ever starving, no one really feels pain, and they can’t choose wrong. Throughout our world I have seen many people on the sides of streets having no food, no home, and no family with no one helping them to have a better life. I have also seen people helping the homeless and shelters but in this book they don’t need to do that because everybody already has a home and food. Plus they don’t have to ask for money and food, they already have it.
In chapter 18 Jonas asks the Giver “ Do you ever think about the release ?’’ which got him even more curious about the true meaning. When Jonas becomes aware of what release actually means he gets into conflict with what his father does. His disturbed reaction to when his father its “releasing’’ a twin, which was very dramatic, “ he killed it! My father killed it!’’ Later in chapter 18, the Givers explain to Jonas about Rosemary and how she became an individual because of the emotions she was receiving, but the community didn’t allow anyone to have feelings. Because of the impact of the emotions she has received, she wanted to be released, which lead her to not conforming her society. What this tells us is that communities are made up of authoritarian rules that have impacts on
In conclusion I believe that the giver community is a true dystopia. The elders are so lost in trying to perfect the community however don’t realize that their method is slowly tearing everything apart. Citizens can’t even make their own decisions any more. Everybody is simply being told how to live their lives and if they don’t obey they are being killed. The sad part is that these people don’t even realize