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Giver Vs Today

Decent Essays

Lois Lowry’s The Giver is a book about a seemingly utopian society in the future. This idea of perfection was created by removing individuality and emotion from the lives of people in the community which contrasts to today’s society in the United States, where freedom is extremely important to citizens. The only people who know that these freedoms are possible are a boy from the community named Jonas and his mentor who goes by “the Giver.” Jonas’s job in the community is to receive memories about the experiences that the society has removed. However, the society in The Giver, which has limited choices and feelings for all its citizens, is an improvement from the ours in 2015. In the novel, the concept of death is not present. It is much more …show more content…

This is suitable for the rate at which we mature, however it is less productive than in The Giver. Teaching children to behave like adults causes there to be a plethora of people working for the community that we do not have today. When referring to the elimination of choosing a career, Jonas says “We really have to protect people from wrong choices.” To which the Giver replies: “It’s safer.” Jonas and the Giver know about the community’s past from the memories that they hold about the society in present day where citizens can choose their own career. Both of them are aware of how our current society is run, and they still know that it is more practical for everyone to have jobs that definitely suit …show more content…

They either refer to it as release or loss, neither of which imply that the person is gone forever. In the way our society, death emotionally impacts the people closest to the deceased, which is not good for society. The citizens of the community do not have to experience this emotional trauma which is a reason why they are so content and trusting. In the novel, a child, Caleb, is “lost” and is replaced by a new Caleb. A ceremony is performed where they are saying the name of the person who is “lost” repeatedly until the name is removed from their consciousness. Caleb’s mother’s feelings toward the replacement of her child are described as “It was as if the first Caleb were returning.” Losing a child today would be a thought of as a dreadful experience and would impact the people around the child negatively, however no one would have to deal with the death of a loved one if they did not realize what it actually meant when they died. The citizens believe their community is perfect, and this provides citizens who are willing to be active in their

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