preview

Holocaust, Jim Crow Laws, Or The Spanish Inquisition

Decent Essays
Open Document

Do you remember learning about the Holocaust, Jim Crow Laws, or the Spanish Inquisition? For most of us, these events, and many more like them, have shaped our morals, beliefs, and way of life. Imagine having those past referrals withdrawn and no longer having navigation as to what has made us who we are. This is a reality for the citizens in the book, The Giver, as we observe many problems in their utopia from an overlying dilemma, withdrawal from the past. Living life without the knowledge of history deprives us of skill and identification, hinders our understanding of the future, and incites previous mistakes to recur.
Although they deem their utopia a skillful, occupationally concurrent society, citizens still lack vital abilities and identification that truly represents their interests so long as the past is not in fruition. “I don’t know what you mean when you say ‘the whole world’ or ‘generations before him.’ I thought there was only us. I thought there was only now.” (78) Jonas’s thought here reflects the limited understanding of …show more content…

“I didn’t. I used my wisdom from the memories. I knew that there had been times in the past - terrible times - when people had destroyed others in haste, in fear, and had brought about their own destruction.” (112) When a pilot-in-training accidentally flies over the residential community, the Elders consult the Giver as they are considering shooting the plane down. Later in the book, Jonas asks the Giver how he was able to figure out that the pilot was just lost. The Elders would have made a grave mistake if it were not for the wisdom memories give and, like the Giver states, would have “brought about their own destruction.” We see this in our lives as well. The leaders of our country have set up many laws and legislations so that certain disagreements do not happen

Get Access