Imperfection In The Giver

Jonas trusted his community; that was a mistake. He let them do all the thinking; that was a mistake too. However, the biggest mistake that he and his community made was believing that there was such thing as a perfect society. The ceremonies that happen every year up until the age of 12 make sure that everything is the same, from the clothes, to houses to how they talk, no one is different.

     This book is about a boy names Jonas. Jonas lives in a futuristic society where there is no pain, fear, war, and hatred. There is also no prejudice, since everyone looks and acts basically the same, there is very little competition. They have also eliminated choice.

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.

“You have made a terrible mistake.” The Chief Elder uttered in shock, her tongue cutting short of a hiss.

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

The theme conveyed through the Giver is that individuality should be valued. The story takes place in a utopian society where everything is the same. There are no choices, no color, and no love in the Community of Sameness. The novel starts out a month before the Ceremony of Twelve, where the 12 year olds each get assigned a job. Jonas gets the assignment of the Receiver of Memory, and he soon finds out that lying is permitted, and receives several memories of the past without sameness, with pain too. He has the ability to see beyond, and finds out that he and the Giver are the only people in the Community that have the ability to see, as well as hear beyond. Similar to the phenomenon of an apple changing quality and his friend Fiona’s hair doing the same

The novel The Giver by Lois Lowry illustrates a dystopian society hi lighting the limitations of individuality and suppression of cultural memory in order to prevent any potential destruction that warrants deviation from the totalitarian state of mind with the society depends on. The dependence on the elaborately regulate system however causes the burden of beneficial and detrimental knowledge to the rest on one person's shoulders. Through sociological analysis I will analyze the effects of this reliance on the Giver’s ability to retain such crucial information on a singular causes the detrimental affect triggered not by the inability of the Giver but rather by the society’s unwillingness to change. It can be observed that dystopian societies are ambivalent in nature, situated in utopian text; however, in Lowry's novel the world is engineered where the utopia goes wrong due to its extinction of the aesthetic and personal choices. In “The Utopian the Function of memory in Lois Lowry’s the giver, the author analyzes the ambiguity between the dystopian aspect and the utopian aspect of the society created in the novel (Hanson).

In The Giver, the apple symbolizes change. For example, the apple appears in the novel when Asher and Jonas are playing catch and the apple changes. Lowery writes,“But suddenly Jonas has noticed…the apple had changed”(30). The Giver then explains to him that he has the power to see beyond, enabling him to see colors. When the apple flickered/changed, he saw it turn to the color red.

Intro: “Perfection is just an illusion based on our own perception,” an unknown source has said. In the utopian community that Jonas was living in had tried to make everything perfect and people lived like that for years. But, when Jonas becomes the new receiver he looks at this so called “perfect” community in a whole different way. In the giver written by, Lois Lowry, Jonas grows up and becomes a 12 and learns how to see deeper. The theme is growing up and is showed by the ceremony month, December, Jonas’ little sister, Lily, and the protagonist Jonas.

Have you ever tried to achieve perfection? It never works out does it? In the novel The Giver ,written by Lois Lowry, the main character Jonas realizes that his community isn’t as perfect as it seems. Jonas’ experiences throughout the novel develop a theme over the course of the text by teaching the reader that you cannot achieve perfection. Although some readers may believe that perfection is possible Jonas’ experiences show that striving for perfection can lead to bad consequences.

The difference represents a person’s pride. A community is like a circus; each act is different, to prove different purposes. Similarly, people each have distinct personalities, like how ringmasters and clowns have different forms of comedy. The individualism is what brings the circus tent alive and enjoyable. Individuality is more meaningful than conformity because it paints a picture to better understand a person.

The Giver, a Social Science Fiction Novel written by American Author Lois Lowry published by the Houghton Mifflin 1993 The Giver is a book about a boy named Jonas who lives in a “perfect world” where everyone is blindly obedient to the laws of society This novel questions what is right or wrong for society, and how differences and choices make life good. The Giver discusses many topics such as The significance of memory the relationship between pain and pleasure and the importance of the individual and also the value of diversity and memory Lowry uses the Giver to speak about her concerns about society and humanity In the Giver they live in a community where all rules are strictly adhered to and that is exactly the problem conformity

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.

“Of course they needed to care. It was the meaning of everything.” Lowry , pg 147 . In the Giver Jonas is soon faced with the reality of a dystopia after becoming the receiver of memory. Jonas’ world is supposed to be perfect but sameness, no real love, and no freedom show what it actually is.

“The Giver” is a book in which Lois Lowry, the author, expresses the importance of experiences. This is when Jonas starts receiving and experiencing memories, which leads to thoughts of how he could ever explain them. Jonas also goes on to share his memory of love with the new child, Gabriel which he has grown to care for and love. Through his new experiences of love and happiness, Jonas’ dreams are completely reshaped. Finally, Jonas realizes that his experiences need to be shared or else people will continue making their terrible actions without truly understanding the consequence of them.