Mistakes In The Giver, By J. Dyson

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.

Some people believe that dedication, persistence, and time people can accomplish any goal. Everyone should have goals when striving to achieve a specific task. Goal setting is used by top level athletes, successful business man, and achievers in all fields. A wise athlete once said, “Without time and effort put towards ones goal for the sport, you are nearly wasting your time and your teams time and you will never achieve ones goal for that

the expectation that the means to achieve goals is to work harder than others.” (McGraw−Hill,

From the time children are entered into preschool, they are expected- for the most part- to do their best and be proud of it. One child’s best could be another child’s worst, and that other child’s best could be totally impossible for the first child. If everyone is doing their version of the best work possible, then could perfection ever possibly be achieved? It is a generally accepted truth that the answer to this question is an obvious and resounding no. By definition, a perfect human does not exist. However, humans are constantly striving towards this goal despite their knowing that it is impossible. The constant striving brings people closer and closer to the impossible goal but leaves them just shy of reaching it. This close-but-not-quite-there ending means a life that it is almost perfect. A life almost straight.

From the time children enter into preschool, they are expected- for the most part- to do their best and be proud of it. One child’s best could be another child’s worst, and the second child’s best could be a different child’s worst. If everyone is doing their version of the best work possible, then could anyone ever truly achieve perfection? A generally accepted truth is that the answer to this question is an obvious and resounding no. By definition, a perfect human does not exist. However, humans are constantly striving towards this goal despite their knowing that it is impossible. The constant striving brings people closer and closer to the impossible goal but leaves them just shy of reaching it. This close-but-not-quite-there ending means a life that it is almost perfect- a life almost straight.

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).

Society has become addicted to achieving perfection. Its precedence can be seen in every aspect of life from sports to appearance. The illusion of human perfection motivates great feats yet it can also be the cause of infamous failures. Famous coach and commonly quoted motivator John Wooden once said “Perfection is impossibility but striving for perfect is not. Do the best you can. That is what counts.” Working for an idea or belief that is unreachable or in some cases may not even exist seems futile, but the success of the attempt does not outweigh the presence of the effort. The idea of perfection is unachievable because everything has flaws, but the path to perfection is walkable. In his

What if people mastered everything the first time they tried, would that steal our individuality? What if people were honest, would that really make everything better? What if all crimes were solved, would we really be safe? What if we all gave up our faults and flaws, would we really be perfect? Our world is cruel and people are here to tear you down, or are we just not doing our job of building each other up?

There will never be someone who constantly makes the right decisions and is correct with every action. The majority of humans today regard perfection to be an unrealistic goal. It is because of this fact that people have many flaws and are fundamentally sinful in nature. In a life of indifference and sloppiness, it is no wonder why people are not immortal. Most humans live in a way that each person believes they are better than everyone.

“…not because it is easy, but because it is hard, because that goal would serve to organize the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone and one we intend to win” (Hald-Mortensen, 2007).

In The Giver, by Lois Lowry, a contrast and contradiction moment appeared when The Giver said that he was in love with Rosemary. This is something that I don’t think he would have done any other time because love isn’t something you feel in this community. In the text it states, “... The Giver explained. ‘ I love her.’” This shows how The Giver did feel strong feelings for her, but because of this it pained him to give her sad memories or painful ones because he didn’t want to hurt her.

Perfection is impossible. There is no one in the world who has not failed at least a hundred times. However, the hard part is learning from that failure and growing from it. People tend to bury their failures and try to hide them almost like a time capsule, hidden inside for a long time until someone finds it again. They are afraid of someone finding that time capsule and expecting treasures and spoils, but to be disappointed to only find worthless failures. We view failure as something that is worthless and disappointing and see success as a treasure. We expect something good out of anything we’ve worked so hard for and are returned with disappointment, as we can’t always succeed . We need to learn to realize is that failure is good and allows you to achieve success, if you let it be a learning experience. You need to overcome the fear of failure, persist your way through challenges, and know where you want to be in the end.

Edwin Locke and Gary Latham will be the first ones to openly admit there are active limitations with the goal setting theory. It is not uncommon for individual goals to conflict with organizational goals. Moreover, research has proven complex goals have sparked motivation in teams to implement strategies with substantially high amounts of risk (Knight, Durham, & Locke, 2001). Sometimes people will believe higher risk strategies produce the greatest returns, yet high-risk goals consistently result in failure as well (Knight et. al, 2001). Additionally, when individuals simultaneously create two goals there is a greater chance they exert too much energy and focus on achieving just one of those goals. This can lead to one of the goals not receiving enough attention, which can potentially result in the person failing to reach the end result in either goal. In short, these are three common limitations of goal setting that typically draw concerns from other researchers and theorists. However, it is important people are aware of the limitations that do not receive as much attention, such as team goal setting, unethical behavior in high performance goals, and subconscious goals.

A successful person chooses goals to achieve something that is of great value and importance to them. This in turn motivates the person to achieve the goal because when the desired outcome is very important to a person, that person will be determined to persevere. Goal setting also improves a person 's organizational and time management skills because goal setting requires prioritization and that leads to the successful and sequential completion of necessary tasks. Once a person defines and prioritizes goals a plan should be drawn out detailing how this goal will be achieved. Goals and the time-line for their completion should be clearly defined, it is also important that a person 's

Perfection is a deadly sickness. It is a wicked plague which clouds the mind, destroys focus, and eliminates any value you may hold for yourself. We are all told that perfectionism is, well, perfect. A flawless way to live where you make no mistakes, avoid any challenges, and are loved and cherished by everyone around you. But this cruel mindset is like a collar that chokes fun and kills passion, constricting joy and creativity in favor of the one and only best decision. The decision that will get you perfect grades, a perfect reputation, and nary an ounce of criticism. Now, while this might seem good, I can tell you for sure that it’s not. How? Because I’ve tried it.