Similarities Between The Giver And American Society

    The story in The Giver by Lois Lowry takes place in a community that is not normal. People cannot see color, it is an offense for somebody to touch others, and the community assigns people jobs and children. This unnamed community shown through Jonas’ eye, the main character in this novel, is a perfect society. There is no war, crime, and hunger. Most readers might take it for granted that the community in The Giver differs from the real society. However, there are several affinities between the society in present day and that in this fiction: estrangement of elderly people, suffering of surrogate mothers, and wanting of euthanasia.

Could you imagine your world in which everything was predetermined for you, and you didn’t have a choice? This is the reality in The Giver by Lois Lowry, the main character Jonas faces these problems and many others as he completes his adventure. Although some may think this to be devastating, this is normal in his society. In the dystopian society conveyed in the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry, there are many similarities and differences to our modern day societies.

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

Throughout the book jonas becomes more and more angry and against the rules of the community. “I want to wake up in the morning and decide things!” jonas was furious because the other people of the community were not given any power. The people couldn't even see color and were blinded by

One day, it was time for Jonas to get a job. He was really nervous. His friends went with him and they sat together. When it was Jonas’ number they skipped him. He was getting so nervous that he thought he was not going to get a job. When Jonas’ name got called to be Receiver. He was going to work with an old man. When they met Jonas loved this man, he could show Jonas fun things that kids do, like us! The old man could also show Jonas pain. Jonas wanted to be different from the other people in his town. It couldn’t be that way.if you were different you were released, if there were twins then the one that weighed the most got cleaned and got a new home.if you were the one that weighed the least then you were released.

Euthanasia is an extremely controversial subject, and in Jonas' community, the power to euthanize is abused. Anyone who does not follow the rules, who is no longer useful to the community, or who is different is killed. The people in charge, including Nurturers like Jonas’ father, are simply following rules which were established to maintain order and sameness in the community. Like The Giver says about Jonas' father, who kills an infant, "It's what he was told to do, and he knows nothing else. " There is extreme irony in killing people who are different in order to maintain Sameness.

Although Jonas’s world didn’t give any freedom of choice to people, Jonas experiences having it indirectly through memories. He learns about choosing different colors, having emotions, and choosing to do something. In fact, when Jonas realizes that he can’t live without having freedom of choice, he decides to leave his home, also known as his Community, like Tris left Abnegation. On the way of heading to Elsewhere, Jonas gets hurt and exhausted. This is a totally different life compared to his Community life where he was safe, and everything was peaceful.

In Jonas' society some rules and punishments are that you have to ride a bike or walk. Vehicles with engines are out of the ordinary. When they see a plane they panic and go inside (pg. 1,2). They also pick people in society's wife or husband for them.

Finally, in our world we have conflicts which humans must address but having these conflicts helps out in the long run. We create solutions that make each nation stronger. Jonas lives in a "perfect" world where war, disease, and suffering have all been eradicated. Everything is in order; everything is under control. The people have no worries or cares. The Community strives for "sameness," in which everyone and everything are the same and equal. Sometimes the worst is for the better. The reader will learn from their mistakes. Each one of us has things

Jonas’s community has no choices. In the community everybody is assigned spouses and jobs. They also have something called sameness. That means everything is the same. The climate, weather, and color are all the same. They talk about all of this at a ceremony. That is how they’re community has no choices.

Can you imagine a world where every one of your decisions is made for you, yet people still call it a perfect world? This is the world Jonas has lived in all of his life. This is also why I say he lives in a dystopian society. According to Utopia and Dystopia, a dystopian society is a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding. I say this is a dystopian society because the community controls the members feelings, how they see things such as color, and even your family and who all is in it.

There are many oppositions and similarities that go along with our modern day society and Jonas', an example of a difference in our two

Next, the setting helps express the theme man vs. society. Through Jonas's point of view, we can see just how much Jonas starts to despise his community. This hatred builds up in Jonas and explodes in the theme man vs. society. Jonas lives in a dystopian society (Hanson). This community is strictly made up of rules and rituals (Hanson). Also the fact that the people are colorblind shows just how strict Jonas's community really is about sameness (Hanson). "Jonas mimicked in a cruel, sarcastic voice. 'I will kill people, sir. Old people? Small newborn people? I’d be happy to kill them, sir. Thank you for your instructions, sir'..." (Lowry, 152). This quote in the story, The Giver, shows the severity of Jonas's community and depicts the community's true colors. This quote also helps show that Jonas does not approve, which means that unlike the others, Jonas has a sense of morals.

The Giver is a novel set in a special society which is deprived of any differentiation. In this society, there is a special event called the “Ceremony of Twelve” and it's a time when the twelve-year-olds residing in this community are assigned a job. The main character of this story is a twelve-year-old kid named Jonas who was special because he gets assigned the job of a receiver. As a receiver, Jonas is allowed to obtain various amount of memories that everyone else in the society is oblivious to. The receiver before him, now called The Giver, mentors Jonas and transfers the memories he has into Jonas. At first it was pleasant for Jonas, he was able to experience the coldness of snow, a birthday, and so much more. But eventually, he was given horrific memories that changed his view upon this society that he has lived in for about twelve years. So The Giver and Jonas conceives a plan for Jonas to escape from the community so that the memories Jonas received can go back to the citizens. This novel mostly fits into the fantasy genre because of the whole perfect society theme. At the beginning,

n society wasn’t as perfect as he thought it was. Jonas’s community is a dystopia because there is no contact with others outside the community, there is killing of the young and old, and there is no freedom.