The Giver, And The Real World

My first reason on why I think the giver is a dystopia because they don’t get to choose their jobs. They have ceremony every year and when you turn twelve they get assigned a job. People will get assigned a job that they might not like, but there is a chance that they could get a job they like. For example on page 60“ in a firm, commanding voice she announced, ‘Jonas has been selected to be our next Receiver Of Memory”. Jonas was nervous at first about his job because the chief elder has described his job as painful and that the pain was “ indescribable.” Later he then just wants to be a regular child instead of being the Reciever.

In the Giver, oppression is crystal clear and none of the community’s citizens are aware of it. Having never known anything else, they are inattentive to what they are missing out, and thus appear to be happy. The oppression is not physical but exclusively psychological and appears to stem from a real concern for the

Elements such of economic equality, education, and population control. All three elements were visible with everyone typically possessing the same clothes and items in communist states aw well as The Giver. Also, education was controlled in both communist states and The Giver. Everything from the aim of education to the content of the education was controlled. The third element then being population control was both visible. In communist states, with policies like the One-Child policy. That parallels to how babies, if not deemed strong enough, would be “released to elsewhere.” The goal of The Giver was to educate people about communism so that the terrible system will come to the end. The question remains, will this system ever truly

Throughout the novel many problems occur. Some of the main problems are racial and equality issues. Events in this book show how prejudice and intolerance can ruin numerous friendships and change lives.

The Giver is a book with many important messages, and one message that I feel that wasn't conveyed as well in the movie is that freedom of choice is important, and we shouldn't take it for granted. The movie focuses on a lot more on the importance of memories.

John Abbott a lawyer, statesman, and prime minister of Canada from 1891 to 1892 once said “Every man's ability may be strengthened or increased by culture.” (http://en.proverbia.net). This shows that every person’s personality is different because of their culture with examples like ‘My Favorite Chaperone’ by Jean Okimoto , and ‘The Chocolate War’ by Robert Cormier. Stories also explore what happens to culture when it attempts perfection and fails such as ‘The Giver’ by Lois Lowry. ‘My Favorite Chaperone’ explains how cultural differences create conflict in families. ‘The Chocolate War’ is a story about how school settings also have a culture that influences how students and faculty treat each other. The novel ‘The Giver’ gives an example of a dystopian society that tries equality and fails. In a compare and contrast of these texts, all the cultures determined what are the acceptable norms, the social and the degree of of punishment for breaking the standard which mirrors our cultures.

In ‘Of Mice and Men’ and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, Steinbeck shows deep isolation and loneliness of various characters occurred by unfair prejudice and discrimination associated with society’s lack of acceptance toward difference in the time of 1930s America. Steinbeck tried to transmit the cruel society’s atmosphere in the time of 1930s America, which would raise the idea of equal right in reader’s mind.

In a room right off the side of a barn sits a crippled colored man. A big, kind, mentally disabled man sits on a nail keg. An old, one-armed man leans against one of the walls. A lonely wife looking for company stands in the middle of the doorway. They are the outsiders and prime examples for a theme that is the backbone of the story. Discrimination not only affects the story’s characters, but it also impacts the story itself. Discrimination greatly affects the outcome of the story and its characters’ actions and thoughts in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Although each character faces discrimination in various ways, Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife are all viewed as outsiders and share the common key theme of discrimination in their lives.

In the novel, Mercy Among the Children, David Adams Richards paints a intricate picture of Lyle’s struggles with his father’s past mistakes and closes the passage with Lyle finally standing up for himself after witnessing his family being heavily discriminated against in the prior pages. These pages are plush with detailed diction, vast rhetorical devices and sentence structure.

Throughout the texts, The Giver by Lois Lowry and “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., both communities are striving toward total equality among the people. These two texts share many similarities and differences. For example, Jonas decides to run away from his community with the memories given to him. Similarly, in “Harrison Bergeron”, Harrison lost his temper over his community and disobeyed the rules, resulting in him having more strength than others. When Harrison was not pleased by the way he was treated, “[He] tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper” (4). This quote describes how in both situations, they rebel against the government in an act to try to change the community. In addition, during both texts the

In the novella, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the diverse set of characters individually handle oppression on a daily basis. For these characters, racist, sexist and degrading remarks are normal for the time period (early 1900’s). The story is about two men, Lennie and George, trying to find work in a troubling economic time while also trying to overcome Lennie’s mental handicap. They also meet other people that have to overcome their own “setbacks”. The author shows oppression of the characters through their effect on others, actions, and their dialogue.

In the book Of Mice And Men, most of the characters are different. Crooks is black and crippled, Lennie has a mental disability, Candy is missing an arm and Curley’s wife is a woman. The novel discusses the topics of racism, ableism and sexism and this written report will discuss these topics in Of Mice And Men.

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.

I think the giver was an fabulous book with so many twists and turns, and I think everyone should read it. I just would appreciate sharing my opinion on him leaving his home-town to go elsewhere. I feel that he made a very good choice on leaving and here is why.

This code of conduct becomes the social norm, where most people see no other way of life.  They become completely oblivious to their wrong ways.  Provincialism of the caucasian minority is encapsulated by a quote from Mrs Holbrook, “They carry different diseases than we do.  That’s why I’ve drafted the Health Sanitation Initiative.”  Clearly ‘they’ is people of colour - this is absolutely false, yet people believed it.  A similar quote is used in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ , “Prosecuting comes from people who are prejudice”.  It would be impossible for children to escape these beliefs if their  teachers, who are pillars in their community, are ignorant of their own bias.  Stockett incorporated many examples of inequality and discrimination in ‘The Help’ , and gives readers an insight into the prejudiced actions of people in the 1960’s.