The Giver Banned

“Life here is so orderly, so predictable-so painless. It's what they've chosen” (Lowry 103). Imagine a world with no control over who you marry, what your job is, what you wear, or what you get to eat for every meal. This is what it’s like in The Giver by Lois Lowry. The people live in a community that is severely more controlled than ours. We have the freedom to have a pet, have as many kids as you want, and say what you want. The people in The Giver do not have those freedoms. The people in the community don’t even know what love is. In our world love is each individual’s choice, but not in The Giver. In other words, they don’t get to experience the precious parts of life, such has having a wedding and giving birth to your child. No society is perfect, but citizens of every community have an

According to the American Library Association (ALA), young adult novels are challenged with the best intentions. In most cases a parent will read a book that their child might be reading in class to find out if the book is hazardous to their child’s well-being. If the novel seems problematic, the parent then challenges the book. Even though the purpose of challenging a novel is to keep children from reading about issues that may not be seen as appropriate for their age group, censoring children from difficult subject matter is not always the solution. There is always controversy when difficult issues arise in adolescent geared novels. Even though there are many concerns with Lois Lowry’s The Giver,

Many schools are taking books out of their curriculum because of the harsh and uncomfortable language and topics. The Biloxi School District had taken To Kill A Mockingbird out of their classrooms and Drake High School had even burned all copies of Slaughterhouse -Five. It is wrong that schools began taking books like that from their lesson plan because students should not be oblivious to these kinds of topics and it is sending the wrong message about the authors and their books.

Censoring books is perceived as a way of parents protecting their children from scandalous subjects, however, by banning books they deprive them essential lessons they can use in society. An example that Lee Burress offers in Battle of the Books, is how a book can give a modern perspective on a subject, children are unfamiliar with, but may encounter. “Foster Child by Marion Bauer is a banned book that gives a modern perspective of how modern foster children are treated” (Burress). It touches the subject of sexual abuse and although parents try to protect their children from these subjects: it is better for children to know what sexual abuse is rather than remaining ignorant. In this case ignorance is not bliss and it can lead to children being unable to identity when they are being molested. It can also teach children empathy and lead them

Lois Lowry's book, The Giver, illustrates a futuristic society in which a strict law is enforced and no citizen thinks of going against that law. There are no deviations from what is considered the normal. A large contribution to the creation of their perfect society is keeping the public unaware of things happening around them. Lowry helps create this perfect world by creating euphemisms in their everyday speech where the main purpose is keeping the public from completely understanding the whole truth. Not only did the euphemisms play a large part in the book, but also,the author's own personal experiences and events that occurred around the same time as the writing of the book helped to shape the book into what it is now.

For years people have pondered about the true theme and concealed symbols in the end of this Newbery Medal science fiction book. In this novel, Lois Lowry uses several literary devices such as imagery to send the message that hope can pull a person through their gravest of times while using specific diction and anaphoras to show a more in-depth meaning in chapter twenty-three and to express the voice at the end of this literary work.

Have you ever had a moment in your life when your innocence vanishes? There are things that as kids that you will not understand. It is part of growing up and growing up is no easy task. It's like telling a dog to roll over without training. When you lose your innocence there's no going back. Going forward is the only way. In To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee teaches the reader that the experiences of childhood lead to loss of innocence.

Banning challenged books from schools and libraries is wrong and is restricting students from seeing the real world. These challenged books can include many controversial subject matters, including sexual references, homosexuality, racial differences, alternative lifestyles and more. Though some of the reasons for banning books are understandable, they are not educating students on what they will see as they grow older and what they will encounter in reality. Banning books because of religious reasons should not happen, since some people are not religious. If someone thinks the novels are offensive and go against their beliefs, someone else might think otherwise.

Still however, parents attempt to shield their children from the inevitable, mainly by attempting to ban information that is taught to their children through schools. The most antagonized sources of the parents’ wrath are books, a primary example being The Giver by Lois Lowry,

There has been plenty of controversy of whether or not this book should be banned all because one parent complained of it using foul language, degrading women, and having racism. They also said it isn’t appropriate to be on a recommended reading list for high school students. This led to a huge debate on whether or not the book should be allowed on any district shelf. While I agree parents should have an active role in educating their children, and as their primary guardian have the right to request their child not to read certain books, they should not have the right to control what other kids read as well. By banning children from reading a book, it will only increase their curiosity for reading it.

The book The Catcher In The Rye is unnecessary to have at any school whatsoever, because is has a lot of inappropriate and unnecessary cursing and foul language. I think our school children should be shielded from bad language and negatively influential activities at such vital learning ages.

What if no one in the world had feelings? How would individuals act around each other if everyone was the exact same? Exposing Jonas to choices and feelings, Lowry teaches readers about risk taking and real feelings. In The Giver, there are many themes that Lois Lowry explores, like ‘Those Who Take Risks Never Grow’, and ‘Those Who Do Not Feel Sorrow Cannot Know Joy’. Before Jonas was the new receiver he was a normal kid, but he learned a lesson that changed him: ‘Those who never take risks never grow’.

The Giver, a book by Lois Lowry that was published in 1993, was not like anything I had read before. The novel is set in the future, or maybe the past, it never really tells the reader when the book was set. The novel was focused on a young boy, twelve years old, named Jonas and an older man known as Giver and what Giver teaches Jonas about their society and everything that is kept from everybody else. The Giver shares information and feelings that nobody else knows or feels. A few examples of what Jonas’ society is keeping from everybody is: sadness, pain, worry, snow and sledding, rivers, sunshine, color.

Four years later, Lowry published one of her best known novels, The Giver. The story takes place in a future community where no war and poverty exist, but the citizen’s lives are tightly controlled by the government. A young teen named Jonas becomes an apprentice to the title character, the only person with access to memories of the past. The Giver was seen as controversial by some, for its violent themes, sexual content and depiction of infanticide and

The Giver, by Lois Lowry is an intriguing and thought-provoking dystopian novel which takes the reader into an imaginary world where individuality and uniqueness are restricted and controlled, and obedience is mandatory. The text uses a variety of dystopian elements which makes the reader ponder a society where individual freedom has almost disappeared. This is conveyed by Lowry through a futuristic, post-apocalyptic setting in which the government controls its citizens through the use of propaganda and surveillance. The Giver has several similarities as the Isaac Asimov’s classic short story, The Fun They Had. Whilst this story is not post-apocalyptic, it is set in dystopian future where individual freedom is restricted. The story is confronting for the reader because the world in which Asimov describes is not completely far off from the world that we are living in today. The dystopian short story centres around the protagonist Margie who discovers an old book which explores the way that children were educated back ‘in the olden days’ Plot is an important element used in both dystopian texts to challenge the reader that there is a difference in the standard of living compared today’s society. Both authors have constructed the main characters who question the societies in which they live in, challenging the readers to think about the the values embedded in their own society. This confronts the reader because the two elements used in both texts makes the reader