The Giver Personal Narrative

The First edition of the giver was written in 1993, Lois Lowry lived in Honolulu, Hawaii. Lois ended up graduating from New york City High school. She then spent two years at Brown University before dropping out to get married. The giver was seen as controversial by some for its violent themes sexual content and depiction of infanticide and euthanasia. Others however praised this book. People believe that she wrote this for children to let children know the future is in their hands. The giver was meant for children. No Lois didn’t intend to use stereotypes or show prejudice although some might take it that way. I could not find where the book was published.

     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.

In the fictional universe that Lois Lowry’s novel, The Giver, is set in, all ideas of uniqueness have been done away with. People can no longer see colors. Community members are encouraged to use precise language only, to the point that concepts like love are considered antiquated and obsolete. People cannot experience things such as music. The weak, such as underweight newborns and the elderly, are “released”, or euthanized. Individuality is not only illegal, it is extinct. One would wonder why such a society would ever be created; the answer, as explained in the book, is that uniqueness creates jealousy, which creates envy, which creates hate. Therefore, individuality is at the root of all problems, including war and famine. In theory, if

Can a society truly function without the social normative of gender? Lois Lowry begins to explore this idea in her text The Giver. This fictional society contains binary oppositions which paradoxically reinforce and redefine the gender norms. Gender is reinforced by the visual manifestations of girls, assumption of gender based on sex and alternative behaviour towards women. In opposition of these elements gender is redefined by the fulfilment of occupational roles of individuals and parental behaviour within a family unit. Together these elements question the perspective and construction of gender within the text.

The sled slowed as they reached the bottom of the hill. Jonas stood up trying to get to the house that was straight ahead of him. It took all his strength to keep walking. He was so bitterly cold he would have thought he was frozen. The only thing that kept him going was the thought that he could save Gabriel. Give him a life that he himself didn’t have. Each agonizing step he thought he would die ,but he made it to the house ,his only hope of survival. He transmitted his warmest memory to Gabriel with the only strength he had left. Jonas saw the door open as everything went dark.

My freshman year if high school I took a theater class. One day while in this class my teacher, Ms. Jonas, came up to me and asked me a question that would change my entire high school experience. She asked, “Do you want to audition for one act play?” By asking that question she got me involved in high school theatre which entirely changed me as a person. Joining theater helped me gain confidence, become a better leader, and find what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Most of what we cherish in our lives is freedom, would we give up freedom to live in a perfect world? In The Giver, genetics, sameness, and surveillance are some characteristics that make up Utopia. Personally, I would rather have freedom, not be watched or for my body to be genetically modified. Why should we live in Utopia, only to have a tedious life ahead of us when we could have a diverse world full of unique events and experiences.

Imagine living in a world where everything is controlled. No emotions, love, choices, and color. There were no conflicts, but lives were completely controlled. This is how life is in the thrilling novel by Lois Lowry, The Giver in 1993. Once a young adolescent finds out what has been stolen from him and his community, through memories from the Giver. After finding this out, he devises a plan to save the community and escape. As the Giver helps him, Jonas escapes with his baby brother Gabe to Elsewhere. Lowry creates many themes in The Giver, not only on how good and bad memories are needed to grow, but also how you should be steadfast to do what you believe in even if it goes against society and government, and how perfection isn’t something to strive towards.

Have you ever imagined our world having no emotions and feelings? Are you willing to live in a community without joy, tears, triumphs, failures, hatred, and love? In the motion picture "The Giver," a community was reorganized after a tragedy occurred on Earth. Memories of the past, including emotions, were all erased.

Imagine your mind changes in seconds to not having feelings to feeling what real life is. A feeling that is filled with family, life, and emotion. Well, in the novel The Giver, written by Lois Lowry, Life was gone and the expert Chief elders, who watched after the community, shut out emotion, love, pain, and sadness. Jonas, the main character, who lives in a utopian society and is chosen to be the receiver of memory which is the job to hold all the memories of the past and is trained by The Giver. In his training he discovers that there is more to life than the one he is living in now. In the novel we learn the theme is that a life without emotion, love, and pain is no life worth living.

Imagine living in a society where you have the freedom to do what you want. No one telling you how to live your life and you make your own choices. A democratic society allows for freedom of choice. Living in the democratic society with freedom is better than living in a utopian society because you get to do what you want, pick how you want to live and be free to express yourself.

Today as I waited for the Giver, I lay on the soft cushioned bed, and tried to imagine all the exciting memories I could receive. When the Giver was ready he sat beside me and placed his hands on my back. I closed my eyes, and began to visualize the memory.

The only fiction that ever got through to me was, “The Giver”. It was a book about a community that has no feeling for life, or others around them. The people that were in the community were being emotionally controlled by the government. The government thought if the people had no feeling they were more efficient for society. The Giver in the book saw all memories of the past, and was the only one who could have any feeling. The Giver was the only one who could feel pain, anger, death, and the only person in the community that could dream.

Have you ever wanted to live in a perfect world, where there is no hurt or pain? Well in the book “The Giver” Jonas thought that living in a perfect world would be easy and fun, not knowing that it was many consequences living in such a perfect world. In our society today we have laws that we have to abide by but not quite strict laws that Jonas had. In Jonas world they were pretty much controlled by the government they didn’t have a say so in things in life. They were forced to learn independence at the age of seven.

The dictionary definition of home is the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household. However, home doesn’t necessarily mean the building where you live. To some people, home is where they find comfort, where they feel secure and safe. As the famous saying goes, home is where the heart is. This relates to the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry because the main character Jonas because he didn’t feel like he belonged in his home. He wanted to explore the unknown, places that were deemed too dangerous to ever walk upon because he craved more knowledge of his home.