The Giver: Sameness In A Dystopian Society

Jonas learns that his community, although it may seem perfect at first, it is lacking many of the key things that make life special and worthwhile. When pain, hate, and grief are taken away, along with them disappear snow, color, and love. For without evil, you cannot have good. When negative things are eliminated, something wonderful is sacrificed along with it, causing a perfect life to be impossible to achieve.

The final reason that I think the Giver portrays a dystopian society is their method of release. They may think that they’re sorting out good and bad, but what do they know? If they don’t know anything about love, why should they know about pain, suffering, death, and war? Everyone outside of the releasing room thought their dear friend was going Elsewhere… but the people inside that horrid room witnessed, or committed, the murder of innocents. There were no such things as identical twins; the lighter one would be killed. The people had no perception of death, for all they know that little baby, which just happened to be 3 ounces lighter than his brother, could really be going Elsewhere. Even if they’re traveling there through a garbage chute. Not only children were released though, as Jonas’ mother tells them it can happen to the middle aged too, “‘You know that there’s no third chance. The rules say that if there’s a third transgression, he simply has to be released.’” (pg.9). Some people were so ignorant on the subject that they used the word as a joke, like the speaker when the pilot flew over the town, “NEEDLESS TO SAY, HE WILL BE RELEASED, the voice had said, followed by silence. There was an ironic tone to that final message, as if the Speaker found it amusing…” (pg.2). Who wants to

What would it feel like living in a world which everyone is same and the life is monotone?In “The Giver”,written by Lois Lowry,there’s a community based on perfection and the citizens who have strict and ethic rules to prevent their community from becoming unethical and unequal.Lowry conveyed her ideas both with in advantages and disadvantages,and the diversity which citizens in the community have lost.

Jonas discovers what is really beyond his community, beyond all the rules and policies they have to follow; he decides to leave and give all of his memories to the rest of the community so they would know about what they have not seen or experienced before. Jonas discovers that the community has decided too many things for everyone. He realizes Sameness is not right, that it cannot last any longer. He thinks of all the what-ifs. What if the Elders choose a wrong spouse? What if the Elders choose the wrong job for someone?

The Giver describes a society in search of perfection, which is a recurring theme in literature. Somebody in Jonas’s society decided that eliminating or limiting choices and feeling, among other things, would ultimately create a perfect place in which to live. By eliminating and/or limiting choices and feelings, the creators were able to implement Sameness, which would then provide a conflict-less environment in which to exist.

It is very boring. Everyone wears the same clothes, people can't choose their own job, or even their own family. “All of it was new to him. After life of sameness and predictability, he was awed by the surprises that lay beyond each curve on the road.” (pg. 216) This demonstrates how surprised Jonas was when he saw places where not everything in society was the same and restricted. For once he wasn't locked up in a cage with everything being the same. It was probably great to see real life for the first time. It seems similar, or even more eye-opening, to how people would react if they had been in jail for 60 years and had just gotten released. It shows how much of a dystopia this community is when Jonas sees life from a different

Imagine living in a world with no change : same clothing, same weather every day, same haircut, same birthday as everyone else, and you don’t get to pick your job or spouse. How would that feel? Well, that's the point this society doesn’t feel. Jonas is the main character of the book The Giver by Lois Lowry and he lives in a utopia community. Jonas knows no different though, he was born into this society, but one day, everything changes for Jonas. Jonas changes throughout The Giver and as a result, tries to change the Community.

Lowry shows Sameness in The Giver by showing that the community members have no choice choosing their job, their spouse, and how many children they have. All of these things are assigned by the Elders, the leaders of the community. “all Matches [of Spouses] had been monitored by the Committee of Elders before they could apply for children…” (Lowry 61) suggests that the Elders assigned spouses and children. “The Elders…[will] find exactly the right Assignment…” implies that the Elders also choose jobs. Both these quotes together imply that the Elders, the government of The Giver’s community, control everything. The government's complete control helps enforce Sameness because, without the complete control, Sameness would eventually collapse, as the community members start becoming different and unique, leading to equality.

In Jonas’s world their community is a dystopian society. Their community is a dystopia because the citizens have no choices, the society is in “Sameness”, and the people who run the community make all the decisions.

This is an example of ‘Socially Expected Behavior’ which is conformity. The negative effects this has on Jonas’s society is that if you do not follow these rules you will come out as weird and be left out of the community, also it can create division between those who don’t really “fit in”. This example highlights Lowry’s warning by informing us that being the same might be boring. If we were all the same in social matters, things would eventually have no meaning to speak about. In my opinion it is good to be socially different because you’ll be surrounded by people who are socially different

In the novel The Giver, Lois Lowery conveys a futuristic society of Sameness, a utopia world of relinquished conflict and pain from a view of an eleven-year-old boy named Jonas. The society of Sameness is controlled by a committee of elders, who decide the citizens’ lives. For instance, the elders assign family units: one significant other and two children, consist of one boy and one girl. As well as, designate a specific, lifelong profession to the children at age twelve. This atmosphere of order creates issues in Jonas’s life, as he turns twelve and receives a special occupation that shows him how cruel society actually is.

As we were reading the book The Giver. We learned about their society. The government wanted everyone and everything to be the same so nothing will be different. At different age groups they have specific things. Like when a child is nine, they get their first bike.

At this point, The Giver is trying to explain to Jonas why people thought we needed sameness. It looks like The Giver is trying to get Jonas to understand another perspective on why sameness was need and choices were taken away, though he himself may not actually believe that it was the right decision. To add to the theme stated above, getting rid of choices, although eliminating possibly wrong choices, should not be forgotten and locked away, but instead used to ensure the mistake is nti made twice. This conclusion was made because Jonas makes a realization that he wants the new child that lives with him to be able to pick what he wants. Jonas still has not received everything and The Giver is trying to let him think of thing in all perspectives and see everything, so he can come to a conclusion on what Jonas feels was wrong.

In Lois Lowry’s The Giver, there is great emphasis put on the concerns about society and humankind. Some of the main themes found throughout the book, as well as other novels by Lowry, all relate back to these concerns. She displays the importance of human emotion and individuality along side the fact that utopias are non existent. In the so called Utopia where the main character Jonas resides, sameness takes precedence over uniqueness.

Everyone in the community can not have there own personalities because they have to be the same. There is a limit of two kids per family unit. There is nothing private in the community because they have to be the same. Sameness is bad because the receiver has to keep the pain a secret. The receiver is a person that keeps all of the memories. ¨but now you will be able to go farther back¨(Lois lowry 116) The Giver tells Jonas “being the receiver makes family life hard”(Lois Lowry 132). Sameness is bad because they have to take away color. Color is taken away because some people can not see color and then they are not the same. Why did colors disappear’ is what Jonas asked the Giver when he found out that everyone can not see color. (Lois Lowry 120)The government pick spouses and the child which results in no love. “Do you love me” asked Jonas.(Lois Lowry 159)It is clear that sameness is bad because there is no love in the community.