A Closer Look at the Sameness "It wasn't a practical thing, so it became obsolete when we went to the Sameness.” (84) The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is from the perspective of a twelve year old boy named Jonas growing up in a Utopia. At the Ceremony of Twelve, where every person that turns twelve receives their life-long “job”, Jonas finds out he has been selected to be the Receiver of Memory, the most honored of elders. The current Receiver of memory, who Jonas calls the Giver, transfers memories of color and feelings like pain and joy to him. As he receives each memory, he learns of a life outside of the utopia. This book proves that being perfect and the same as everyone else is not as great as it sounds. The Utopian society of sameness in …show more content…
"It was your first Stirrings...you're ready for the pills.'....he swallowed the pill...the feelings had disappeared. The Stirrings were gone." (37-39) This quote shows that there are no feelings in this society. The Elders make the citizens take pills to subdue their feelings. "Love. It was a word and concept new to him." (125) When Jonas is given the memory of love, he interpreted the feeling and repeated the word to himself because he didn’t know the meaning. This is yet another fact that proves the community is unable to progress and move forward if the members do not have feelings. Without feelings, you cannot have empathy. Having empathy is important because it helps us understand what the other person is feeling. People wouldn’t experience the ability to trust, to have human compassion, to have meaningful relationships and there would be a certain loss of …show more content…
Without choices, the people are missing out on important life lessons that can help you in life. People can learn from mistakes, they can learn from consequences. "Asher ran through the standard apology phrase rapidly, still catching his breath." (3) One of the rules in The Giver’s society is that you must apologize each time you break one of them. If someone is given the choice to apologize, they will understand why they apologize and realize their mistake. If they are forced to do it, it becomes worthless and doesn't mean anything. "Two children-one male, one female-to each family unit. It was written very clearly in the rules." (8) Another rule in The Giver’s society is that there is a limit on how many children you can have. In our society, if you want a another child you have the freedom to have another child. Without choices, there are no mistakes and no experiences of consequences. Without these crucial building blocks of society, there is no learning and no self
This novel is about a community where each person is the same. Everybody in this community go by certain rules and if they do not follow those rules they are punished. Everyone is to act the same in this book. Every person is assigned a job when they become a twelve and they are to work at the job until they go to the house of the old. This book is explained by Lois Lowry the author is explaining a whole different world than ours in this world he describes a person called the giver who is the receiver who hands off the job to Jonas one of the main characters who asks the receiver about all his memories and about what his job will be like. Jones had become the receiver. the giver gives him training and tells him what memories were like, the giver tells him why were like giver tells him why were like.
The giver follows the life of a young boy named Jonas. In the future, society is different from now, emotions, colour, pain, and liberty are all things of the past, in this alleged dystopian novel. Thorough explanation of this is left out in the novel, what we know is some war or tragedy due to all the emotions, opinions, cultures etc. led to great measures being taken. Thus eliminating all feelings both good and bad, which in turn dehumanized the whole population almost making them in to living robots, just so that the chance of another catastrophe is narrowed down to almost zero. Liberty is merely an illusion in this novel since no choices are made by the people only by the “elders” who aren't explained a lot either
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
Imagine a world with no feelings, no color, no choice; a world where individuality and freedom are exchanged for security and sameness. This type of world is a reality for Jonas, the protagonist in Lois Lowry’s The Giver. After being assigned the next Receiver of Memories in the community, where he has the capacity to see beyond. As he begins his works, he gains wisdom and through that wisdom, learned that protecting the community from the memories, their lives lacked understanding and feelings. Jonas goes on an archetypal hero’s journey and chooses to risk everything to restore memories and wisdom to everyone in the community. Throughout this novel, Jonas is represented as a hero considering he demonstrates integrity despite living in a
Ponder this thought…. A world where jobs are assigned to people, there are no colors, there is no weather, and rules after rules after rules. It would be impossible to live in a place like this. I would not want to live in the society from The Giver. The Giver society is a tough place to live, therefore I would not want to. In this society, people don’t have the freedom of choice, they don’t have normal, everyday objects, and there is extremely strict rules. Overall, this society is not the place for me.
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?
Imagine having everything you wished for. You would live in a perfect world. But every world has imperfections and you come across to realizing...a perfect world doesn’t exist. Within time, you come from an illusion to reality. You choose your journey and it starts here. The community is a separate environment from the world and has many rules to live by. The rules can vary to be severe consequences. It includes sameness, no memories, and family unit regulations. The kids end their childhood at the age of 12 by receiving their life assignment. The main character, Jonas is chosen to be the receiver of memory. He is reliable to hold everyone's feelings, hopes, and devotions. In The Giver the author Lois Lowry uses the theme of change to reveal that growing up in “the community” is a non-stressful and organized environment but Jonas finds the real world a whole different place when he receives memories about strong feelings and hardships, intellects the word “love”, and how important it is to be an individual.
Change is inevitable no matter what difference is made. The Giver by author Lois Lowry is the story of a utopian community that has adopted sameness that actually seems more dystopian later on. The Giver’s protagonist is a boy, Jonas, who is chosen and honored to take the assignment of being the Receiver of Memories. Jonas as the new Receiver of Memories is trained by the previous Receiver of Memories who Jonas calls The Giver. This causes many joys and pains for Jonas, but a curiousness to every new memory that is given. The setting is set in a community that has gained the culture to be a strict community that is controlled by The Elders. Before meeting the Giver, Jonas began as an outcast,later as he met his mentor Jonas was brave, and as he became more mature he became determined.
What is The Giver you may ask? The Giver is a 1993 American young adult dystopian novel by Lois Lowry. The Giver takes place in an advanced society which seems to be a utopian but ends up being a dystopian as the story ends. There's a 12-year-old boy named Jonas. Their communities eliminated pain and strife by converting everyone to become so called “equal", they also removed emotional feelings like love. Jonas is selected to become the Receiver of Memory which is the person who stores all the past memories of the time before everyone was equal. There may be times where one must receive the wisdom gained from history to help the community's decision making. Jonas has trouble with concepts of all the new emotions and things introduced to him:
The Giver, by Lois Lowry is about a young boy named Jonas who is growing up in a utopian society. In The Giver they have no memories of anything that has pain even involved which meant that the community had to get rid of some joyful things also. Jonas, the receiver, and The Giver himself are the only two that know the memories. The author, Lois Lowry, was given the Newbery medal in 1994. In her acceptance speech of the medal she stated things in her life that influenced her book, The Giver. Many of the events in Lois Lowry’s life had really influenced many of the big events in The Giver.
In the futuristic novel, The Giver by Louis Lowry, many of our choices are taken away, leaving us with “Sameness” in which everyone and everything has no color and no choice, everyone is created to be “perfect.” Jonas a young boy is chosen as “The Receiver” in which he learns about leadership and commitment. He also has to make a number of choices to be considered a good leader. In the following paragraphs we will be exploring the things mentioned and comparing and contrasting how the right and wrong choice is determined in our society and in the novel The Giver.
The novel, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is an everlasting story that shows the importance of individuality. This novel is about a young boy named Jonas who was elected as the Receiver of Memories, a person who is given the memories from the world that existed before their current society, Sameness. In this society there is no individualism. People can not choose who to marry, or what they want to do for a living. Over time Jonas becomes more and more wise, and realizes that the supposedly perfect community actually has some very dark and negative aspects. The author, Lois Lowry is a 76-year-old writer who focuses her writing on helping struggling teenagers become individuals. Lowry had a very tragic childhood. After both of her parents were
The dystopian novel, The Giver by Lois Lowry is about a boy called Jonas becoming the new Receiver-of-Memories. Throughout the novel, the protagonist, Jonas matures as knowledge is gained, and begins to understand the deepest, and darkest secrets of the community he lives in that is seemly 'perfect'. The author has successfully analysed a variety of social issues present in today's modern world in the novel. Some issues implied are: lack of individuality which allows for easy control, the abandonment of emotions and the importance of memories.
There are too many rules and it would get annoying eventually. “Attention. This is a reminder to females under nine that hair ribbons are to be neatly tied at all times.” (Lowry 22) Tiny things like this could get someone in big trouble if it’s repetitive. “I apologize for inconveniencing my learning community.” (Lowry 5)Since he interrupted the class, he had to say a saying of their appreciation. “Attention. This is a reminder to male elevens that objects are not to be removed from the recreation area and that snacks are to be eaten, not hoarded.” (Lowry 23) The big speaker thing had pointed him out after he took an apple.
Through our society we are all raised up to be independent and unique individuals such as being ourselves and expressing who each of us are to the world. However, in the book The Giver by Lois Lowry, everyone is raised to count on one another and everyone must look and act the same. Our society differs from Jonas’s in many ways, such as the family units, birthdays, and the way we each learn about our past.