The Giver Sociology

“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

When Jonas is chosen to take the role of Receiver of Memories, he starts to learn how life

The setting of The Giver takes place in a fictional community known as the “Sameness”. Life here is supposed to be "perfect" because there is no pain or suffering. They don’t have to take

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

I would not want to live in this society because they want everyone to be the same and not make mistakes.Jonas stated,”We don’t dare to let people make choices of their own.” (Lowry 93)This is one of the reasons I don’t want to live in The Giver’s society because I like to make my own choices. They also stated,” “They chose their own jobs? “ “Frightening isn’t it?” The Giver said.” ( Lowry 93)

The giver by Lois Lowry was an interesting book to say the least. In the beginning you are lead to believe these are normal kids and characters, possibly in the future, but in pretty much the same state of mind as our definition of “human” today. As the book goes on, you are slowly let in on details, like the characters can not see color, and that the parents are not biological parents, and everything is organized and decided for the characters in the book. The author did a great job of slowly bringing us into the world of sameness quite the same way the giver slowly brought Jonas into the world of memories. I believe the subject of the book is the Importance of the Individual. As corny as it sounds, we spend much of our life trying to be just like everyone else. I think Lois Lowry wrote this entire novel just to show how horrible it would be if everyone was the same as everyone else.

Societal rules are a useful way to contain a situation without expressing a taboo. They are able to avoid bringing up negatives to younger generations and establish a form of control that values superiority over knowledge. This is helpful to establish dominance through secrecy, while also putting the minds of future generations at ease. On the other hand, this is harmful to the development of a society from the lack of knowledge about the past issues. Gabriel, a character known best for escaping societal rules, said it best in chapter 14. “They have never known pain.” He recognizes that his family’s lack of development comes from a lack of knowledge about past issues. In a society such as our own where honesty and information is valued, societal rule is damaging to future generations.

(106). Jonas is honored by being named the Receiver of Memory. This new position takes a lot of time and memory which shows honor. When Jonas begins training as the receiver he gains all the memories that had been lost to "Elsewhere". Jonas showed a lot of honor accepting this position because he had to keep everything a secret from friends and family.

In my opinion, we are lucky to not live in a world like the one The giver takes place in. The giver society is very different from our society. An example of one of the many differences between the society in The giver and ours is traditions or rules, but it also has a few similarities. One way The giver’s society differs from ours is how each society deals with rules and discipline.

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.

Individuals are responsible for changing society. If a person wants something to change and that change will not happen if they are just sitting around then they are going to change it themselves. Society would not be how it is today if we did not have people that wanted to change how society was.

A dystopian society is an attempt to a perfect world, a utopian society, but does not succeed. Like the Giver, our world strives to be perfect. While both of our societies are comparable, we also vary. The Givers rules are a lot sterner than ours and their every move is controlled by the Chief Elder, their dreams are controlled by pills, they also are not permitted to leave the dwelling after dark. In the novel The Giver, by Lois Lowry, when the children get older they receive stirrings (sexual desires).

A world without memories of suffering, disease, or hardships, but also color, emotions, and freedom is hard to imagine. However, Jonas lived in a community like this. People thought with those things eliminated life is simple and perfect. Jonas becomes the Receiver and acquires the memories from the past of war and death but also love and joy. He learns the truth about his community and realizes it isn’t so perfect after all.

I can make a connection between The Giver and the society today. Today’s society is almost like the society in the book, but the only difference is that we make our own choices. In this quote, “But later it does matter, doesn’t it? We don’t dare to let people make choices of their own” (Lowry 124). The quote shows that the people of the town were not able to have a say in how they lived their lives.

The first reason why Jonas has a different perspective is that of his assignment and the memories he had received. As a result, Jonas was selected to be the new Receiver Of Memory and he gets to see what life was actually like. And only Jonas and the Giver can see how the past was. For example on page 77, “But the Receiver-In-Training cannot be observed, cannot be modified. That is stated quite clearly in the rules. He is to be alone, apart while he is prepared by current Receiver Of Memory…” This starts to show Jonas how unusual his life will be now that he will be isolated from the whole community. Also on page 93, when Jonas is just about to enter the Annex he notices locks and in his community, but there is never any use for locks. “These locks are just simply to ensure the Receivers privacy because he needs concentration…” I thought this