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The Giver-a Dystopia Essay

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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 …show more content…

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

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