preview

The Giver by Lois Lowry Essay

Good Essays

In the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry, the receivers are the only people who have feelings and memories. The elders are the people who choose what the best is for their people in the community and sometimes they go to the receiver for help on making the right decisions. The people from the community do not see color, or have freedom on making a decision for them. There is no love, feelings, and grandparents. Jonas is assigned to be the next receiver of the community; He was trained by the giver, who transfers memories of the pain and pleasures of life, who also shows him the truth and reality that is hidden to the community. Jonas’s community does not represent the ideal of society because there are no choices or distinctions between men …show more content…

In the book also recall identical twins, in this case the community cannot have two identical persons in the community. “I’m the next on the list. I’ll have to select the one to be nurtured and the one to be released. It’s usually not hard though. Usually it’s just a matter of birth weight. We release the smaller of the two” (114). This quote is from Jonas’s Father. He is telling the family unit about the decision that he has to make about the identical twins that are going to be born. “It’s usually not hard though” Jonas’s father said this, gives us the sense of brutality and heartless feeling about Jonas’s community, and if this is what Jonas’s father does for a living, just imagined what others do, or are being assigned for their job. This actually shows that they do not have the understanding that memories would give them about feelings. Although, the individuals from the community think that being release is a good thing for them. “Well, there was the telling of his life. That is always first. Then the toast. We all raised our glasses and cheered. We chanted the anthem. He made a lovely good-bye speech. And several of us made little speeches wishing him well” (32). This quote is from Larissa; she is an old lady that Jonas bathed in the House of the old one day. She is given Jonas and idea of what the release is of the old. However in the community nobody talks about it and

Get Access