Truth In The Giver

The First edition of the giver was written in 1993, Lois Lowry lived in Honolulu, Hawaii. Lois ended up graduating from New york City High school. She then spent two years at Brown University before dropping out to get married. The giver was seen as controversial by some for its violent themes sexual content and depiction of infanticide and euthanasia. Others however praised this book. People believe that she wrote this for children to let children know the future is in their hands. The giver was meant for children. No Lois didn’t intend to use stereotypes or show prejudice although some might take it that way. I could not find where the book was published.

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 begins to receive painful memories from the giver and he finally understands why the community would want to avoid such painful experiences. If people had these memories it would create choices, which can lead to many mistakes (Lowry 98). People could choose the wrong mate, the wrong job, and people could get angry which can lead to war. The elders, from a time long ago, did not want to worry about incidences like those happening; therefore they created a community with no memories or choices. So they gave all of their collective memories to a receiver of memory. Jonas, after a year of training

The Giver is written in Jonas’ point of view. Jonas is an eleven year old boy living in a special community. The community has eliminated all feelings and pain. Everyone in the community is polite and everyone is the same so there won’t be any differences between each other. In this community, when you are twelve, you will be assigned a job. In this case, Jonas was assigned as the receiver of memory. The community also has a giver, who has all the memory of feelings that everyone doesn’t have. Since the giver is getting old, Jonas will be learning from him and excluded from the rest of the community. He is able to ask questions that normal citizens weren’t able to.

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?

In the story, the wise old man is the Giver. The Giver’s mind is filled with good and bad memories. He is in charge of holding the memories from the community to avoid pain or suffering. He is the only one that is allowed to break certain rules. His power cannot be “given” to anyone except for a special person selected by the Elders. Jonas is that special person, he is the “receiver of memory”. So, the giver’s mission is to “give” Jonas the power of receiving all the memories. Also, he must share all his knowledge with Jonas so he can become the new “giver” in the community.

Can a society truly function without the social normative of gender? Lois Lowry begins to explore this idea in her text The Giver. This fictional society contains binary oppositions which paradoxically reinforce and redefine the gender norms. Gender is reinforced by the visual manifestations of girls, assumption of gender based on sex and alternative behaviour towards women. In opposition of these elements gender is redefined by the fulfilment of occupational roles of individuals and parental behaviour within a family unit. Together these elements question the perspective and construction of gender within the text.

As Jonas leaves the community, he learns being true to oneself takes great courage, knowledge is useless without memories, and love conquers all. In The Giver, readers notice being true to oneself takes great courage. In Jonas’s community, the government tries to control the citizen’s feelings by giving them pills.

Jonas changed throughout the story significantly; with his thoughts, actions, and words. Jonas was self-absorbed at the beginning and now he is selfless and very helpful to his community. He used to always joke around and not really care so much about what he did. Jonas later in the story was more serious about him and his future. Before, he was nervous about what was ahead of him as the Receiver of Memory, but now he is confident about it and knows what he is doing. Furthermore, Jonas always had to be truthful and could never lie without a consequence. The Giver and the Receiver of Memory, Jonas, are allowed to lie whenever they want and his training is confidential. Finally, he used to be very cautious about what he did and what he said,

You wouldn’t want to be lied to, would you? The Giver by Lois Lowry is set in the future and is about an 11 year old boy named Jonas who is anticipating his job assignment. Jonas faces many hardships in his community which include lies, loss, friendship, and a man called The Giver. I think that deception is a main theme in The Giver, because the people in the community are being lied to all day, everyday about very important things in their daily lives.

Jonas tries to change the community by running away and exposing the memories to the citizens of Jonas’s community. By escaping Jonas hopes to give the community real feelings, happiness, and most of all love. Jonas also wants to leave the community so he can find another non-utopian society that has love, music, feelings, differences, and pain. One example of this in the book is when Jonas receives the memory war and he wants to share the memories with the community so that he and the giver won’t be required to hold all of the pain. This example shows that Jonas wants to share his memories, good and bad to the rest of the community, so he can show them what pain, and real happiness is. Another example of what Jonas is trying to accomplish is on page 105 when Jonas says, “The snow was piled around it, and he pushed with his body, moving it forward, not wanting the exhilarating ride to end.” This page from the book shows that Jonas wants to be in a place where they actually have snow, hills, and sleds. These are two examples of what Jonas wants to accomplish by

In the book, the people of Jonas’s community does not experience emotions from the absence of certain memories that the officials decided to eliminate. This hinders the people of the community to feel any suffering in human history as well as the desire to engage in activities or relationships that could result in disorder or pain. Jonas is chosen to receive these hidden memories by The Giver to discover that the world he lives in is only the first layer to what is under beneath. The fact that the author made the storyline on how Jonas discovers these memories makes me cherish my own and how I am grateful for all that I have.

No memories! Nobody in Jonas’ community has memories. Thanks to the receiver. The receiver is there to store the memories of the community so there is nothing but peace. It’s believed that memories were dangerous and would cause conflict or create something opposite of their so called “utopia”.

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.

One time last year one of my friends told me a secret, and didn't want me to spill to anyone. And another on of my friends later asked me about it and i told them. My first friend got really upset and it hurt her. In the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry there was a young boy named Jonas who, when turned 12, was chosen to be the new giver. He had to hold all the information from the past lifestyles, and wasn't able to tell anyone. If Jonas tells anyone about the past life he can be punished, also it may change the whole area to a different lifestyle, which could end very bad. All together I can say that sometimes telling the truth is not the right choice.