The Community In The Giver
Why is it always assumed that the community in The Giver is imaginary? A form of it exists in real life. Jonas, a seemingly ordinary boy living with his parents and sister, finds out that the community where he lives is not at all what it looks like, leading him to take an extraordinary journey.
Due to the existence of all-controlling governments, the real world is not completely removed from the dystopian worlds of The Giver and Nineteen Eighty-Four. People living under a Marxist-Leninist government’s rule may love and trust their (single) Party to a strange extent.
Citizens of The Giver’s community don’t have true feelings - parents and siblings are unrelated to them, chosen by a government-like body called the Elders. When children …show more content…
There are many stories, most famously Romeo and Juliet, about denied or forbidden love, which almost always ends negatively (in Romeo and Juliet, death for both). In totalitarian countries like China, though marriages are not ‘chosen’, people wishing to get married will have to consult the Party. One specification is that men have to be over 22 and women over …show more content…
In The Giver, all choices are controlled by a ‘higher power’, so that relationships dependent on this influence is weakened. Now, jobs are mainly decided by which subjects a student takes; if a student takes Physics for his M.D then he will likely become a Physicist.
The Giver’s community does not mention subjects - jobs are often ‘chosen’ based on where the child likes to volunteer. Note that this is not true volunteer work - children are forced to do it, threatened by the possibility of not receiving an assignment.
In The Giver, this level of control over the commoners may also be considered a breach of human rights.
But that’s not all there is to it. People’s thoughts are monitored, through dream-telling and telling of emotion, and even hidden cameras and speakers.
Near the start of the book, Jonas’ father asks at dinnertime: “Who wants to be the first tonight, for feelings?” (15)
Because it’s not as secretive and dark as the Thought Police in Nineteen Eighty-Four, children enjoy these sessions, sometimes even plead to go first, because to them it is just a ‘ritual’, a part of daily life. Citizens are brought up to be very honest, because of the cameras that observe everything. Offenders will be warned through the speakers, possibly causing
Due to the existence of all-controlling governments, the real world is not completely removed from the dystopian worlds of The Giver and Nineteen Eighty-Four. People living under a Marxist-Leninist government’s rule may love and trust their (single) Party to a strange extent.
Citizens of The Giver’s community don’t have true feelings - parents and siblings are unrelated to them, chosen by a government-like body called the Elders. When children …show more content…
There are many stories, most famously Romeo and Juliet, about denied or forbidden love, which almost always ends negatively (in Romeo and Juliet, death for both). In totalitarian countries like China, though marriages are not ‘chosen’, people wishing to get married will have to consult the Party. One specification is that men have to be over 22 and women over …show more content…
In The Giver, all choices are controlled by a ‘higher power’, so that relationships dependent on this influence is weakened. Now, jobs are mainly decided by which subjects a student takes; if a student takes Physics for his M.D then he will likely become a Physicist.
The Giver’s community does not mention subjects - jobs are often ‘chosen’ based on where the child likes to volunteer. Note that this is not true volunteer work - children are forced to do it, threatened by the possibility of not receiving an assignment.
In The Giver, this level of control over the commoners may also be considered a breach of human rights.
But that’s not all there is to it. People’s thoughts are monitored, through dream-telling and telling of emotion, and even hidden cameras and speakers.
Near the start of the book, Jonas’ father asks at dinnertime: “Who wants to be the first tonight, for feelings?” (15)
Because it’s not as secretive and dark as the Thought Police in Nineteen Eighty-Four, children enjoy these sessions, sometimes even plead to go first, because to them it is just a ‘ritual’, a part of daily life. Citizens are brought up to be very honest, because of the cameras that observe everything. Offenders will be warned through the speakers, possibly causing