Preview

The Giver

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1050 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Giver
A Closer Look at the Sameness
Can you imagine a world without pain, warfare, poverty, hunger, or terror? Sounds pretty good so far, right? Now, take away feelings, love, diversity, choices, and even the ability to see colours. It doesn't sound so great anymore, does it? Some people may consider such a place a utopia, shielding its inhabitants from all evil; others would say it is a dystopia, in which no one has the right to speak out, have choices, or to love one another. In the novel, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, a 12-year-old boy called Jonas finds himself in a dystopia when he realizes that there is more to life outside of his sheltered community. Although the people of Jonas' community know no different than their way of life, the society is a dystopia, rather than a utopia. " 'It wasn't a practical thing, so it became obsolete when we went to the Sameness.' " (84) The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is told from the perspective of a twelve-year-old boy named Jonas growing up in a Utopian society. At the Ceremony of Twelve,where every Twelve receives their life-long occupation. Jonas finds out he has been selected to be the Receiver of Memory, the most honored of Elders. The current Receiver, called Giver by Jonas, transfers memories of pain, joy, feelings, and color to him. As he receives each memory, he yearns for a life outside of the one he has been trapped in for so long. This book proves that being "perfect" is not as great as it sounds. The Sameness, what the Utopian society Jonas lives in was based upon, has no real benefits to the community because there are no feelings, no diversity, and no choices.

Everyone in Jonas' community feels the same way towards each other, which means that they have no feelings. This makes it harder for them to have empathy. " 'It was your first Stirrings...you're ready for the pills.'....he swallowed the pill...the feelings had disappeared. The Stirrings were gone." (37-39) This quote is evidence that there are no feelings in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Giver Movie Vs Book

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Many years from now there lies a community free from pain and suffering. Yet, it is trapped with no love or color and there is no freedom or choices. Memories of these things are all but gone except for the ones that were passed on to the Giver. The Giver decides to share his memories with a boy named Jonas. Jonas wants to share the memories with the other members of the community so they can understand things such as killing is wrong. This adventure packed mysterious tale of life without memories was originally written as a novel and later adapted to a movie. The book and movie have many differences yet they are also the same in many ways.…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine shutting away the memories in one’s mind; covering them with a cloak, never to be seen again. The brain could spend hours searching, tearing itself apart before adapting and becoming numb to the feelings and moments from the past. This is the case for the numerous communities in Lois Lowry’s The Giver. By masterfully twisting together the idea of the the community’s lack of wisdom, the suffering of the Giver and his trainee, Jonas, and finally the lack of human bonds, Lois Lowry writes a tale of loneliness and heartache. Through words, she proves to the reader that memories are meant to be shared.…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Giver is about an eleven-year-old boy named Jonas is a light-eyed boy who lives in a Utopian society. Within his society, there is no suffering, no hunger, no war, no color, and no love. There is no uniqueness and everyone is, in essence, the same. No one leaves the community unless they are released, which normally only happens to elderly adults, sick infants, or those choosing to break the rules. When the children turn twelve, they are assigned professions. Jonas was skipped when it was his turn to receive a profession, and at the end of the ceremony he is selected to be The Receiver of Memory. He is the apprentice of The Giver, an elderly man that was the former receiver, which gives him memories of humanity. Jonas gets to experience things like color, emotion, landscapes, passion, all things that are not present in his community. Even though he gets to experience good things like sledding down a hill, he is also exposed to war and death. All of this new knowledge causes Jonas to feel a need to rebel. No one in his community has ever felt any of the things he has recently experienced, and this makes him wonder what else his community is keeping from…

    • 2222 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lois Lowry’s book, The Giver, fits into the thesis that dystopia and utopia are all dependent on perspective. The story takes place in a futuristic representation of the world where all knowledge of past wars, grief, rebellion and imbalance has been stored and only accessible to ‘The Giver’. Lying is forbidden and in retrospect, all citizens are equal. Family units are never bound by blood as sexual intercourse is also forbidden amongst the people in order to further encourage equality. Within the story, the normal, everyday citizens are in the illusion that their world is absolutely perfect as everything is tailored to fit into the visual representation of perfection. ‘The Giver’ is able to see past this, to see how humanity has lost its individuality and freedom of expression. The Giver is then given an apprentice, Jonas, who is also the main protagonist within the story. Jonas has internal conflicts throughout the progression of the story as the realization that the world once thought of as perfect and carefree was sugar coated to in order to hide the reality of lost culture and heritage that was intentionally thrown away in place of a generalization of equality and world peace. Jonas finds contradictions in the once thought-to-be utopian society that eventually is seen as dystopian in the eyes of the ‘The Giver’ and its…

    • 972 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel, The Giver, by Lois Lowry a utopian society in the future promotes efficiency by limiting freedoms. The main character Jonas gets chosen to be receiver of memory where he receives all the memories in the world so the people of the community do not have to bear them. Lowry demonstrates that love is more important than conformity through Jonas’s understanding of the community's structure, release, and his love for Gabriel.…

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Giver

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it [the apple] your eyes will be opened and you be like gods who know what is good and what is bad.” Genesis 3:5…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Giver describes a society in search of perfection, which is a recurring theme in literature. Somebody in Jonas’s society decided that eliminating or limiting choices and feeling, among other things, would ultimately create a perfect place in which to live. By eliminating and/or limiting choices and feelings, the creators were able to implement Sameness, which would then provide a conflict-less environment in which to exist.…

    • 2420 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Loneliness In The Giver

    • 236 Words
    • 1 Page

    Have you ever thought of having a world with no pain, loneliness, or love? Well in the book The Giver, by Lois Lowry Jonas never thought of a world with it. His world was perfect. Until the day he turned twelve. Jonas had been given a job to work with The Giver. All is well until JOnas has to have the things in life he never knew of, even though those emotions are why Jonas has become the person he did at the end of the book. The GIver shows how valuable emotions like pain, loneliness, and love can change a person.…

    • 236 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Giver

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In your opinion, is the community in The Giver a utopia or a dystopia? Like many countries such as North Korea or Cuba, the community appears to be a dystopia. The environment of the community may seem impractical, however, there are many places like this in the real world.…

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine a world devoid of colour and emotion, a world without individuality. This is the kind of world that Jonas lived in, a world where no one knows their real parents, where they don't celebrate birthdays, where they don't truly know all of the joys of life. That was all Jonas knew; at least, until he was selected as the new Receiver. Suddenly, Jonas had so many memories, memories of the past and what it used to be like, and he started to realize that his society wasn't all he thought it to be. In the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry, Jonas learns that those who don't take risks will never grow, without memories knowledge is useless, and that he needs to be true to what he believes in.…

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Giver

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Outside the community Jonas can make start a fresh life. Many people don't take advantage of the opportunities they are given. In this story Jonas took the opportunity to start a new life in a different community. More people need to take these opportunities…

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Giver

    • 983 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Giver by Lois Lowry is a directive novel about how structured lifestyle could lead to absence of being a true human. In a lifestyle of freedom, people are not mainly subjected to how they should feel and also what to have feelings for. For instance, in a country like United States, as a citizen you have the right to freedom which is stated in its Constitution. In such, there is little to no infringement as to what you choose to believe in or have feelings for. Gustave Flaubert once said ‘the more humanity advances, the more it is degraded’. This novel clearly clarifies the meaning of Flaubert’s quote. In their habitat called the Community, the people have cultivated the concept of “Sameness”. This refers to their beliefs in everything being of the same nature and life. Everyone looks the same with no differentiation between color and race. The only depictions of differences among people were by age or future assignments.…

    • 983 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Giver Essay

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How would you like to wake up every day and not have any choice in what you wear? That is what it is like for the members of Jonas’s community in The Giver by Lois Lowry. The community’s main goal is for everyone and everything to be exactly the same. The community in The Giver eliminates freedom of choice and promotes sameness by choosing jobs for the Twelves, choosing spouses for the community members, and eliminating any and all differences in the community.…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lois Lowry's The Giver introduces the reader to the perception of a perfect society based on sameness. The story revolves around young boy named Jonas living in a "perfect" world called The Community where there is no pain, war, or fear. The weather and every citizens emotions are under control. To everyone living there, the community might seem like the perfect place to "live", but they never get to experience what it truly is to live. The creators of Jonas's community created a society based on their idea of a utopia, when in reality it is not perfect at all. Specifically, the ideas of no freedoms, no diversity, and no pleasure are examples of dystopian characteristics.…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Giver

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In The Giver I believe that in Jonas’ community they live in a dystopia. The book gives me many reasons to believe so.…

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays