The Giver By Lois Lowry

The giver by Lois Lowry was an interesting book to say the least. In the beginning you are lead to believe these are normal kids and characters, possibly in the future, but in pretty much the same state of mind as our definition of “human” today. As the book goes on, you are slowly let in on details, like the characters can not see color, and that the parents are not biological parents, and everything is organized and decided for the characters in the book. The author did a great job of slowly bringing us into the world of sameness quite the same way the giver slowly brought Jonas into the world of memories. I believe the subject of the book is the Importance of the Individual. As corny as it sounds, we spend much of our life trying to be just like everyone else. I think Lois Lowry wrote this entire novel just to show how horrible it would be if everyone was the same as everyone else.

Jonas, after the Ceremony, now realizes that he will be different then the rest of his friends, “Now, for the first time in his twelve years of life, Jonas felt separate, different.”(62) Jonas now is different then other kids. He realizes that his assignment has different requirements than the other children. He also learns he has the power of “seeing beyond”. Jonas saw Jonas and his friends playing a game of war , and then realized, “In his mind, Jonas saw again the face of the boy who had lain dying on the field and had begged him for water.”(126) Jonas, with the memory of war, understands that the game war is the same as the memory of the boy who was lying on the ground dying. He realizes that things that seemed harmless, now seem so scary and sad. Also, when Jonas and the Giver first meet each other and start talking about different things and the Giver says this,“Jonas, you and I are the only ones who have feelings.”(144-145) It's easy to think that being different or thinking differently is ok, but when you look at the facts, Jonas and the Giver have no one to share how they feel with, or what they are experiencing in the training. The Giver says that he and Jonas are the only ones who will feel feelings. In the community everything is perfect there is no wrong and no differences. Jonas will feel different about life because he will have memories of imperfect

In the novel “The Giver,” written by Lois Lowry, Jonas is a boy who follows the rules, spends time with friends and family, goes to school, and at the Twelves Ceremony is given the job as the Receiver of Memory. At the end of the novel, Jonas learns information that makes him leave the community to save the people he loves. As Jonas becomes older, he acknowledges that he is different from his family and the people surrounded by him. Once Jonas got his assignment as the Receiver of Memory, his maturity became inconsistent throughout the novel.

One way the setting of the book The Giver by Lois Lowry creates conflict for the community is the rule that only the receiver is allowed to hold memories from the past. The giver tells Jonas that he gets asked for advice very rarely by the chief elder and if he had more of a say in most of the decisions for the community, he could use his knowledge to bring changes. The giver explains why the memories must be held onto, “ ‘Why do you and I have to hold these memories?’ ‘It gives us wisdom.’ the giver replied”( pg 139-140). This shows that wisdom is only possessed by Jonas and the giver because only they share memories. The lack of wisdom in the other citizens causes them to make decisions that may not be beneficial.

In this story a young boy named Jonas becomes the next receiver within his utopian society. The Giver takes place in a society with the government having a totalitarianistic approach to life where the Committee of Elders is in control. The society is like a heaven on earth; referring to the Garden of Eden from the religious perspective. At first look, The Giver is displayed as the perfect utopian society upon further inspection it is identified as rather a dystopian

Riyad Fahmi Jonathon LaRosa Language Arts 4th Period 3/11/2024 The Giver Essay Imagine yourself waking up everyday doing the same thing and having somebody all the time telling you to do things they want you to do. This is how life is for Jonas in his society. He has a lack of power and freedom to do what he wants to make himself happy. Jonas’s community used to be a pleasant place to live, now it has transformed into a dictatorship led by elders who strive to create their version of a “perfect” world while disregarding all the past joyful and delightful memories such as love, snow, sledding, and others. This transformation has changed the community.

Imagine living in a world with no change : same clothing, same weather every day, same haircut, same birthday as everyone else, and you don’t get to pick your job or spouse. How would that feel? Well, that's the point this society doesn’t feel. Jonas is the main character of the book The Giver by Lois Lowry and he lives in a utopia community. Jonas knows no different though, he was born into this society, but one day, everything changes for Jonas. Jonas changes throughout The Giver and as a result, tries to change the Community.

"It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened. " In the novel, "The Giver", by Lois Lowry, young Jonas was a normal child. Everything changed when he turned twelve. He was choosed to be the special one. Jonas, as a result of the conflict with the beginning of his life's story to the end of the novel.

In The Giver Louis Lowry created a perfect world so different from our world today. Each member of the community has their place and they are not to stray from it. The story follows an eleven named Jonas as he becomes a twelve and gets his job assignment. At Jonas’s ceremony of the twelves

Jonas changes from a completely acquiescent kid to a wise, and mature young man throughout the book. At the start of the book he's simply a standard eleven in his community. Jonas solely will do what he's told and does not question things, however he's terribly introverted and thoughtful. Throughout the Ceremony Of Twelve the Chief Elder describes Jonas. He's has integrity, is intelligent, has courage, wisdom and obedience. Once he receives his rules he is aware that he's totally different from his classmates. His rules are short and embrace weird ones just like the ability

”(62)Jonas being alone and apart is a punishment because he would not be able to talk to anyone but the Giver. Meanwhile, Lois Lowry says, “He is to be alone, apart, while he is prepared by the current Receiver for the job which is the utmost honored in our community. ”(58) People might expect that training with the Giver isn’t a punishment because he has someone to train with, and not train completely alone. Still, Jonas is being punished even though he is training with someone, because training with one person isn’t enough and eventually he will not consider the Giver is vigorous enough help.

In the film The Giver, Jonas is a eleven-year-old boy living in a somewhat Utopian community. A place where everything is regulated so that the unexpected never happens. In his society everyone has a perfect family, the perfect job and perfect weather. A place where sameness is a key concept within the community. There is a ceremony that happens every year in the community, this ceremony (ceremony of twelves) symbolizes a child coming of age, growing up, becoming an adult.

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?

The result is, as praised by Jonas’ family unit, that the decisions the Elders make are never incorrect or unsuitable. They seem omniscient, and this strengthens their claim to power, their right to make decisions for the whole community as they are excellent at it. As has been shown above, the novel contains various forms of oppression. In order for “people” to express their individuality and humanity, freedom of choice is essential. Dehumanization is observed in The Giver’s society, and life within the communities becomes deformed, manipulated, and far from being a utopia. Infact, due to all the dehumanization, fear, surveillance and inequality shown in this society, it now strongly resembles dystopian one.

How would it feel if this world didn’t let people have choices, didn’t let people share, or if they didn’t let people celebrate birthdays, holidays, or just celebrate anything? Well that’s what it was like for Jonas in The Giver. Jonas lives in the future in a community where The Giver is the only one who knows everything, but soon all that changed for Jonas. He became the the community 's new Receiver of Memory, and soon Jonas learns the terrible secrets of this “utopian” community. Later on as he learns some more about the community’s secrets he makes a plan to leave the community, and to take Gabe with him so he wouldn’t get released.(which means they die, but the community doesn’t understand that) In this book choices, sharing, and celebrations would have made The Giver community more positive.