Strict Rules In The Giver

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Strict Rules Strict Life In the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry, the author portrays a utopian society where important items such as emotions, customs, and diversity are lost and forgotten. Universal feelings such as love and hatred are eliminated from Jonas’s community. Jonas is the main protagonist in The Giver. Throughout his journey from a regular twelve year old to the most important citizen in his community, Jonas learns about many important themes, such as the important of love, sameness versus diversity, and the role of memories. Firstly, sameness verses diversity is an essential theme in The Giver. In a society where everything is represented the same, the slightest difference is found with the consequence of death. Sadly, if a citizen …show more content…

Love is a word lost in time in this society. Citizens do not use the word perhaps because they may not know the meaning of the word. When Jonas asked his own parents do they love him, they chuckled and told him to pay attention to “precision of language”. Families do not exist. Members of the community have to apply for a family unit which consists of one son, one father, one mother, and one daughter. Never the less, not a single emotion to be shown. As Gabriel was not sleeping properly after the father was taking care of him and giving Gabriel another chance at life, he carelessly votes for Gabriel’s release. Overall, no intimacy is shown for family. Each member of the family are almost forced to bond. They are just random member of the community that are chosen for a family unit. If the one of the members of the family unit were to pass away the society would just hold a ceremony and go on with their lives. Lastly, the role of memories in the society shows how we take for granted many things. In the society, citizens do not have the opportunity to remember or to learn about the memories from our history. Jonas leaves the community because of the loneliness of the memories, he wants to be able to share the memories with

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