Dystopia In The Giver By Lois Lowry

Lois Lowry’s book,The Giver,is an imperfect world. This may be considered as a dystopia. Jonas’s community has an illusion of being perfect. A dystopia is an ideal futuristic place and Jonas’s community matches that definition. Jonas’s community is a dystopia because of their complete control,ignorance,and sameness.
First,in Jonas’s community they have complete control. They have control over the climate,the curfew,citizens choice of spouse,and the citizens who cannot keep their own kids. For example,the climate,if it were to be anything other than sunny their crops will die and there will be accidents on roads. On page 80 of The Giver it says,’’Climate control. Snow made growing food difficult,limited the agricultural periods. And unpredictable

weather almost made transportation impossible at times.’’ This is evidence that the community in The Giver has control over climate. They also have control over curfew. An example of curfew was when Asher had to be on time for school but was late. On page 5 it says,’’Jonas grinned,remembering the morning Asher had dashed into the classroom,late as usual,arriving breathlessly in the middle of chanting the morning anthem. When the class took their seats at the conclusion of the patriotic hymn,Asher remained standing to make his public apology as was required.’’ The community in The Giver has complete control.
In addition,their community has lack of knowledge,ignorance.

Their community does not know many things,their education ends at age 12,the receiver of memory only knows the past,and they do not know where they go once someone has been released. In their community at age 12 you are no longer a child,which means your school education stops and you get your job. On page 67 it says,’’What if others-adults-had,upon becoming twelves,received in their instructions the same terrifying sentence.’’ The receiver of memory is the only one who knows the past. On page 73 it says,’’’Simply stated.’he said,’Although it’s not really simple at all,my job is to transmit to you all the memories I have within me. Memories of the past.’’ This states that the Giver has the memories of the past,and is going to give them to Jonas. In Jonas’s community they do not realize that when someone is “released’’ they are killed. The citizens think they go somewhere else. On page 32 it says,’’’Larrissa,’he asked,’What happens when they make the actual release? Where exactly did Roberto go?...’I don’t know. I don’t think anybody does except the committee’’ This shows Jonas and one of the old talking about how they don’t know where they go once someone has been released. In Jonas’s community they have lack of

knowledge,ignorance.
Furthermore,Jonas’s community is living in sameness. Sameness is where everyone is is the same with no differences,perfection. Their sameness includes no color and they are all identical. In Jonas’s community they have no color in sameness. On page 89 it says,”’How to explain? Once, back in the time of memories,everything had a shape and size,the way things still do,but they also had a quality called color.’’ This example is stating that before sameness they had shape,size,and color. The citizens are also all identical,there are no differences. On page 20 Lily is mentioning how Gabriel looked like Jonas,she says,’’Maybe he had the same birthmother as you.’’ In this example Lily is saying Gabriel and Jonas look identical. Jonas’s community is living in sameness.
In conclusion,Jonas’s community is a dystopia because of their complete control,ignorance,and their sameness. They have many rules and regulations required in their control. They have an ignorance to their education and the receiver of memory only knows the memories of the past. Last they have sameness. They are all alike to each other. The community in The Giver is a dystopia.