The Giver Should Not Be Censored

1121 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Censorship and education

Lois Lowry's The Giver Should Not be Censored

Parents in modern society routinely attempt to shield their children from what they view as evils of the world. Adults censor television they watch, conversations they have, and books they read. In so doing, parents feel that they are guarding their children from knowledge that they may not be emotionally capable of handling. However, it also is imperative in the highly competitive atmosphere of modern society for youth to become prepared for the pressures of adulthood. Ironically, the dangerous knowledge parents believe they are hiding from their children inevitably is learned through exposure. In the domain of literature, a parent may feel that a particular book attracts attention …show more content…

In current society, many people notice only the unfortunate portions of their lives. These pessimists ignore the abundance of good surrounding them; taking for granted all that is there. In The Giver, the characters are not provided opportunities to focus on negative aspects of their lives. They do not consciously have any. The intention of creating a utopia is to protect the inhabitants from any problems they might otherwise encounter. In an early discussion with the Giver, Jonas concludes that "`We really have to protect people from wrong choices... [It's] much safer'" (99). However, it is with the progression of his training as Receiver of Memories that Jonas learns the impact of the sacrifices his community makes. After receiving a memory of a family celebrating together, Jonas speculates with the Giver about the emotional potential of the situation. He contemplates "`The family in the memory seemed... complete... I liked the feeling of love... I wish we still had that... Of course...I can see that it was a dangerous way to live'" (126). Jonas greatly enjoys the emotions that accompany life Elsewhere, although he recognizes their inherent risks. Using the knowledge he has accumulated from the Giver's memories, Jonas wisely concludes that the hurt and pain are worthwhile because of the good that also emerges when life is lived

Show More
Related

  • Literary Devices In A Barred Owl By Richard Wilbur And Collins

    935 Words  | 2 Pages

    Are adults overprotective of their children? To what point do we protect children? Where should the line be drawn? Along with those questions is how easily children can be influenced by these same adults. Two poets, Richard Wilbur and Billy Collins, express the ideas of how easily children can be manipulated and how sometimes adults think they are protecting their innocent children, when in reality they are not. Wilbur and Collins express these ideas in their poems through numerous literary devices. The literary devices used by Wilbur and Collins expose different meanings and two extremely different end results. Among the various literary devices used, Wilbur uses imagery, a simple rhyme scheme and meter, juxtaposition of the rational and irrational, and a humorous tone to represent the narrator’s attempt to “domesticate” irrational fears. Conversely Collins uses symbols, historical interpretations, imagery, diction and other literary devices to depict the history teacher’s effort to shield his students from reality. In the poems, “A Barred Owl,” by Richard Wilbur, and “The History Teacher,” by Billy Collins, both poets convey how adults protect and calm children from their biggest, darkest fears and curiosities.

    Read More

  • Theodore Geisel's Emergence as Dr. Seuss

    3876 Words  | 8 Pages

    Through over forty-two books Dr. Seuss has been able to encourage children to seek delight in reading and has opened the minds of successive generations. He designed books that inspire children to learn through entertainment, by providing according to Steven Brezzo, Director of the San Diego Museum of Art, "a fantastic refuge of wacky characters, convoluted logic, and silly vocabulary." The accomplishments of Dr. Seuss are far-ranging: not only did he resurrect the pleasure of reading for children, and inspire them to think creatively, but he taught many a moral lesson to us during what researchers have discovered are our most formative years. We have learned tolerance and consideration, individuality and compromise, and even morality concerning the ideology of nuclear armament(The Butter Battle Book, 1984) and materialistic society's effect upon the natural world(The Lorax, 1971). These lessons were often taught subtly, subconsciously embracing our young psyche, for as children Dr. Seuss was primarily a wonderful synonym for fanciful adventures that showed us a life we could create beyond reality, where having fun was paramount. For many ...

    Read More

  • Comparing In Our World and the World of The Giver

    800 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Giver provides a chance that readers can compare the real world with the society described in this book through some words, such as release, Birthmothers, and so on. Therefore, readers could be able to see what is happening right now in the real society in which they live by reading her fiction. The author, Lowry, might build the real world in this fiction by her unique point of view.

    Read More

  • Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn

    1711 Words  | 4 Pages

    Huck Finn. Huckleberry Finn or Huck Fin is the protagonist of the story. A dynamic character, he is a liar and sometimes a thief. In Tom Sawyer's book, he is a vagabond with a drunkard father. In this book, he starts as a ward to Miss Watson and Widow Douglas. He is afraid of responsibilities and being civilized. Everything that he is changed, when his father kidnapped him and he ran away. He became responsible and loyal to the slave Jim whom he freed from slavery.

    Read More

  • Awareness versus Ignorance

    1389 Words  | 3 Pages

    Children are common group of people who are generally mislabeled by society. In the short story “Charles’’ by Shirley Jackson and ‘’The Open Window” by Saki showed examples of the labeling of children. In “Charles” the concept of parents labeling their children as being pure and sincere was shown. As in “The Open Window” by Saki “used the notion that girls were the most truthful sex and gives her a name that suggests truthfulness to make her tale less suspect.”(Wilson 178). According to Welsh “Because the fantasy is so bizarre and inventive and totally unexpected from a fifteen-year-old girl, the reader is momentarily duped.”(03). This showed that even we as the readers were a victim of misleading labels of society.

    Read More

  • Racism In Huck Finn

    1498 Words  | 3 Pages

    “A child should not have to read something they don’t feel comfortable with”, said Kathy Monteiro (Born to Trouble)

    Read More

  • The Variations in Little Red Riding Hood

    3623 Words  | 8 Pages

    Fairy tales are under attack in the United States from both right- and left-oriented pressure groups. (Ravitch, 62-96) From the left, the charges include sexism, stereotyping, distortion, and anti-humanism. (Ravitch, 84) From the right, the charges include immorality and objections to the portrayal of violence, death, and the supernatural. In addition, some critics claim that the tales terrify their children. (Ravitch, 76). In The Language Police, Diane Ravitch claims that both groups understand the importance of putting pressure on state textbook adoption committees, and that, as a result of such pressure, most major publishers are simply dropping the tales from the textbooks they sell to schools. (77-78) Thus parents who assume, or would prefer that, their children are reading traditional fairy tales in school may find themselves mistaken.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Racism In Huck Finn

    1080 Words  | 3 Pages

    The character that ultimately presents a more important challenge to the original readers of Mark Twain’s novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn would be Jim because he befriends a poor thirteen-year-old boy named Huck, alongside his journey to set free and is one of the main characters who shows no mercy to what he stands for as a person. He is a black man, who is a slave to Miss Watson’s household but soon flees for his life and becomes a runaway slave. He is also an intelligent, practical and ambitious man who longs for his family especially his daughter but he must find ways of accomplishing his goals without incurring the wrath of those who could turn him in.

    Read More

  • The Adventures Of Huck Finn

    1632 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida . At age four, his family of nine moved to the banks of the Mississippi River in Hannibal , Missouri . His family was happy there but not all of his memories of the river were particularly pleasant. Because Missouri was one of the fifteen slave states it was subject to racism and Twain grew up witnessing lynchings, mobs, racism and general inhumane treatment of African Americans. One of Twain’s most horrible memories was “the murder of a defenseless slave by a ruthless slave master and of course, the grim sight of shackled slaves was itself a near-constant along the docks of the river” (Howard). The sightings at the river were not Twain’s only experience around African American slaves though as his own father and uncle both owned slaves. “When Twain visited his uncle’s farm, he enjoyed playing in the slave quarters and listening to their tall tales and spirituals, which he kept with him throughout his life” (http://www.marktwainhouse.org/theman/bio.shtml) When Twain left the South forever, he felt that it was his duty to pay back the debt he felt ever white man owed to every black man because of all the cruelness he had seen done to them. Even though the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a sequel to the light hearted novel Tom Sawyer, it shows the darker aspects of growing up next to the Mississippi river in a slave state (Howard).

    Read More

  • Scout's Childhood Simplicity in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird

    634 Words  | 2 Pages

    The adult world is a cold and terrifying place. There are robberies, shootings, murders, suicides, and much more. If you were to be a small child, perhaps age 5, and you were to look in at this world, you would never know how bad it actually was, just from a single glance. Children have a small slice of ignorant bliss, which helps to keep them away from the harsh of reality. It isn’t until later, when they encounter something that opens their eyes and shows them, that they truly start to understand the world we live it. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird shows the many differences between the simplicity of being a kid and the tough decisions and problems that adults must face every day.

    Read More

  • The 7 Levels Of Change

    1082 Words  | 3 Pages

    The 7 Levels of Change provides a different way of thinking to enhance behaviors and processes. The author demonstrates throughout the book a seven process of change that builds upon the next. He believes that by thinking differently, being creative and stepping out of the norm is the catalyst to solutions and results beyond one’s expectations. Although the author uses the analogy of a new work environment to expound on the level of changes, the fundamentals can be used in both your personal and professional life.

    Read More

  • Paradise Lost And Mean Girls Essay

    429 Words  | 1 Pages

    John Milton’s epic Paradise Lost and Mark Water’s movie Mean Girls display how different parental styles affect children. Parents are important characters in all works, whether it be a novel, play, movie, epic, or television show. As a result of the many mediums in which parents are portrayed, often different representations of parents can appear. This is the case with Paradise Lost and Mean Girls. Not only do these works showcase the different ways parental figures govern over children, but they also show how the reactions children have to these controls can be very similar even in different situations. As is apparent with the parent and/or divine leader roles of God the Father and Satan in Paradise Lost and Mrs. George and Mr. and Mrs. Heron in Mean Girls. An analysis of both Paradise Lost and Mean Girls

    Read More

  • Media Violence Does NOT Cause Violent Behavior

    2929 Words  | 6 Pages

    As a culture, again with religious fundamentalist and perhaps politically-correct feminist exceptions, we pretty much take these literary forms for granted in terms of their violent and seemingly antisocial content. Parents lovingly read their children to sleep with images of forced drudgery, painful mutilations, and vengeful retribution. Teachers and preachers alike use these quasi-historical and metaphorical tales of aggression and hostility to inspire and enlighten. Little thought, if any, is given to the possibility that we are putting dangerous ideas into the heads of our youth that will result in violent displays of antisocial mayhem. And, in fact, there seems to be little evidence that this true. For the most part, our children seem to have a healthy relationship to these stories in which the violence and sexuality does tend to help th...

    Read More

  • Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    961 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Pre-Civil War novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is about a young boy named Huck. His mother is dead and his father is an alcoholic. Huck is now being raised by the Widow Douglass, a woman who is attempting to raise Huck to be a successful, educated member of society, despite his many protests. Because of the violence and forced conformity, Huck runs away and unites with a runaway slave named Jim. Instead of turning Jim in, Huck decides to help him break free from slavery. By doing this, he is going against the societal norm and refusing to follow certain rules just because that’s what everyone else is doing. As they run away together, Huck begins to notice and understand the common stereotypes within society. He rebels and goes against society in his attitudes and philosophies. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain explores why humans follow ridiculous ideas just because they are the societal norms by pointing out the hypocrisy within society’s ideals, incorporating satirical examples about religion, education, and slavery into his novel.

    Read More

  • Adventures of Tom Sawyer

    758 Words  | 2 Pages

    The book ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,’ begins with Aunt Polly, Tom’s aunt, searching for Tom Sawyer around the house. When she catches his, she asks if he went swimming during school, and Tom denied it. She finds out that he is lying, but before she can do anything, Tom runs away fast. Tom Sawyer meets a new boy in the village, who he fights. When returning home, Aunt Polly catches him sneaking in and punishes him the next day. On Saturday Tom is forced to paint the fence white. He was too lazy so he for others to do it for the price of any object they had with them. He then comes to the realization that making things more difficult and harder to attain makes it more desirable for others. When he told his Aunt about him finishing the fence, she checked to see if he did it all, and was shocked. Tom got an apple as a reward then went for a walk. On his walk, he saw a new girl at Jeff Thatcher’s house, she is so angelic – like that he forgets the girl he liked, Amy Lawrence. When at home his Aunt Polly beats up Tom because his half-brother, Sid, dropped the sugar jar. The next day, Tom goes to Sunday school and shows-off by asking Mr. Walters for a Bible because he had ten red tickets. He did this to show-off in front of Judge Thatcher, Becky Thatcher’s father. Tom introduces himself to Judge Thatcher and answers his questions about the Bible. Because Tom is bored at Sunday school, he begins to watch the poodle and the pinch bug, this keeps him occupied during his boredom. Tom refuses to go to school on Monday morning, so he attempts to make up excuses and fake an injury, which does not work. On the way to school, he meets Huckleberry Finn, the town-drunks son, and they both arrange for them to meet at night to bury the dead cat Hu...

    Read More

More about The Giver Should Not Be Censored

Open Document