The Giver By Lois Lowry: A Utopian Society

What is your idea of a utopian society? In “The Giver” by Lois Lowry, there is a community where everything is revolved around sameness. There are no emotions or colors and everyone is told what they are going to do in their life. Although our current society bears some similarities like the way families are run and the way others are treated there are numerous differences such as our feelings and emotions.
The Giver’s society is similar to our society in the way of running families. For example, the families have a mom and dad with 1 to 2 kids as most families in our society do. Another similarity is the comfort object kids get when they are born. In our society, most kids like to sleep with stuffed animals which is what the comfort objects

are. On the other hand, the families in The Giver’s society is different. To illustrate, on page 8 of “The Giver” Lily recalls a rule, “Two children—one male, one female—to each family unit.” This differs from our society because there is no limit on the amount of children you can have. Another key difference is the emotions displayed by the family. Ordinarily, a family in our current society will express their love to each other. In “The Giver” their society does not have emotion. So, instead of saying “I love you” they say “I enjoy you” as shown on page 127. In conclusion, “The Giver” is similar and different in our society when it comes to family by the number of kids a family can have, a family’s emotion toward each other, and the security of a plush toy.
The way we treat people in our life is similar to “The Giver” and their society. In the first place, we treat our elders with respect as we are expected to do so. This is the same as “The Giver” because of the way they help the old such as, volunteering to bathe them as seen on page 29. Another similarity is our morals. Our society disapproves of lying and rude acts as well as The Giver’s society. As an illustration, on page 69 of “The Giver” Jonas is exempt from two rules, “From this moment you are exempted from rules governing rudeness.” and “You may lie.” To repeat, our society frowns upon rudeness and lying similarly to “The Giver.” On the contrary, our society has different treatment for people. In “The Giver” there is a term called release, which is injecting something into a person, resulting in their death. There are 4 different reasons why a person can get released. If a newborn does not grow fast enough, when an elder becomes too old, punishment for a wrongdoing, and applying are these reasons. This differs from our society because we keep the child, even if they are not growing fast enough because of our morals and we do not murder an elder because they are too old. Instead, we let them live their life. As shown above, our morals and treatment of the elderly and young compare and contrast to “The Giver’s” society.
While differences between our society and “The Giver’s” are noticeable such as our affection toward others, the similarities such as our family and morals are shocking. Ultimately, there are various similarities and differences between “The Giver” and our current society. Our society is better than “The Giver’s” because of how we have emotion to express ourselves. On the contrary, “The Giver’s” society is safer because there is no violence or hatred. Overall, the society that I would rather live in is our current society because of these similarities and differences.