The Giver Culture Analysis

With seven point one two five billion people living on planet earth that perpetuates for an uncountable amount of different possible cultures. Culture is not always a designated group of people with a title, but the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by anything from language, social habits, cuisine, religion, music and arts. Culture is a very unique and thing and can be very valuable or restricting. Just a few unique examples of cultures are Amish culture, culture within the book known as the Giver, and even Cochrane, Alberta.

Between all three of these cultures education is a decently important factor, especially in Cochrane and in the Giver. Within the Giver they have extremely strict education practices.

Their early training focuses on teaching children to be obedient and use language properly, but as you get older they focus more and more on working towards making the children as similar as possible. Quite similar to that, Cochrane schools have education programs which began at a young age (usually five) and follow through to grade twelve. Each year you learned the required skills to exceed to the next year, along with many life lessons along the way. Meanwhile the Amish are only educated to the eighth grade, as they believe that the basic knowledge offered up to that point is sufficient enough to prepare one for the Amish lifestyle. Within all three of these cultures it is easy to tell that educating children is a often taught practice throughout many cultures, and is believed to teach you many skills for your future.

Throughout the world people have many different ways to view our world, and believe and practice a huge selection of beliefs and traditions. Unlike the other two cultures, within the Giver the goal is to make everyone as similar as possible, because “sameness” is the overall goal. So with that, something like religion and beliefs would clashe the idea. The people who live in the community believe it is super safe and protective, but really everything they do and say is being monitored, as they do not want people to think differently. On the other hand Cochrane has a great acceptance of different cultures and religions. Our town does not have one distinct culture, but a dense part of our population practices Christianity within the multiple Christian based schools, and the wide spread of churches. Similar to this the Amish are Protestant Christians who believe in pacifism, adult baptism, the separation of church and state, and the importance of the community to faith. So in a way the Amish and Cochranes religion and beliefs are very similar, but on the other side there is the contrast of Giver where they live with no religion what so ever.

In the century we live in today many cultures have greatly accepted the advances of technology, but not all cultures.

The Amish do not fully accept the modern conveniences surrounding the world around them. Although It is accepted within Amish communities to use some forms of technologies like forms of electricity such as battery power for the lights on their buggies, machinery such as tractors without rubber tires, it is a confined subject. However within the book the Giver the community is being monitored under an extremely advanced system. This system has taken away all things that can harm them, created pills to take away unwanted feelings and placed speakers in all area to monitor their every move. Not quite as advanced as this but somewhat similar Cochrane has technology to a extend. We have advanced phones, computers and so much more. With all these technologies being created to make life “easier” people are beginning to second think these things, because although they're great they are taking things away like there children's playtime. So although these cultures have very versatile feelings about technique it is still used to an extend, some more than

others.

In spite of the fact that these cultures may appear to be polar opposites as the Amish are more old fashioned, Cochrane is more modern , and in the Giver they are almost a utopian society all three are really quite similar.

They all have their own practices and traditions but underneath of that they all connect in some sort of way. All three cultures have a consistent way of perpetrating education, practicing different beliefs, and using some ways of technology. In all it is very interesting to see all of the similarities and differences between the cultures, and I think it is very important to expose people to the different life styles people can have because it shows the acceptance and the varied practices people in our world really

have.