The Giver Knowledge Vs Ignorance

Have you ever read a book that you kind of thought “that’s going to be a bad book” but then you couldn’t put it down? I recently have. It’s The Giver by Lois Lowry, a dystopian novel following Jonas, the recently selected Receiver-to-be. Jonas is led into the memories of suffering, war, hunger, famine, and hatred, but also of love, sunshine, a calm day at the lake, or a beautiful sunset. He realizes that the people in his community have never known true emotion, and that he must leave the community in order for them to have the memories, and for them to know what it is like to open their eyes and live a little. At the end of the book, Jonas arrives at Elsewhere, and hears a choir singing a beautiful harmony. The book teaches us, through the scenes involving color, love, and release, that knowledge is always better than ignorance. The first example that proves that knowledge is better than ignorance is the Memory of Color, on page 90 : “‘It was - oh, I

‘I liked the feeling of love’ he confessed. He glanced nervously at the speaker on the wall, reassuring himself no one was listening. ‘I wish we still had that,’ he whispered.” This means that love was a good thing, and that Jonas wishes that it still existed. Later in the book, with the knowledge of love, Jonas decided there has to be change, that things can’t go on like this. He later decides to leave the community. This matters because since that knowledge caused Jonas to be the catalyst of change. Therefore, it was very important, and without it, the change to actually being a human instead of a robot never would have been made, and the community would have never known emotion. Basically, the memory of love brought about the change that was the solution to the conflict of the whole story. In this case, knowledge is definitely better than