The Giver Philosophy

In this paper, I will be exploring concepts in The Giver and their relation to philosophy. Philosophy is things you think about, things you believe, and your ideas on life’s “major topics.” Some examples would be abortion, euthanasia, importance of life, meaning of life, and many other things. Some themes throughout The Giver are the importance of memory, the relationship between pain and pleasure, and the importance of individuals. Some motifs throughout would be vision, and release. The Giver also touches on the subject of free will, but not in a religious aspect. So, how does The Giver relate to philosophy? By exploring concepts of importance and relationships it questions life and pushes people to think about the world. Why do we live,

The importance of memory is one the most important themes throughout The Giver. After some research, I found that the author of The Giver was inspired to write after a visit with her elderly father. He was losing his memory, and this lead her to question memory. Without memory, there is no pain. If we have no memory of physical pain, was it ever experienced? In the book and movie, the community has no memory of the past communities’ experiences, except the “giver” who only knows so they can’t make the same mistakes. Does eliminating the memory of the past, eliminate their pain? The community leaders believe that without memory of activities and relationships, people wouldn’t know or engage in those activities or relationships and experience problem or pain. While the “elders” believe that you won’t get hurt without memories they also believe if you don’t remember your past you can make the same errors, which seems contradictory. Therefore, they have a role of the “giver.” As Jonas receives his training, he discovers the idea that without memory there is no pain. So, is true happiness something we can achieve/experience or is it just something false we want to believe

Along with the theme of memory, the relationship between pain and pleasure is also explored. Even if an event is great and delightful, would we even know the value of the event if we didn’t experience events that were painful? If we have no memory of a time we suffered, either physically or emotionally, we cannot know that something is good, everything will just flow by and we will feel nothing. The people of the community in The Giver never experience true happiness or joy because they have no recollection of pain. Their lives’ have little variation and there is no purpose to them. Therefore, they cannot appreciate anything. Their lives aren’t precious and death isn’t tragic. When Jonas experiences the memories during training he also opens to the idea of love, and pleasure because he simply felt pain.

The importance of the individual, are we important? In The Giver, everyone is basically the same person, there is nothing to make them unique. They “lived in a world were differences weren’t allowed.” At the ceremony for twelve year olds the community tries to make everyone feel unique. Without free choice, there is no individuality. This movie and novel teaches us that we shouldn’t put down our differences, we should celebrate