The idea of a perfect world seems easy, however actually making it happen is almost next to impossible. In the beginning of The Giver by Lois Lowry the community is portrayed as a perfect utopian society. Slowly as the reader reads on, they realize that there is no such thing as a perfect world. Each component of the community has a problem in The Giver it is based on equality and sameness. As a result of the foundation of the community many problems arise such as; no freedom of choice, no connections or feelings, and division of citizens by intellect, ability, class. The community is a dystopia because it is bland and there are no opinions.
Jonas’s community is a dystopia because there is no freedom of choice. At the end of December every
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One day in Jonas’s training with The Giver, he asks him what his favorite memory is. The Giver does not seem reluctant to give it away so Jonas lays down on the bed and is given the memory. Lois Lowry then describes a scene which sounds like christmas eve on a snowy winter night. When Jonas wakes up he is amazed by the memory but is also confused. There were old people in the room, this is confusing to Jonas because in the community when someone is too old to produce and to help the community they get released. Also Jonas is confused because he claims there was a feeling in the room and he just could not describe it. He says it is a warm feeling, then The Giver tells Jonas that the feeling he felt was called love. He is perplexed by the amazing feeling he felt. Later that night at dinner he asks his father, “‘Do you love me?...Your father means you used a very generalized word, so meaning less that it has become almost obsolete’” (127). In the community your are assigned a spouse and do not get to fall in love. Then you and your spouse can apply for a child, you do not get to have your own child. Also at a young age you are given special pills for what is called “stirrings” these pills minimize feelings towards the opposite sex. This means Jonas’s parents have no feeling towards Jonas or each other, if he were to die they would not really care and they would go on with their regular lives.
Utopia seems like a wonderful idea where everything is perfect and no one suffers. Three stories address this topic and show how even the best ideas have their downside. The Giver tells of a society where everything is the same and no one has to worry about making a wrong decision. Fahrenheit 451 tells of a society that bans book in the interest of preventing unhappiness. The society in Logan's Run is full of pleasure but only for 30 years. In practice though, these utopias present each of the protagonists with a problem where they question how perfect their perfect worlds really is.
You know everything about the past and the present from your life, but the citizens of Jonas’ community don’t. Everything is hidden from them, except for Jonas and The Giver, who have all
Jonas decides to leave and change the lives of his people so that they can experience the truth. “The Giver rubbed Jonas’s hunched shoulders… We’ll make a plan” (155). Their plan involves leaving sameness and heading to Elsewhere, where Jonas knows the memories can be released to the people. He has a connection with Gabe, a special child who has experienced the memories, unlike the rest of the community. Jonas has a strong love for Gabe, and he longs to give him a better life. “We’re almost there, Gabriel” (178). Even with a sprained ankle, Jonas keeps pushing forward because he wants everyone to experience what The Giver has given him. He wants them to have a life where the truth is exposed. His determination allows him to make a change for a greater future in his community. This proves that Jonas has the strength to change his community for the
Even though both the society in The Giver by Lois Lowry and modern society are both unique in their own ways, our society is a better society to live in. Our society gives us more freedom to choose for our own benefits and
Living in a perfect world is like living in an anthill. An ant does not think on it’s own, make it’s own decisions, and doesn't really have any own identity, just like the utopians. It is not worth living in a perfect world. The utopian society we are introduced to in the book, The Giver, has many different characteristics that make the perfect life unbearable. Examples of these things are The Receiver, the community, and the chief elders.
He starts to believe that a world of sameness where no one can decide or make choices for themselves is boring. Lois Lowry is warning readers that living in a world of sameness is not something to create as it is boring and dull, but if the world follows conformity and does not value diversity and difference enough, society could become that of Jonas’s. When he turns twelve, his job for the rest of his life is decided as the Receiver. His job is to receive all the memories the previous Receiver has held on to. While this is beneficial for Jonas as he is able to leave the society and his job of the Receiver behind and get freedom, the community is left without someone to take the memories from The Giver.
“If the world was perfect it wouldn’t be” - Yogi Berra. A perfect world is different in everyone’s eyes because we all have different interests and you would have to make sacrifices. Lois Lowry makes this clear in her fantasy novel, The Giver. Unknowingly living in a utopian society, the main character Jonas is Assigned the important job of the receiver of memory in his Community. No one knows what this means, but he later finds out that he burdens the Community from painful and joyous memories of the past (our world). The Giver transmits memories from generations back to Jonas. The Community, apart from Elsewhere, is a world without conflict, inequality, divorce, unemployment, injustice, and choice. Everyone
The Giver let Jonas experience love at Christmas, in a memory but that was the only time Jonas ever got to enjoy the feeling. The citizens don’t even understand what the emotions are, because they just feel normal-not happy, excited, anger, or love. Jonas had just been given the memory of love from The Giver and decided to ask his dad about it. “‘Do you love me?’ There was an awkward silence for a moment. Then Father gave a little chuckle. ‘Jonas. You of all people. Precision of language, please!’” (127). Jonas’s dad got almost angry with Jonas because love isn’t supposed to be something that is in their community. Having emotions isn’t normal in The Giver. Love isn’t a natural thing someone has so his dad didn’t really understand what Jonas was talking
Set in a community with no climate, emotions, choices, or memories Lois Lowry tells the tale of Jonas in The Giver. Jonas is selected to be the receiver of memory, which means the memories of generations past, before the community was created, will all be transferred to him to hold. As Jonas receives memories his concept of the world around him drastically changes. Jonas starts out as twelve-year-old boy with perceptions different from those around him, he then begins to see the community for what it really is, and he makes a plan to change it.
What one may think of as being a Utopia could be a dystopia to another. Lowis Lowry’s 1993 novel “The Giver” may seem like a remake of the 1932 “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley given their similar plot lines, but these two novels also have their differences. Jonas and Bernard, the protagonists of the novels, both have an intelligence that wants to know more, that wants to know what is outside of this Utopian place they live in. Both Lowry and Huxley have very different family situations. Lastly, both these societies live in their own definitions of Utopia, but the roots of their government have a resemblance to Plato’s Republic.
The book The Giver is a Dystopia because the people in their community have no choices, release and because the people don't know or understand what life is. The world in the beginning of the book seems like a utopia because how smoothly it runs but it actually is a dystopia because no world or place ever is perfect. This place or the givers world still has many flaws.
The society in The Giver by Lois Lowry is fairly broken and messed up. Everyone inside the community thinks that everything is under control and they like living that way, because they don’t know any other way to live. To them they live in the perfect world, a utopia. To everyone outside of the community it is a dystopia. They are controlled immensely. There are a few reasons why the community is a dystopia, they have no choice or freedom, and they don’t know what color, music, real emotion, and feelings are.
Imagine a world with no color, weather, or sunshine. The Giver is a book by Lois Lowry and is based on a utopia where no one makes choices, feels pain, or has emotions. The book takes place in a community where all of this is true. The story is about an 11-year old soon to be 12 year-old named Jonas who is unsure of which job he will get when he is 12. Jonas changes throughout The Giver and as a result, tries to change the community.
Jonas’ community chooses Sameness rather than valuing individual expression. Although the possibility of individual choice sometimes involves risk, it also exposes Jonas to a wide range of joyful experiences from which his community has been shut away. Sameness may not be the best thing in the community because Jonas expresses how much he feels like Sameness is not right and wants there to be more individuality. Giver leads him to understand both the advantages and the disadvantages of personal choice, and in the end, he considers the risks worth the benefits. “Memories are forever.”
But the Giver argues and asks “Do you know what is means to love someone? Possibility of love? With it comes hope, faith and a beautiful feeling. “ But the commander says that people are weak, selfish and when people have the freedom to choose, they choose wrong. Giver believes that in this community “people are living the life of shadows, of faint, distant whispers of what once made us real.” People are living in the shadow, because their right to choose is taken away. The movie does not show what happens after Jonas crosses the boundary of memory, but we can hope that after everyone got memories back they found the real