The Giver by Lois Lowry

In Lois Lowry’s, The Giver, Jonas comes to find who he is through struggles he faces with his family, friends, and the Giver. This novel is complex and surprising (Lord). Zaidman states,” In The Giver, Lowry explores new territory. This fantasy's seemingly perfect society (without pain, disorder, or overpopulation) is actually a frightening dystopia (without love, colors, or sense of the past). (Zaidman)” This novel is fighting a struggle of being on a school reading ban list. The Giver is often challenged because of the adult subject matter (Lord).

Jonas is the boy child in his family unit. He has a younger sister and a mother and father (Overview: The Giver). At dinnertime, the family units sit at the table and have a time where they share their feelings that they felt during the day. Usually, as children, Jonas and his sister, Lily, have a small argument as to who would share first that night at dinner; but this time Jonas wanted to wait (Overview: The Giver). He was not sure of how he was feeling. Lily went first and told how she was angry with some kids that came to visit that day and how they were not following any of the rules (Lowry 5). Their father went next and told his family unit about a child at the nurturing center he works at (Overview: The Giver). Their mother took the next turn and told them about a repeated offender and how seeing him a second time made her angry, guilty, and even worried for him because there are not third transgressions (Overview: The Giver). Jonas went last, but he did not want to share his feelings that night. It was against the rules not to do so, so he had to. Jonas told his family about his apprehensiveness with the upcoming ceremony of twelve (Lowry 9). After Jonas confessed his feelings,...

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"Overview: The Giver." Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telgen and Kevin Hile. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.

Lord, Elyse. "The Giver." Novels for Students. Detroit: Gale. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.

Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 1993. Print.

Zaidman, Laura M. "Lois Lowry: Overview." Twentieth-Century Young Adult Writers. Ed. Laura Standley Berger. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. Twentieth-Century Writers Series. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.