In the novel, The Giver by Lois Lowry, the author makes it clear through the main character Jonas that freedom and safety need to find an equal balance. Lowry shows the importance of deep emotions and family through Jonas. Jonas becomes the new receiver of memory and learns about the past. He also learned about the way it was when people knew what love was. Jonas’ father releases newborn children because they don’t weight the correct amount of weight or they don’t sleep well through the night. Release is a nice way of saying kill; the people of the community don’t know what kill means. They don’t have the freedom to expand their vocabulary. Lois Lowry makes it clear that safety has a negative side and you need that you need freedom to have a high functioning community.
Love and other deep emotions are not worth giving up for safety. Jonas’ own mother doesn’t love him, she doesn’t know what love means. “Do you love me… So meaningless that it has become almost obsolete” (pg127). Jonas refused to live where your parents don’t know what the meaning of love is. So he left. He took a stand. Jonas found out that his father was going to kill his stepbrother, Gabe and he was furious. His father doesn’t even know what the word kill means. His father honestly thought he was helping Gabe by releasing him, just because he didn’t sleep soundly through the night. If he knew the emotions of love, empathy and hope he might have known that release is a bad thing. But they chose to not have feelings because they were afraid of heartbreaks,
Lockwood2
the feeling of loss, hate and envy. As Alfred, Lord Tennyson said, “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”. He states that love is worth the pain that the feel...
... middle of paper ...
...nts to pick his own spouse. Jonas is tired of sameness and little choices. “What if… he could choose? Instead of sameness”(pg98). He wanted to be free of sameness. Louis Lowry made it clear through Jonas that freedom of choice is a lot more important then sameness.
Having some sameness can create a safe environment in schools. Having school uniforms can help decrease in-school violence, theft rates and gang colors. School uniforms can also eliminate distraction that clothes can cause. According to a study done at a Long Beach middle school overall school crime decreased by 36% when they enforced a mandatory program. If people did not have to wear school uniforms gang rates may go up, theft rate would be higher and it would help the school see who belongs at school and who doesn’t. You need school uniforms to have a safe environment for people to teach and learn.
t
What are memories to you? In the book The Giver, by Lois Lowry. There is a boy his name is Jonas. He is the Receiver of Memories. Jonas experiences the memories over the course of the book. Memories help us understand there are consequences to your actions. Although some readers may believe that memories are not important. The memories Jonas had helped him with the journey at the end of the book.
The first reason why the community in the book The Giver should be given personal rights is because the inhabitants of the community could learn from their mistakes. Without any personal rights they cannot make their own decisions; if they don’t make their own decisions they cannot learn from their mistakes that their decisions had led them to. On page 98 in The Giver Jonas stated that “What if they were allowed to choose their own mate? And chose wrong?” This tells the reader...
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
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.
... students in various ways, such as to learn how to ‘cooperate’ with their friends and work out the problem.” (Mr. Knight). Uniforms are not just for schools it's also for jobs or teams you play on, so you just have to sit down and think about how school uniforms can change and the rest of your priors for the good or better, uniforms can make your school a safe place, bully and gang violence free zone. Even the statistics show schools that have uniforms have a decrease bullying, gang violence and other crimes. Putnam City Schools should adopt school uniforms next year.
Dystopian literature brings warning to the modern world and allows the audience to experience a new perception of life. The 1993 novel, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, fits into the dystopian genre because it makes judgment about modern society. She inscribed her novel “For all the children to whom we entrust the future”, which serves as a hope for a better future (Franklin). She targets the younger generation because they are the future. In Lowry’s novel, The Giver, Lowry’s perspective on modern society is that it tends to stay within its comfort zone, which creates limitations in life. The dystopian characteristics of the novel, importance of memory, the history surrounding the novel, and Lowry’s personal background all convey the notion that modern society should freedom bestowed it and to fully appreciate life in itself; society tends to take life’s freedoms for granted.
“The Giver” a novel by Lois Lowry (1993), is an, engaging science fiction tale that provides the reader with examples of thought provoking ethical and moral quandaries. It is a novel geared to the young teenage reader but also kept me riveted. Assigning this novel as a class assignment would provide many opportunities for teachers and students to discuss values and morals.
Jonas misses the way it was before he had memories where there was no pain or feeling, because everything was innocent. But he understands that although there was innocence nobody feels true happiness.Jonas thinks: “But he knew he couldn’t go back to that world of no feelings that he had lived in so long” (Lowry 131). Jonas wishes he could go back when everything was innocent and when he had no burden of pain, but although there was innocence the bad memories were stripped away to avoid the feeling of pain but also leaves everyone emotionless. But he knows it can never be the same again because of all the knowledge he gained from memories. He learns that memoires need to be valued, even the painful ones. Jonas feels that his community can change and things could be different. He thinks they should live in a world with memories. Jonas says: “Things could be different. I don’t know how, but there must be some way for things to be different. There could be colours [...] and everybody would have memories [...] There could be love” (Lowry 128). Jonas wishes that they could all have memories because everyone would be able to experience love. Love is one of the most important things in human life. He knows that there are bad memories, but without them, he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the good ones. Eventually, with his feelings
Jonas always tells his dreams. He always was there for chastisement. He always shared his feelings at the evening meal. He also always took his pill every morning. “Now he swallowed the pill his mother handed him.”(Page 38). By the end of the book Jonas is rebellious. He stops taking pills for emotions that he is supposed to take everyday. Jonas stays at the Giver’s house when he sees his father kill a baby. Jonas also tries to escape from the community when Giver creates a plan to escape from the community which Jonas barely follows because of Gabe’s release. “But your role now is to escape.” (Page 162). This means that Jonas has to escape and the Giver must stay to help the community after he is gone.
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.”
Jonas spends a lot of time pondering over “ What Assignment the Elders would be selecting for his future” (Lowry 19). He feels the community gives him no freedom of choice because the ruler of the Community choose his journey in life for him. This affects Jonas because he does not choose his own path, so if the Elders force him to continue his Assignment even if he does not prefer this career. Jonas also can not trust the Community because they constantly observe them “ With a humiliation that the announcements” (Lowry 23) of all the citizens who break the rules.
In chapter 19, Jonas has now made his plan to escape the community because he had just watched his father release one twin and keep the other. The twins were family but now one is dead. In addition to Jonas wanting love and wanting to search for it he had just witnessed his father, someone he had love for, kill/release a newborn. Jonas didn't have family love or love from anybody so that also influenced him to
The giver by Lois Lowry is a factionary book about a young boy (Jonas) who lives in a black and white world where there is very little pain or emotion. He lives in a secure area where they’re not allowed to leave. When he turns 12 he will get a life-long job to help his community. First, the time setting is in the future and is a utopian society. It’s a small community by a river.
To have uniforms mandatory in public schools would have many reasons why it would be beneficial to not only students, but also parents and teachers. A benefit of having school uniforms would be that uniforms would reduce clothing costs and stress for parents by not having to spends hundreds of dollars each year on their children so that they can keep up with the latest fashions and trends. Another perk would be that most of the time uniforms reduce bullying among students by eliminating the bullying surrounding students preferred clothing choices. They could also be less distracted in school from looking at their peers’ clothes. Students who come from poorer families would not stand out or be judged by the students who are more fortunate. With uniforms, teachers would not have to make the tough decisions of what clothing is appropriate for students to wear. School uniforms also reduces fighting and theft in schools where gangs and poverty is common.