The Sameness In The Giver

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Don Van Vliet, an American artist, once said: “I’d never just want to do what everybody else did. I’d be contributing to the sameness of everything.” In the book, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, people did not have a choice to do what everyone else did or not. Everyone was contributing to the sameness of the community Jonas, the protagonist, lives in. In this community, everyone was the same. They all had the same rituals and activities and were not permitted to make choices for themselves. Everyone receives an assignment, like a career, at the Ceremony of Twelve. But Jonas received a special assignment, he had been given the honor to be the next Receiver of Memory, who receives and stores all of the memories of the world’s past. Jonas received
To start with, music is how The Giver first identified that he was different and had the capability of being the next receiver. The Giver states, “‘When I was just a boy, younger than you, it began to come to me. But it wasn’t the seeing-beyond for me. It was different. For me it was hearing-beyond.’ Jonas frowned, trying to figure that out. ‘What did you hear?’ he asked. ‘Music,’ The Giver said, smiling. ‘I began to hear something truly remarkable, and it is called music. I’ll give you some before I go’” (157). Nobody else heard music, but The Giver started to hear music, separating him from the sameness of society. One way that The Community went to sameness is that nobody can hear music except for a few select people, and without music, something absolutely beautiful, people do not get to fully enjoy the beauty of the world, which is not good for them. Next, when Jonas and Gabriel are heading toward a new community, he hears music. The book declares, “Suddenly he (Jonas) was aware with certainty and joy that below, ahead, they were waiting for him; and that they were waiting, too, for the baby. For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing” (178-179). Jonas and Gabriel were sledding towards the new community they were going to live in, and they heard music and the people sounded cheerful. This was clearly a community without sameness, and the people gathered together and sang, which never happened in Jonas’ community. This shows that people are happy in a community without sameness and if Jonas’ community got rid of sameness, the people there would probably be contented too. To end with, Jonas thought he heard music from the community he had left. The text says that from the community he had left far behind so long ago, he thought he heard music, but perhaps it had just been an echo (179). Jonas thought he had heard music from

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