The Giver By Lois Lowry: The Tyrants Of The Colorless Community

Kirsi Williams
Period Three
February 8, 2023
The Tyrants of the Colorless Community

Though we all dream of a perfect world, achieving such a utopia would require the sacrifice of free will and individuality. Freedom can be dangerous because people make mistakes. When humans are allowed liberty, violence ensues. Even those with the best intentions make errors and hurt others. However, freedom makes life worth living. Choices free us from oppression and give meaning to life. Humans depend upon the freedom to express themselves and to grow. If given no choices, everyone would be lifeless clones programmed to obey every order set forth by their superiors. Lois Lowry set The Giver in a community where no citizen has ever tasted the joy of freedom

In the Giver’s quarters, Jonas watches a replay of his father unknowingly murdering an innocent newborn. Jonas witnessed as “...the newchild, no longer crying, moved his arms and legs in a jerking motion. Then he went limp. His head fell to the side, his eyes half open. Then he went still…He killed it! My father killed it!” (Lowry 187-188). Though the Elders claim to have eliminated murder, they have instead woven it into the very basis of their society. The Elders are brutally murdering innocents, and nobody knows it. Release, as shown in the quote above, is how the Elders euphemize murder to justify the deaths of countless innocents. Some may counter this, saying that the Elders have just reasons for Release. However, the Elders’ reasons are truly weak and preposterous. The Elders’ justification of newborns’ murder includes reasons beyond any newborn’s control; sadness, fussiness, and restlessness. Newchildren are expected to never cry, fall asleep instantly, and be the perfect infant, lest they face execution. The Elders also exterminate those who have broken over two of the Community’s strict laws. From a young age, tiny mistakes are punished with the beating of a discipline wand; but once a citizen commits a more serious crime, even accidentally, they are punished more severely. If that citizen messes up two more times, their life is sucked away without a second thought. Furthermore, the Elders steal the lives of

For example, North Koreans suffer under the oppression of strict and harsh laws set forth by a dictator. In North Korea, free will and expression are outlawed and punishable by death or imprisonment: “...North Korea, where free speech is outlawed and the state tightly controls all forms of media. Citizens of North Korea have virtually no freedom of speech: internet is only accessible by a select number of powerful individuals in Pyongyang, television and radios can only access North Korean-operated stations, and accessing foreign media is illegal and punishable by death or by imprisonment in political prison camps” (https://www.theworldmind.org/home/2019/4/26/fake-news-in-north-korea-censorship-propaganda-and-the-rewriting-of-history). Censorship and stringent laws restrict freedom, and in doing so, restrict the meaning of life. Many of the wars over the decades have been fought for freedom. If freedom was not absolutely necessary, then a risk as great as war would never have been taken. However, some may argue that the loss of liberty is for the people’s safety. This is inaccurate: Kim Jong-un doesn’t restrict North Korea’s freedom because he believes it is for their good, he restricts it because it secures his power. Kim Jong-un fears that if he is to give his citizens freedom, they will exercise it against the tyrannical government system that oppresses them. Jong-un knows