The Giver Critical Lens Essay

People often imagine that a dystopian society is vastly diverse from our modern day society, but in fact they are very similar. Sure there are a few differences not limited to, rules, family, and how the societies are governed. One prime example of a dystopian fiction is The Giver, written by Lois Lowry, which takes place in a town that is governed by a circle of people with no emotions or feelings.

"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself." Joseph Campbell. Jonas from Lois Lowry’s The Giver makes that example true by making the choice to fight against the community. While his journey might differ slightly from what is considered an orthodox Hero’s Journey, he still has a journey consisting of steps and goals.

Phillip Noyce is “movie crazy” which is a good thing because he’s unique compared to other directors! Since a early age Noyce, has experience with using cameras in his teenage years. Noyce has continued to make short documentaries on the more offbeat aspects of Australian life. The author Lois Lowry is a successful woman because she has written more than 20 books and with some novels, she has received award-winning awards. She earned the Newbery Award for her novel “Number the Stars.” The movie adaptation of her novel, “The Giver” which had Brenton Thwaites as Jonas the main character in the novel and Jeff Bridges as The Giver. The title character was played by Meryl Streep as the Chief Elder. In the movie

When I was 10 years old I looked up communism, and it meant ‘a society where property was public, and everyone would be helped according to needs.’ This confused me because I had always heard of communism in a negative context. Such a society would mean that, everyone would have food, water, shelter, an education and job. This is the ideal society. So why was it talked about with disgust and horror? Until reading Red Scarf Girl, I believed in that the ideal society could, no, would someday exist. But now I have been convinced otherwise.

Gandhi once said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”. To bring about a change in us we need an opportunity to do so. In the Giver’s community people cannot feel or express their emotions, they cannot make their own choices nor decide their career path. They have accepted “sameness” as a way of life to eradicate everything emotional from their lives. In this community there is no color, memory and climate this is all in effort to preserve structure, order, and equality. People are merely ‘puppets’ in the hands of their elders. Thus, they are not capable of bringing any change in themselves or the world around them.

“But he had come this far. He must try to go on” pg.175. His determination drove directly towards the child that lay cold and restless in his arms. He knew to fight for his community. He knew how to feed Gabe and take care of him. The only reason Jonas was still alive was because of Gabe and his community. If he would have chosen to give up, than he would have done everybody wrong. . All the memories that he had been exposed in the last year would have proceeded to stay trapped outside and the community would have never had to face the consequences of their doing. They don't know how to handle it because they were always taught to live like the community. Jonas wanted them to know. They were just going to have to get used to the

The Giver then told Jonas he would be glad to share that memory with him. He transmits the memory of a christmas morning, grandparents and love. Jonas liked the memory and wanted to be able to feel it all the time. When Jonas got home he asked his parents if they loved him, They were a little fluster about the word love and told him to pay attention to his precision of language. His father told Jonas that the word love is absolutely meaningless. They asked Jonas if he understands, Jonas say yes but does mean it. He didn't understand why that didn't feel that way toward him, the way he did for them. The Giver explains that the people of the community don’t feel emotion and feelings the way the two of them did because of sameness. (chapter

At one point, the Giver shows Jonas a live video of a newchild being ‘released’ by Jonas’ father. Jonas does not yet know what realease actually is, and is eager and curious to find out. When he finds out what release actually is, a glorified version of death, he is horrified and greatly saddened, for he alone knows the pain and sorrow of death from the memories. Jonas is convinced that his father is evil, and the Giver tries in vain to console Jonas: “‘but he lied to me!’ Jonas wept. ‘It is what he was told to do, and he know nothing else’” (144). This illustrates just how much Jonas’ father lacks knowledge and wisdom, to the point where he does not know if killing an innocent baby is morally wrong. This means that Jonas’ father as well as everyone in the community will never know what is really right or wrong, nor will they know what to believe. It matters because people in Jonas’ community might think killing is a normal action, or even worse, good. People in Jonas’ community might never know what love or loss is because they won’t know when they feel it. Again, the ability to have emotions is valuable, and strong aspect that is a big factor in making us

“The Giver” by Lois Lowry is about a boy, Jonas who has been chosen to be the receiver of memory in his community. The elders see Jonas as their next receiver of memory because he has the intelligence, courage, honesty, kindness, and curiosity, These traits help him gain the position of receiver of memory. The Giver is one of the smartest elders in the community is the only one with Jonas who has the memories. The memories were kept by the two people because the community couldn’t handle them so only the two people have to feel the pain and happiness in the memories. The community also eliminates the freedom of choice from the people because the elders decide everything for the people who live there. They also promote sameness because everything is

In the novel “The Giver”, is about a boy named Jonas that lives safely within a community, a place where there is no war, no hunger, no pain. But when he is selected as the Receiver of Memory, he starts to discover dark secrets that lie beneath the surface of his perfect world. Secrets that will lead him to undertake an incredible journey. In this debate i’m going to discuss the theme of traditions and customs. The debate will argue why the theme and why traditions and customs should exist throughout the novel. This will be backed up by information provided from the novel and my research.

During Laurie’s first week of kindergarten, he was given negative attention from his teacher because he was being fresh. He came home to tell his parents about what happened at school that day by blaming Charles. Laurie was not only disrespectful to his class, he was disrespectful to his family, as he “spoke insolently to his father” (Jackson 345) at home that

Jonas took another risk by helping a family member; that family member was a child named Gabriel. Gabriel was living with Jonas’s family unit and was going to be released (killed), but Jonas took him so that wouldn’t happen. For instance, when Jonas was leaving the Community “...he had taken Gabriel too” (Lowry 208). was mentioned in the text. Jonas was going to be in a tremendous amount of trouble for escaping the community in the first place, but because he took Gabriel he was going to be in even more trouble than before. Jonas learned that to give Gabriel a

In the Giver, the writer, Lois Lowry reveals the theme through talking about an old profession in being the receiver of memory.. The theme of tradition is reinforced in the Giver through the character development of Jonas, a young boy chosen to do the job of the receiver. Jonas is chosen to be the receiver of memory a job in which he is given memories from, “Before the previous receiver and generations before him,”(77). This quote reveals how even having a receiver of memory is a very old tradition as it is said that they have been there for generations. All in all, The Giver portrays the theme of tradition through a generation old profession, Jonas’ job of the receiver.

Memories makes us all unique in our own ways. What if these memories were taken away from us and we were forced to live the life others want us to instead of going our own ways? Memories are very important but in the novel “The Giver”, these memories were taken away from everyone in their community but one, who they call The Receiver of Memory. The Receiver of Memory has memories about past human life, such as poverty, slavery, war, happiness, love, etc. The job, or assignment in their community, is not given to a random human. They will have to be selected for this great honored Assignment. What would happen if memories were taken away?