Theme Of Individuality In The Giver

In a community that values Sameness, there is no room for individuality, which is an important theme in The Giver. In Jonas’s community, being your own person is frowned upon. The Chief Elder says at the Ceremony of Twelve, “You Elevens have spent all your years till now learning to fit in, to standardize your behavior, to curb any impulse that might set you apart from the group.” It is only in their Assignments that their differences are acknowledged and honored (Anderson 37). Children do not celebrate individual birthdays, they do not even know their actual birthdays; instead, they turn the next age with their group mates at the December Ceremonies. When The Giver gives Jonas the memory of a birthday party, “with one child singled out and celebrated on his day,” Jonas comes to understand “the joy of being an individual, special and unique and proud”.

Pain, emotions, happiness , feelings of love, hesitation, anxiety, hatred is what makes us humans. It is important to influence and be influenced. It is shown through the novel by many examples that they had no feelings or emotions and thus not humanity, even the expression "love" is an empty ideal. For example, when Jonas asks his parents if they love him, his mother scolds him for using imprecise language. She says that "love" is "a very generalized word, so meaningless that it 's become almost absolute” (lowry