Verified Document

Giver Lowis Lowry's The Giver Is A Book Report

¶ … Giver Lowis Lowry's The Giver is a futuristic work of science fiction about a society that is devoid of memories and emotions. The reason that this society represses these vibrant expressions of life is that it perceives them as too much of a burden on people. To that end, the society believes that it is actually helping people by relieving them of memories and emotions, for the simple fact that many of them are associated with pain. However, a close examination of this book reveals that ultimately, this society is only masking what in fact are important aspects of human life through a beneficent conception of "sameness" (Ray). Instead of creating an ideal world in which there is no pain and suffering because of emotions and memories, this society has actually created a world that is based on lies and deceptions and in which only too few people know the truth -- an effective dystopia, instead of a utopia.

As in most science fiction works, there are elaborate rituals and customs that people take part in to demonstrate the fact that this is a fictionalized world and people that are different from that in which the author is writing. Lowry, however, cleverly manipulates many of these differences in her tale to emphasize the fact that the community written about is dystopian instead of utopian. For instance, there...

In this particular coming of age ritual, the novel's protagonist, Jonah, is given the highly valued position of the Giver, who is responsible for preserving all of the collective memories of the entire society. Again, the reason one person has such a charge is to protect people from all of the evil and bad memories that existed beforehand, effectively keeping them blissfully unaware of them. However, the metaphorical lie that is implied by such a process (in which people simply believe that life is good because they have no memories of anything else) is literally demonstrated to Jonah when he receives his instructions as the new Giver. Jonah is shocked and thinks to himself, "What if others -- adults -- had, upon becoming Twelves, received in their instructions the same terrifying sentence? What if they had all been instructed: You may lie" (p.71). This passage indicates that this society is so concerned with presenting a facade of an idyllic, peaceful society -- the perfect utopia, that it is willing to lie to maintain such a false image. The fact that this society is not perfect but instead is pretending to be perfect makes it dystopian, as Jonah finds out when he is told that…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Hipple, Ted, Maupin, Amy B. "What's Good About the Best." English Journal, 40-42. 2001. Print.

Lowry, Louis. The Giver. New York: Laurel-Leaf. 2002. Print.

Ray, Karen. "Children's Books." New York Times. 1993. Web.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Giver" Is a Story About
Words: 1082 Length: 3 Document Type: Book Report

" He experiences sunshine and snow, something that the climate control eliminates in their community, and he sees how the government controls every aspect of their lives. He begins to rebel against this controls, and he wants to give his memories to everyone so that they know just how much they have given up. The Giver tells him, "There's nothing we can do. It's always been this way. Before me,

Giver Lois Lowry. Exposition Decent Man/Indecent Man
Words: 1075 Length: 3 Document Type: Thesis

Giver Lois Lowry. Exposition (decent man/Indecent man discussion).First sentence Indecent Giving The paradox that can be found within Lois Lowry's The Giver is that the decent inclinations of the primary characters are often contextualized and viewed as indecent by the surrounding community. This observation may be found the most lucidly in the dialogue, thoughts and actions of Jonas, as well as in those of the character named The Giver. The natural

Giver & Calif. Schools California
Words: 476 Length: 1 Document Type: Term Paper

As a result, while assimilating into the new culture, they simultaneously, inevitably, grow alienated from their original cultures and selves, in terms of language; cultural values and practices; priorities; world view - and even food, clothing, music, art, sports, games, and social associations and preferences. The goals and philosophy of diversity in California classrooms are, of course, to preserve, celebrate, and honor diversity as much as possible (i.e. To notice

Giver the Main Character or
Words: 449 Length: 1 Document Type: Term Paper

He wants everyone to experience the ability to feel passion and deep emotion, regardless if it brings tears or laughter. This, he believes, is much better than feeling nothing at all. The Giver and Jonas decide to leave the community and take with them a baby, who can provide a future and begin life anew. The conflict of the story is that Jonas wants to change the world by

Anzia Yezierska's Bread Givers and
Words: 803 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

This is not simply culturally but also because Bread Givers emerges as a far more hopeful work. Steinbeck shows the blood, toil, and tears it takes to produce the grain that the women of the bread givers make for the men studying Torah. Although the Grapes of Wrath became a novel, by reading John Steinbeck's Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath, the reader gains access

Yezierska's Bread Givers Analysis
Words: 1834 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska. Specifically, it will focus mainly (without ignoring the rest of the novel) on the concept of the father, as well as on the concepts of Nativism and Nation. "Bread Givers" is the moving story of one young woman's struggle to make something of herself in a new country. She struggles against the old world ideals of her family, especially her father, who hangs on

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now