Lois Lowry gives her readers utopia in her novel The Giver. The price of the utopia is placed on the shoulders of one community member called the receiver. To be the receiver is a great and noble honor, yet it comes with a hefty price tag. The weight of the memories creates isolation between the receiver and the community members. The receiver’s understanding of reality is so different from that of his peers. Jonas first understands the differences when he witnesses his friends playing war. His feelings were intense and he was the only one who could comprehend how playing war was insensitive and hurtful. Lowry is stressing the importance of knowledge and using wisdom when making decisions. Her point was reiterated when the Giver states that he wishes that the elders would seek his counsel more often. Jonas is a thoughtful character. He has the ability to see the importance and the need for the community to have the memories that he has received. While many memories are very hard to receive and understand, there are many memories that are worth the pain of the bad memories. Memories of color, sunshine and love a bigger need than of a painless controlled life. A person who has not felt love has not truly lived life. If a person has not felt sorrow there is not as much joy in happiness. Lowry reveals this by restricting a community of these feelings and singling out Jonas to carry the burden of the entire society.
I like this post. Another idea that I found to be extremely interesting is when a student in class pointed out how the extreme lack of emotion, family, color, feel, etc., made us as the reader want and crave that.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this novel makes readers appreciate knowledge more. I did not read this as a child, but I think that a child would get the same message: the ability to learn and be exposed to many things that we take for grated everyday is not a given. The Giver paints a picture of a society in which these things are not present. It also puts in perspective that, though our differences can cause pain and confusion, they also fill life with vitality.
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