Analysis Of 'The Giver' By Lois Lowry

It may be accurate to say that the majority of people at some point in their lives have felt as if someone else was trying to take their freedom away. The only thing that changes is the level of magnitude that the person who is trying to control the other one decides to use. We currently live under a regime that seems to have had it all figured out since the beggining of time. The kind of society generally governing the world is such that leaders are selected to make decisions they believe will serve their country’s progression, eventhough most of them end up making decisions that benefit only themselves. The sad part is that everyone is aware of this; everybody speaks about how corrupt and wrong the system is and still no one makes the effort
There is no doubt that we all learn from what we are exposed to, so we fill our minds with the latest celebrity news, games and music (that nowadays is not even close to artistic talent), and what we learn is not useful for anything else than superficial conversations with other people that feed themselves with the same needless data. When we exaggerate the way we live just a little bit we get a society, which can be almost perfectly described as the one in “The Giver”. In Lois Lowry’s “The Giver”, the author portrays a society in which there is absolute control of the choices made by the citizens. Lowry describes how this community is under the control of an utilitarian type of government that controls what jobs the citizens will have, what foods they will eat, how many children they will have, the extent of language they will use and most of all, the access of their past generations’ memories. This reduces the community to a state in which it is completely dependant on superior authorities to receive its support, implying that the knowledge required to subsist has been taken away (just like a baby depends on his mother to
The roles the caretakers player in front of the elders were such that it made the elders feel ofended, because they feel as if the caretakers thought they were less intelligent and helpless. This is one way that the elders reacted to these kinds of roles played. On the other hand, a more dangerous response could be taken. “This kind of treatment can elicit responses from elders that mimic cognitive impairment. For example, when caregivers interact with residents based on stereotypical assumptions, it can create a vicious cycle where stereotypes seem to be confirmed because being infantilized constrains normal.” Marson, Stephen M., and Rasby M. Powell. “Goffman and the Infantilization of Elderly Persons.” Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: 143-155. The type of treatment that the “superior” part decides to use with the “inferior” has negative results because the “inferior” is likely to accept the imposed role, or stereotype as if the capability of their mental and physical activities were useless. This can be applied to “The Giver” directly. The citizens assumed the roles that were imposed on them, without questioning the Elders’ rules. They were treated like children and they never questioned why is was that way, but rather accepted the imposed