Pros and Cons of the Sameness from "The Giver"

Our unusualness is one of the elements of what makes us unique. We get along with people through the similarities; keep a distance through the differences. Not all of us can feel safe around those who are different from us. Maybe it is human nature or just prejudice but not knowing how to handle differences have caused problems in societies. In the book “The Giver”, the author Lois Lowry is showing us a community, where no one is different from the others, described “The life where nothing was ever unexpected. Or inconvenient. Or unusual. The life without color, pain or past.”. The people of this community live by the rules of elders and the people who lived before them. They don’t have the freedom of choice but in return they also don’t have any world problems such as segregation, discrimination, war, hunger, climate changes, natural disasters, crimes, violence, money…. Does it worth not having a choice in order to have a peaceful but controlled life for this community? Or is this the compromise for us to have our freedom but live in a world like ours? Kid from age three to six wear jackets fastened down the back so they can help each other to dress and learn interdependence. People use bicycles to transport so there is no pollution. They have the same hair cut, same clothes. They eat the same food ,live in the same houses. No one looks at the other one and envy what he or she has. No one tries to take anything away from the other because they have the same. This is why people start to conflict in societies: we want what we don’t have. This is why we do not like people different from us : we do not like what they have. Creating a society like that Lowry laid the foundations of a smooth life style. But this life is not as smooth as it seems. There are rules and announcements everywhere, someone is always watching someone. Women can not give birth to their own babies, elderly can not die by their nature. Even the birth and death are planned. Their futures are