The Giver And Fahrenheit 451 Comparison

Authors of dystopian texts often write about topics we don’t usually think of- such as rebellion and human interaction. In The Giver, Lois Lowry shows how Jonas’ selection as Receiver of Memory reveals his seclusion with the Giver. However, as Jonas spends more time with him, he begins to learn more about the past. He also learns about things like conflict, death, and love from the memories that he receives from the Giver. From these memories, Jonas gains lots of knowledge. On the other hand, in Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury shows the lack of knowledge that the society has. The citizens are limited in the ability to think, as their government is constantly controlling them. All the technology that is provided for them takes time out of their
For example, Jonas’ assignment of Receiver of Memory forces him to work apart from others, independently. He gains a lot of wisdom from the Giver. He begins to learn things that the rest of society doesn’t have, such as feelings like love and pain. In The Giver, Lowry writes, “…The life where nothing was ever unexpected…without color, pain, or past” (165). Jonas realizes that there is way more beyond his emotionless world. This shows that if Jonas had never got chosen to become the Receiver of Memory, then he would have never experience the memories that allowed him to travel to a whole new world. Towards the end of the book, his trip to Elsewhere with Gabe “forced” Jonas to take good care of him. He learns how to keep him safe based on previous memories as well as instinct, making this the gained wisdom. On the other hand, in Fahrenheit 451, the main character (Guy Montag) questions society before taking action. For example, Montag asked Professor Faber, a man he had knew for a long time, “Professor Faber, I have a rather odd question to ask. How many copies of the Bible are left in this country?” (71) He also wonders why all the firemen looked all the same (30) and what would happen if their own books were burned. In The Giver, he is first put into his job, then as more memories were revealed to him, he then questions life in his community. This shows that both authors take different routes to developing the plot in the stories. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury shows that Montag questions his odd society, then takes action. We also see that Montag is not alone. He is with a group of people who work alongside with him to memorize books. In contrast, The Giver demonstrates the sequence of being “forced” into isolation, then questioning as Jonas goes through his training with the Giver. Both Bradbury and Lowry executed their plots differently to