The Giver By Lois Lowry

The Giver: Lois Lowry
The Giver is a children’s novel that was written in 1993 by Lois Lowry. It is set in a society first depicted as a utopian society which gradually starts to appear more dystopian. This novel is written following the life off Jonas, a young boy in through his twelfth and thirteenth years. The society in which this novel is set has eliminated aspects of strife and pain from its activities in a plan called referred as sameness. This plan has eliminated emotional part of the lives of people living in this society. At the age of twelve, children are delegated duties which they should carry on throughout their lives. Jonas is given the role of The Receiver of Memory. He is supposed to store all information before sameness was adopted. In any case, such information might be required to aid in making decisions which others lack experience in making. The society he lives in has been kept away from learning the truth and all the beautiful aspects of life because since it is formed, the Memory keeper keeps all this information away from them.
This book illustrates the process of growing up. In human life, we are first afraid to try new things but as
we get used to doing them, we find ourselves wanting to do them more and more so that we can move away from our past status. Developing from childhood to adulthood is a process that is mainly composed of the processes that are undergone by Jonas in his bid to sacrifice everything in order to save the community he is born and brought up in.
The morals of this story are depicted in Jonas’ loss of trust to his parents.
During his childhood, he trusts his parents wholly but when he is given the role of Memory keeper, he is given a tape of his dad releasing a young baby who eventually dies and is disposed of. This makes Jonas lose the admiration and trust he had on his father. At this point, Jonas contemplates leaving his community. His defiance is symbolic of the transformation human beings undergo from being innocent to the defying and questioning adult mind. His departure from a community that had removed emotion and joy from his life shows that it is important that one lives their life the way they want to instead of following others who are eager to shed something from you and control you. Independence of one’s life proves a joyful
endeavor.
Reading this book is simple and easy. It uses junior English for children and young adults. The storyline is captivating and the ending is left for the reader. This book gives the reader a choice to determine the ending of this book. Symbolically, just like Jonas made a choice to leave his community, the reader is left to make a choice on how the ending should be. This ambiguity is an aspect that has made this book interesting among children and young adults. The ending proves to us that making decisions for oneself is important that letting the society make the decisions for you. At least, Jonas made choices that made him happy.
This book is a recommendation for children and young adults who have difficulties making their own choices. It is also a big catch for readers who are interested in reading about dystopian communities. The book motivates one to think and make decisions for themselves.