The Giver by Lois Lowry: An Interpretation

I will be giving my interpretation of the book “The Giver” by Lois Lowry. This book is set in a society that at first seems to be a utopian society but the further you read on it gradually appears to be more and more dystopian. So this book is about a boy named Jonas going through his twelfth year of his life. Jonas is soon selected to be the “Receiver of Memory” he is to be given the past memories of the time before sameness, or before the society became a utopia. As the story progresses Jonas soon realizes that this perfect world he lived in, isn’t so perfect after all. I absolutely loved this book. This book is riveting, thought provoking, and so perfect for triggering discussions. The ending is deliberately ambiguous leaving the readers to decide what they want to believe.
Before reading this book, I imagined that living in a utopia would be the most wonderful thing, I thought that I’d be living in my own perfect world. This book made me question that completely. Everyone in this utopia is being lied to, and they aren’t given much choices. They can’t drive cars, they all wear the same clothes. They can’t even see colors, they’re given these pills that make them see black and white. When someone commits a crime, or become old, they are “released”, to people in that society it means that they’re taken away to a better place but in reality it means that they are killed. Since Jonas stopped taking his pill without anyone noticing, he has started to see the color red.
This story really starts to get interesting once he is selected to be the next “Receiver of Memory.” The Giver, who is the previous receiver of memory has the task to give Jonas the memories that he is entitled to have because of being the current “Receiver of Memory”. The first memory that he gives Jonas is the memory of him riding down a snowy hill on a bright red sled. This society has never experienced snow or colors, they’ve never experienced true pain not even a sunburn. They all dress, eat