The Giver, Haddix And Lowry
In the texts Among the Hidden and The Giver, Haddix and Lowry use imagery, conflict, and resolution to establish a common theme; the world will never be "perfect".
Evidence 1:“Then, the first wave of pain... as if a hatchet lay lodged in his leg, slicing through each nerve with a hot blade... vomited onto the frozen snow. Blood dripped from his face into the vomit” (Lowry 109).
“Jonas opened his eyes and lay contentedly on the bed, still luxuriating in the warm and comforting memory. It had all been there, all the things he had learned to treasure. "What did you perceive?" The Giver asked. "Warmth," Jonas replied, "and happiness. And — let me think. I certainly liked the memory, though”...”Love”(Lowry 123-124).
In these quotes, Jonas receives a memory of pain and then a memory of warmth and togetherness from the Giver. When the Giver is giving the memory of pain to Jonas, he experiences what suffering felt like. The Giver has also given a memory that creates a very warm and positive atmosphere and shows Jonas’s delighted reaction to the memory.
This is an example of a character vs. self conflict, because Jonas struggles to face pain. The first part of the quote shows the pain that people would experience before the Community took away all the …show more content…
emotions people had. To prevent pain, hardships, challenges and suffering, the Community took away all emotions from people, preventing any conflict. They thought that by eliminating pain, the world would become “perfect”. However, as shown by the second quote, though the Community succeeded in eliminating pain, they deprived people of the feelings of happiness, warmth, love, and togetherness. In one situation, though there were happy times, people also had to experience suffering and pain of some type. In the other situation, though pain was completely eliminated, people were deprived of happiness. In conclusion, in both situations, the world was never “perfect”.
In Among the Hidden by Haddix, Haddix also uses conflict to develop the theme that the world will never be perfect.
For instance, Haddix states, “He thought about reading and daydreaming in the attic the rest of his life...His life was very limited-- he understood that more now than ever...desperate to do something--anything?....Maybe there was something smaller and slower he could do. Studying ways to grow more food, so no one would go hungry, no matter how many kids people had. Or changing the Government so that farmers were allowed to raise pigs or use hydroponics, and ordinary people, not just Barons, could have better lives... But he wanted to do something.”
In the quote above, Luke describes just how limited his life is and how he was just wasting it by reading, daydreaming, and mostly, hiding from the world.
The Government believes that they have made the world perfect by passing the Population Law; however, through this quote, Luke also presents problems that a “perfect” world would not have. A “perfect” world would not have as many restrictions, either. Therefore, it is not possible to ever have a 100% perfect world as there will always be some problem; whether it is finding true happiness without any pain, or extremely strict limitations to prevent another problem.
In addition, the authors, Haddix and Lowry use resolution to create a common theme, which is that the the world will never be “perfect”. In Among the Hidden, Haddix states: “He peered back at his frantically waving family until they were out of sight. Soon the car was passing the other side of the barn and the field beyond, views Luke had never seen, though he'd lived his entire life within a hundred yards of them. In spite of the fear gnawing in his stomach and the anguish of missing his family—already—he felt a thrill of excitement There was so much to see”(Haddix 94).
In this quote from Among the Hidden, Luke is leaving his family by receiving a fake ID and searching for a better life.
Although Luke had an opportunity for a better life, he still compromised by leaving his family. Although it was beneficial for Luke when he received a fake ID, he was also separated from his family. Therefore, because he had to sacrifice the love of his family, this proves that the world will never be perfect, as there will always be something missing.
The following is another example in The Giver that portrays the stated theme.
In The Giver, Lowry states, “He forced his eyes open as they went downward, downward, sliding, and all at once he could see lights, and he recognized them now. He knew they were shining through the windows of rooms, that they were the red, blue, and yellow lights that twinkled from trees in places where families created and kept memories, where they celebrated love. Downward, downward, faster and faster. Suddenly he was aware with certainty and joy that below, ahead, they were waiting for him; and that they were waiting, too, for the baby. For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing”(Lowry
179-178).
This quote from The Giver shows the resolution of the story, in which Jonas escapes from the Community to Elsewhere.
He decided to escape because he wanted to live in a place that would celebrate love. However, by escaping from the Community, Jonas also would have to prepare himself for facing struggles and challenges later on. Therefore, even though Jonas escaped to a world where he could find joy and warmth, he had to sacrifice a world where there was no pain. Similarly to all the other examples, Jonas would still not be living in a “perfect” world because he would still have to face challenges later on in his life.
Finally, both authors, Lowry and Haddix use imagery to create a common theme, the world will never be “perfect.”
In the Giver, Lowry states, "I'll come back tomorrow, sir." He said quickly. Then he hesitated. "Unless maybe there's something I can do to help." The Giver looked up at him, his face contorted with suffering. "Please," he gasped, "take some of the pain."
Jonas entered the Annex room, but when he saw the Giver in pain, he decided that he should leave. For the first time instead of pushing him away, the Giver called Jonas over to help relieve him of his pain.
Jonas was finally being let in to help the Giver when he was in pain. After this, he did not want to go back there. He did not want to face the Giver or the memories he just witnessed. When he became The Receiver, his heart had swelled with pride. He had seemed to reach his own utopia in a way. The memories were like pictures taking place in Jonas’s mind. Now, after what he saw, he did not want to go back there to face the Giver or the memories.
In, Among the Hidden, Haddix states, “People everywhere starved. In Luke's country, the Government began rationing food, only allowing people to have 1,500 calories a day. And, to make sure there was food, they seized control of all food production. They forced factories that had made junk food to crank out healthy food instead. They forced farmers to move to land that would be more likely to produce. But the Government didn't think that was enough. They wanted to make sure there would never again be more people than the farmers could feed. So they passed the Population Law, too.
This quote from from Among the Hidden shows that through the books Luke is understanding the reason why the government had to issue the population law.
Luke is using the words, diction and word choice to create a picture in his mind. He was trying to understand why the government would issue a horrid law to ban all third children. Luke thinks that because he was born, someone else in the world did not have enough food. The books made him think that he was stealing food that someone else could have eaten. The books twisted the reason why the population law was made. The words created a picture in Luke and the reader’s head. They made all third children look like evil to the world.
In conclusion, the authors of the Giver and Among the Hidden both use conflict, imagery, and resolution to create a common theme; the world can never be “perfect”. When we think that all the problems in the world are solved, there is still something missing. There will always be an “invisible” force making sure the world can never be perfect. The evidence presented from The Giver by Lois Lowry and Among the Hidden by Margaret P. Haddix portray that one cannot possibly have everything, as something will always be missing. In The Giver, Jonas's community is controlled by the elders, and whether there are emotions or not people still don't always fit in. In Among the Hidden , Luke is still born even after the injections that his mother was forced to take, along with other mothers who had already given birth to their second child. As shown by the evidence, the world can never become a perfect place. Although the evidence from both texts establish the theme that the world will never be “perfect”, everyone can join hands together to take a step further in making the world a better place to live in.
Evidence 1:“Then, the first wave of pain... as if a hatchet lay lodged in his leg, slicing through each nerve with a hot blade... vomited onto the frozen snow. Blood dripped from his face into the vomit” (Lowry 109).
“Jonas opened his eyes and lay contentedly on the bed, still luxuriating in the warm and comforting memory. It had all been there, all the things he had learned to treasure. "What did you perceive?" The Giver asked. "Warmth," Jonas replied, "and happiness. And — let me think. I certainly liked the memory, though”...”Love”(Lowry 123-124).
In these quotes, Jonas receives a memory of pain and then a memory of warmth and togetherness from the Giver. When the Giver is giving the memory of pain to Jonas, he experiences what suffering felt like. The Giver has also given a memory that creates a very warm and positive atmosphere and shows Jonas’s delighted reaction to the memory.
This is an example of a character vs. self conflict, because Jonas struggles to face pain. The first part of the quote shows the pain that people would experience before the Community took away all the …show more content…
emotions people had. To prevent pain, hardships, challenges and suffering, the Community took away all emotions from people, preventing any conflict. They thought that by eliminating pain, the world would become “perfect”. However, as shown by the second quote, though the Community succeeded in eliminating pain, they deprived people of the feelings of happiness, warmth, love, and togetherness. In one situation, though there were happy times, people also had to experience suffering and pain of some type. In the other situation, though pain was completely eliminated, people were deprived of happiness. In conclusion, in both situations, the world was never “perfect”.
In Among the Hidden by Haddix, Haddix also uses conflict to develop the theme that the world will never be perfect.
For instance, Haddix states, “He thought about reading and daydreaming in the attic the rest of his life...His life was very limited-- he understood that more now than ever...desperate to do something--anything?....Maybe there was something smaller and slower he could do. Studying ways to grow more food, so no one would go hungry, no matter how many kids people had. Or changing the Government so that farmers were allowed to raise pigs or use hydroponics, and ordinary people, not just Barons, could have better lives... But he wanted to do something.”
In the quote above, Luke describes just how limited his life is and how he was just wasting it by reading, daydreaming, and mostly, hiding from the world.
The Government believes that they have made the world perfect by passing the Population Law; however, through this quote, Luke also presents problems that a “perfect” world would not have. A “perfect” world would not have as many restrictions, either. Therefore, it is not possible to ever have a 100% perfect world as there will always be some problem; whether it is finding true happiness without any pain, or extremely strict limitations to prevent another problem.
In addition, the authors, Haddix and Lowry use resolution to create a common theme, which is that the the world will never be “perfect”. In Among the Hidden, Haddix states: “He peered back at his frantically waving family until they were out of sight. Soon the car was passing the other side of the barn and the field beyond, views Luke had never seen, though he'd lived his entire life within a hundred yards of them. In spite of the fear gnawing in his stomach and the anguish of missing his family—already—he felt a thrill of excitement There was so much to see”(Haddix 94).
In this quote from Among the Hidden, Luke is leaving his family by receiving a fake ID and searching for a better life.
Although Luke had an opportunity for a better life, he still compromised by leaving his family. Although it was beneficial for Luke when he received a fake ID, he was also separated from his family. Therefore, because he had to sacrifice the love of his family, this proves that the world will never be perfect, as there will always be something missing.
The following is another example in The Giver that portrays the stated theme.
In The Giver, Lowry states, “He forced his eyes open as they went downward, downward, sliding, and all at once he could see lights, and he recognized them now. He knew they were shining through the windows of rooms, that they were the red, blue, and yellow lights that twinkled from trees in places where families created and kept memories, where they celebrated love. Downward, downward, faster and faster. Suddenly he was aware with certainty and joy that below, ahead, they were waiting for him; and that they were waiting, too, for the baby. For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing”(Lowry
179-178).
This quote from The Giver shows the resolution of the story, in which Jonas escapes from the Community to Elsewhere.
He decided to escape because he wanted to live in a place that would celebrate love. However, by escaping from the Community, Jonas also would have to prepare himself for facing struggles and challenges later on. Therefore, even though Jonas escaped to a world where he could find joy and warmth, he had to sacrifice a world where there was no pain. Similarly to all the other examples, Jonas would still not be living in a “perfect” world because he would still have to face challenges later on in his life.
Finally, both authors, Lowry and Haddix use imagery to create a common theme, the world will never be “perfect.”
In the Giver, Lowry states, "I'll come back tomorrow, sir." He said quickly. Then he hesitated. "Unless maybe there's something I can do to help." The Giver looked up at him, his face contorted with suffering. "Please," he gasped, "take some of the pain."
Jonas entered the Annex room, but when he saw the Giver in pain, he decided that he should leave. For the first time instead of pushing him away, the Giver called Jonas over to help relieve him of his pain.
Jonas was finally being let in to help the Giver when he was in pain. After this, he did not want to go back there. He did not want to face the Giver or the memories he just witnessed. When he became The Receiver, his heart had swelled with pride. He had seemed to reach his own utopia in a way. The memories were like pictures taking place in Jonas’s mind. Now, after what he saw, he did not want to go back there to face the Giver or the memories.
In, Among the Hidden, Haddix states, “People everywhere starved. In Luke's country, the Government began rationing food, only allowing people to have 1,500 calories a day. And, to make sure there was food, they seized control of all food production. They forced factories that had made junk food to crank out healthy food instead. They forced farmers to move to land that would be more likely to produce. But the Government didn't think that was enough. They wanted to make sure there would never again be more people than the farmers could feed. So they passed the Population Law, too.
This quote from from Among the Hidden shows that through the books Luke is understanding the reason why the government had to issue the population law.
Luke is using the words, diction and word choice to create a picture in his mind. He was trying to understand why the government would issue a horrid law to ban all third children. Luke thinks that because he was born, someone else in the world did not have enough food. The books made him think that he was stealing food that someone else could have eaten. The books twisted the reason why the population law was made. The words created a picture in Luke and the reader’s head. They made all third children look like evil to the world.
In conclusion, the authors of the Giver and Among the Hidden both use conflict, imagery, and resolution to create a common theme; the world can never be “perfect”. When we think that all the problems in the world are solved, there is still something missing. There will always be an “invisible” force making sure the world can never be perfect. The evidence presented from The Giver by Lois Lowry and Among the Hidden by Margaret P. Haddix portray that one cannot possibly have everything, as something will always be missing. In The Giver, Jonas's community is controlled by the elders, and whether there are emotions or not people still don't always fit in. In Among the Hidden , Luke is still born even after the injections that his mother was forced to take, along with other mothers who had already given birth to their second child. As shown by the evidence, the world can never become a perfect place. Although the evidence from both texts establish the theme that the world will never be “perfect”, everyone can join hands together to take a step further in making the world a better place to live in.