The Giver Sameness

In 1994, the John Newberry Medal was awarded to Lois Lowry's book, "The Giver". The book was awarded this medal not only because its movie adaptation was remarkable, the book itself was just as capturing. It takes you right into a 'utopian', lifeless community. The book's mentor helps the main character understand that not feeling anything is not normal. In “The
Giver”, Lowry uses Jonas and The Giver to demonstrate that it is not cooperation, order, and
Sameness that makes us human, but memories, individuality, and feelings.
Sameness is what many people, in and out of the book, think a factor of a functioning community should hold, but diversity and individuality should be key qualities of communities instead. In the book, there are people
With The Elders deciding people’s futures for them, they have scared them

unknowingly into thinking that if people chose for themselves, they would choose wrong. The
Giver and Jonas have a conversation about the possibilities of what would happen if people chose for themselves (Page 98-99). Even though he now understood why it would be a bad idea for people to choose freely, he was still frustrated. One day, Jonas tries to get Asher, his best friend, to see the red in roses. (Page 99) When Asher quickly backs away, Jonas must make up an excuse because he knows Asher will follow The Elders without a doubt like everyone else. The Elders believe that to prevent people from making wrong choices, they don’t give an option for choices at all. They leave no room for possibility. Citizens place their trust in
The Elders with no question, because they don’t know that they could have a life they wanted.
In the community of The Giver, the makeup of a family is ONLY one mother, one father, one son, and one daughter. Instead, a family should consist of whoever they want,
When Jonas wanted to have Gabriel as a little brother, they had to be surveyed, have permission from many different people, and the baby was not even his ‘legal’ brother, they were just taking care of him. The families aren’t even called families, they are called “family units”. I believe that in the book The Giver, the Elders and people in the past should allow people feelings and the ability to choose a partner whom they love. To be trained to think the same thoughts as anyone else, to not see individuality, and to not feel anything, is depriving someone of their natural rights to be a human being. The leaders

of your society do not dictate what you think or what you feel. Diversity between individuals, families, and communities is what makes a truly functioning society. You don’t have to eliminate the ability to choose just because something bad is an effect of your choice. Just because it hurts to feel pain (emotionally and physically) does NOT mean people should just stop feeling all emotions altogether. It is okay to make mistakes. When you mess up, when you feel, when you have contrasting thoughts from another person, THAT is what makes you human. Not