The Giver Sameness Vs Equality
Has the thought of a perfect society ever come to mind? A perfect society is called a utopian society, in more literal terms, a utopian society is modeled on aiming for a state in which everything is perfect; idealistic. Some may think of equality as an example of a utopian society, but is it really? Equality, as in everything is the same, is more of dystopian society, relating to or denoting an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. Which would our world today be considered, maybe a little bit of both? “The Giver” by Louis Lowry represents a society of sameness and Equality. The novel shows more of it being a dystopian society, both their society and our modern day society, have many similarities and differences.
…show more content…
To begin with a topic where the novel and our modern day society differ on is birthdays.
In society today, birthdays are usually celebrated on the actual birthday of that person or close by. In “The Giver” they hold a ceremony in December where they all enter the next age category, the actual day/month of their birthday does not matter. Modern society there are ages that are look forward to the most. Those ages would be mainly sixteen because that is when driver licenses are able to be gotten and then also eighteen because that is the age a person becomes an official adult. The novel shows that seven would be a big age because that is when children get jackets with buttons down the front instead of the back, teaching them independence. The age nine was also considered an age to look forward to, for that was when children got their bicycles. Getting bicycles were the main transportation for both children and adult, as stated in “The Giver” it represented a "powerful emblem of moving gradually out into the community, away from the protective family unit" (p.
41).
Furthermore into differences is on the matters of jobs and the process of getting a job. In “The Giver”, jobs are not just something that can be applied for. Jobs are assigned after the ceremony of twelve the chief elder. Unfortunately, citizens are not able to change jobs in “The Giver” unlike in today’s modern society. When knowing they are not able to leave the job once assigned, it is evident kids are anxious knowing there is a chance of the job not being right from them. Thankfully citizens of Modern day America have to turn in an application for jobs, also on the subject of jobs of today, citizens are able to leave if they do not feel what they are doing suits them any longer, or if they have lost interest in this particular job and yearn to do something else.
To begin with a topic where the novel and our modern day society differ on is birthdays.
In society today, birthdays are usually celebrated on the actual birthday of that person or close by. In “The Giver” they hold a ceremony in December where they all enter the next age category, the actual day/month of their birthday does not matter. Modern society there are ages that are look forward to the most. Those ages would be mainly sixteen because that is when driver licenses are able to be gotten and then also eighteen because that is the age a person becomes an official adult. The novel shows that seven would be a big age because that is when children get jackets with buttons down the front instead of the back, teaching them independence. The age nine was also considered an age to look forward to, for that was when children got their bicycles. Getting bicycles were the main transportation for both children and adult, as stated in “The Giver” it represented a "powerful emblem of moving gradually out into the community, away from the protective family unit" (p.
41).
Furthermore into differences is on the matters of jobs and the process of getting a job. In “The Giver”, jobs are not just something that can be applied for. Jobs are assigned after the ceremony of twelve the chief elder. Unfortunately, citizens are not able to change jobs in “The Giver” unlike in today’s modern society. When knowing they are not able to leave the job once assigned, it is evident kids are anxious knowing there is a chance of the job not being right from them. Thankfully citizens of Modern day America have to turn in an application for jobs, also on the subject of jobs of today, citizens are able to leave if they do not feel what they are doing suits them any longer, or if they have lost interest in this particular job and yearn to do something else.