The Importance Of Good Talking In The Giver By Lois Lowry

The Importance of Good Talking The precision of language is one of the most influential themes contributing to the irony of the utopian lifestyle depicted in Lois Lowry’s brilliant dystopian novel, The Giver. From the very first line to the last powerful moments of the book, it is made apparent how seriously speech is taken in Jonas’s community. Jonas, before meeting the Giver, endlessly toils over what specific words could be used to describe his emotions by comparing their meanings, such as “fright” and “apprehension.” However, throughout the novel, Jonas begins to realize what real emotions are, and that not everything can be explained by words lacking in depth and meaning. Lowry develops the theme of the precision of language in The Giver in unison with the development of Jonas’s understanding of real emotions, meaningful language, and
Originally, Jonas compares meager emotions such as these in order to find a concrete piece of language that could describe his abstract emotions; however, as he perceives real and sincere emotions through memory, Jonas discovers that the emotions he had tried to grasp through concrete adjectives were illegitimate and lacked depth. The Giver later explains to Jonas that they “are the only ones who have feelings” (154). Jonas finally realizes that even though everyone in the community shares their feelings with their family unit each night, and even though adjectives describing emotions are drilled into everyone, starting with toddlers, no real feelings are felt. He realizes that the concrete terms that have always been used to neatly wrap up his emotions in a perfect little box could not possibly define the genuine, authentic emotions felt before