society
character description
In the book, The Giver, the society is the antagonist. The society in The Giver is a futuristic, very controlled environment in which everyone is controlled by the "Elders". There is no suffering, pain, conflict, poverty, inequality or war. Everyone is polite and nice to each other. They have everything they need but they must follow all the rules or they will be release. Everyone basically acts the same. They do not have color, choice, memory or the ability to love. The Elders decide who marries who, who can adopt a child, what kind of job you will get, and even the weather is controlled. Everyone is forced to take a pill to stop stirring and everyone must follow orders that are given through a public loud speaker.
character development
Many years ago the community decided to develop a society of "sameness" by getting rid of choice, freedom, pain and war . A society with no color, no memory, or the ability to love. There will be no suffering, hunger or conflict. Even the weather would be controlled. Everyone would be nice to each other and basically act the same. The community and Elders assigned one member called the "The Giver" to be the keeper of all memories. The Giver is the only member of the community with the ability to see color, feel love and pain. When the "Elders" needed memories to make decisions for the community, the Giver would be called upon. The society has followed the rules of sameness for so long that no one in the community would know how to live any different.
December is the time where changes are announced for the younger members of the society during a big ceremony. During the ceremony the children are referred to as numbers based on their age. For example, the ones receive their name and their family. The threes (only girls) get hair ribbons. The fours get a jacket. The sevens get a front button jacket. The eights get an identification jacket with packets and the ability to volunteer. The nines get a bicycle. The tens get an adult hair cut. The elevens get adult clothing and the twelves get their future job assignments. Once they reach the age of twelve, no one keeps track of their age.
The society did not really change at all during the book. Due to the lack of memory the members of the community do not know that they had given up freedom, love, color among other things. Jonas could not tell them because it was against the instructions given to him. Although he tried transferring memories of color and elephants to Lily and Fiona it did not work as he was only able to transfer memories to Gabe. Jonas escapes from the community to save Gabe's life and to release the memories to the community and give the community an opportunity to regain memories, feel love, pain and see the beauty of the world that they had given up. The author did not show or explain the effect on the community when all the memories were released.
December is the time where changes are announced for the younger members of the society during a big ceremony. During the ceremony the children are referred to as numbers based on their age. For example, the ones receive their name and their family. The threes (only girls) get hair ribbons. The fours get a jacket. The sevens get a front button jacket. The eights get an identification jacket with packets and the ability to volunteer. The nines get a bicycle. The tens get an adult hair cut. The elevens get adult clothing and the twelves get their future job assignments. Once they reach the age of twelve, no one keeps track of their age.
The society did not really change at all during the book. Due to the lack of memory the members of the community do not know that they had given up freedom, love, color among other things. Jonas could not tell them because it was against the instructions given to him. Although he tried transferring memories of color and elephants to Lily and Fiona it did not work as he was only able to transfer memories to Gabe. Jonas escapes from the community to save Gabe's life and to release the memories to the community and give the community an opportunity to regain memories, feel love, pain and see the beauty of the world that they had given up. The author did not show or explain the effect on the community when all the memories were released.
tie in
I was able to connect with the society because I sometimes feel like all I do is follow routines and directions. I wake up and ask for five more minutes then I get out of bed. I go to the bathroom, take a shower, put on my clothes, brush my teeth, and then I try to get a few more minutes of sleep. I then do my hair and unplug my phone and ipad. I put on a ring and a necklace. I go downstairs, put on my shoes, have some breakfast and say bye to my mom. My dad drives me to school. When I get out of school my grandfather picks me up, I go to their house, have a snack and do homework and study. Sometimes I have dinner there. I continue doing my homework until my parents pick me up. I go home, finish my homework and study some more until it's time for bed. When life is on a routine, life becomes too predictable and not enjoyable. You become like a robot and don't have freedom to do the thing that you want to. We become so busy that we end up taking so many things for granted that we really need to be thankful for.