Name: Kaya Humanities
7th Grade The Giver
The Giver’s World: How the People see it… Or don’t see it
In The Giver by Lois Lowry, Jonas lives in a utopia… or does he?Jonas has followed the rules ever since he was born until he is told that the rules are a thing from the past. He became the apprentice of the Giver. He discovered the cruelty and the happiness of the past. His life changed forever, but his friends don’t feel the pain or the love and don’t know how to relate. Jonas has feelings that are slipping out. Jonas’s society is a dystopia because people are ignorant to the rules, have no knowledge of the world around them, and are forced to be obedient.
The community is ignorant and kept in the dark by a higher power known as the Elders. Most of the community is oblivious to the way the Elders control people. The Elders keep them obedient with rituals each day. One of those rituals is that everyone is assigned a job. On pg.105 of The Giver, Lowry writes, “Oh, your instructors are well trained. They know their scientific facts. Everyone is well trained for his job.” This shows how the community makes sure that everybody has the perfect job for them. Something that they are good at and will be successful with. The Elders watch every child from a young age strategically opening doors into their future. They do all of this to create a utopia. Many people in the community don’t know about pain and emotion do to the pill they take. The community is ignorant and don’t know how pain feels except for the Giver and now, Jonas.
Knowledge is very important but, not many people in Jonas’s community have it. In this utopia, only a small amount of people have knowledge. Most just follow the rules given to them. On page 78, in The Giver, “And punishment for disobedience-” This shows that the community has to be obedient. They don’t have a choice to be truly free because they are obedient. There are so many rules to follow that nobody can feel free. Therefore much of the community are not aware of being imprisoned by rules.
This society is not a utopia because the people are ignorant, they have no freedom of choice and the community is shut out and locked away in this world they call a utopia. A utopia is a place where everybody knows the truth, where the truth is happiness, where everybody is held at the same standard. In Jonas’s community none of these things are relevant in his world. They are kept ignorant and don’t know what the penalties are for being different. This is a community where people are brainwashed and told to be obedient to the endless rules. This world is far from a perfect, infact it is simply a fantasy image.
