Name: Meadow                                             Humanities

7th Grade                                                                         The Giver

Missing Knowledge

You might not realize this, but you take for granted all the beauty that you see in your daily life. Imagine a world where all of the beauty has been sucked away and no memory of it remains, this is The Giver by Lois Lowry. When Jonas, a twelve year old boy, get assigned his job for the rest of his life, he is quite surprised when he gets the position as the receiver of memory. He is overwhelmed with his new knowledge about the lost world. He must find a way to show the rest of the community the memories they’re missing out on. This society is a dystopia because everyone is ignorant, except Jonas who is isolated and different because of his knowledge. Everyone is locked away from the world. They’re living a lie.

Jonas’s community is kept ignorant to block out the painful thoughts but ignorance blocks out the beauty too. The Elders don’t want the community to be hurt by the truth, so they stop everyone from knowing anything, including the most wonderful memories. For example, the Elders do not allow the community to feel sunshine just because it can burn them. Jonas, however, experiences the memory of sunshine because he is the next Receiver. “…as he lay basking in the wonderful warmth…His skin began to sting,” (Giver, page 75). The fact that sunshine can come with pain meant, to the Elders, that you shouldn’t experience it at all. This shows that some of the best things in this world are being locked away from the community. The Elders try to keep their citizens safe, but safeness for them only means ignorance. The community should have a choice about their life and what they can feel and see. Safety means that you should have choice and knowledge of the world around you. Jonas’s community should know the world’s past. They should be able to know what they are missing out on. As soon as Jonas gets his first bit of knowledge he wants to share it with everyone. He wants them to see the beauty they are missing.

When Jonas receives his first bit knowledge about the past, his world changes. This knowledge changes Jonas. He gets feelings that tear him apart. The community will never experience all these wonderful things. On page 84 In The Giver, Jonas realises something big. “…he knew it was ordinary no longer, and would never be again.” Having this new sense of knowledge meant he was different. The Elders don’t allow difference, yet the job the Jonas gets selected for forces him to stand out. He knows that no one can have emotions like he has. No one one can understand him. He is all alone and surrounded by a sea of ignorance. The situation that Jonas is in can be looked at in multiple ways. He is the most knowledgeable person in the community. He has great honor and people look to him for advice. But he is alone and isolated. No one knows what he knows. He is different. Jonas shouldn’t be the only one that knows about the past and the only one who has the wisdom to change the world. This knowledge should be shared with the community.  

This society is not a utopia because Jonas’s community is locked away from the beauty and history of the world. The community is ignorant and doesn’t understand that they are being controlled by the Elders. In Jonas’s community, ignorance and knowledge is almost like your ranking in the society. If you have knowledge you are honored, but to Jonas it is a burden. It is unfair that Jonas must suffer the knowledge and pain of these memories. In our society and world, you are not kept from the horrors of the truth. If someone dies there is nothing protecting you from the sadness that comes with it. The difference between our society and Jonas’s is that we have each other for support. If your grandma passes away you all have people and relatives supporting you through these hard times. A utopia means that everyone has a choice in their life and are free from the lies that hold us back. Sadly Jonas doesn’t get that freedom.