Choice or Power?- Zach’s Philosophy on The Giver

In a world where fear strikes through the souls of the citizens in the form of control, a young boy named Jonas searches for freedom. This world is The Giver by Lois Lowry. Jonas the main character is very thoughtful in his everyday life. He yearns for difference in a world of homogeneity. On his 12th birthday he receives a job with great honor behind it. This opens eyes, the world he lives in is riddled with casualties. This society is a dystopia because the citizens are manipulated by The Elders and there is no room for freedom.
Control and freedom is something the community of The Giver struggles with. In The book The Giver control is clouded by perfection. The Council of Elders uses the thought of perfection and or the thought of a “utopia” for control. In this book freedom is imperfection. One example of that is in this quote. “Of course our community can’t function smoothly if people don’t use precise language. You could ask, ‘Do you enjoy me?’ The answer is ‘Yes,’” his mother said. “Or,” his father suggested, “‘Do you take pride in my accomplishments?’ And the answer is wholeheartedly ‘Yes.’” “Do you understand why it’s inappropriate to use a word like ‘love’?” Mother asked. Jonas nodded. “Yes, thank you, I do,” he replied slowly. It was his first lie to his parents.” (The Giver, 106). In this example of control, The Elders use emotion to manipulate people. Since emotion defines who you are, The Elders created homogeneity. So now not only do the Elders control the community, they also made you equal to everyone else. This makes it easier to take control of the community. All of the rules in the society were made around the thought of leadership. In a way the people of The Giver are robots. They have no emotion, they don’t feel anything and they can’t even see color. The Elders made them this way so that they can program themselves into power. The only way to have a perfect society is to have no freedom.
In The Giver freedom is unable to coexist with the citizens. The freedom to choose is what puts people in poverty. The choices that humans make in our world everyday are the decisions that decide their future. In The Giver’s society your fate is decided as soon as your our born. This shows most in The Giver on page 90. “‘They know nothing,’ The Giver said bitterly. Jonas was shocked. Since the first day in the Annex room, they had together disregarded the rules about rudeness, and Jonas felt comfortable with that now. But this was different, and far beyond rude. This was a terrible accusation. What if someone had heard?” In a world where everything is carefully thought out, emotions don’t fit in. Emotions are unpredictable. To keep these emotions in check The Elders have strategic rules in place. Rules in The Giver oppress freedom. The rule about rudeness gave Jonas a taste of freedom. As soon as he had a sliver of freedom he set out on a journey for more because he knew that he would not find any staying where he was. Perfection is a great thing, but everything comes with a cost.
Choice does not have a place in a utopia and when there’s no choice that creates control by a dictatorship. The Giver forces readers to reflect on what is means to be a perfect world. Everybody on earth dreams to be rich and successful. Although some think the distribution of power and difference is unfair. Those people want equality. The Giver made equality but took it to a whole new level. To be equal is not being the same. The Giver make the reader realise having the same privileges is not the same as being the same.