The Giver - Victoria Vance

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The Giver is a wonderful book that educates the readers on the actuality of sameness and portrays both negatives and positives of which it influences. For instance, Lowry depicts sameness from two immensely diverse perspectives: one being that it is a necessity for survival and success of a community, and one being that sameness suppresses a community and lacks further improvement. The most interesting aspect in the book, is that the "Elders" are under the impression that sameness is an absolute convention in order for a society to function successfully. Jonas actually negates that argument after he is granted his memories from the Giver, "But why can't everyone have memories?" (46). In the eyes of the elders, sameness means that there is a wide practice of conformity, making it easy to govern over the people. If people were allowed to have access to their memories as freely as they chose, then they could have feelings outside of what they are expected to have. Thus, the unexpected being feared (by the elders) because the outcome can be so radical and not easily controlled because they would not predict what would happen, as each individual would be different. The same concept applies to emotion, if everyone was allowed to portray emotions as freely as they pleased, then the elders would have no control; as emotions are deemed either rational or irrational. But, regardless of category, they can be unpredictable as certain events affect no two individuals in the same manner. Sameness is a concept that is only good in theory, but not in application. Sameness suppresses individuality, confidence, growth, and experiences. In theory, it is likely to believe that sameness is a concept that is attainable and easily manipulated and controlled, but The Giver further contradicts that idea through characters of the elders and their malpractices in keeping their community pure and safe.

Comments

  1. EduFitOctober 12, 2017 at 4:17 PM

    Victoria, I like how you included the importance of the different perspectives. I never looked at those ideas. I also agree that The Giver contradicts the idea of Sameness and I love how you included theory into this discussion. This novel definitely can be looked at from many different critical perspectives.
    Good Job!

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