Blog Post 2/23: The Giver

    “The Giver” by Lois Lowry is a young adult novel set in dystopian earth. Everyone lives in a perfect community where everything is the same. At age 12, children are put into the job that they would potentially thrive in until they would be “released.” To make this world perfect the “Chief Elder” controls how the world works, and the human emotions. At the beginning of each day residents of the community must take injections to numb their feelings. The “Chief Elder” offers a great injustice, she takes away the people’s freedom.

    The protagonist, Jonas has been assigned the job as the Receiver. This job is assigned to one person every ten or so years. Jonas is an average boy in the community, he goes to school, he volunteers and he takes his injections. As the new Receiver he meets with the Giver everyday. The Giver provides information on what the world was like with history and laughter, with joy and emotion -- with colour. The community lives in black and white because the “Chief Elder” has taken away colour.

    The ‘Chief Elder” is the superior of the community, she chooses everything for everyone. This is a great injustice because no one ha freedom. They don’t understand what real emotions feel like, they don’t understand what the real world is like. Instead they abide by strict rules and all they do is make sure the community is healthy and they reproduce. She has taken away the freedom of the people, they aren’t allowed to do anything.

    We live in an era where we have freedom of speech, we see in colour, and although we hate to, we make mistakes. “The Giver” is really about the world that w could be living in, but instead we are rewarded with this one.