In a land where people are allowed to feel and express their emotions, they find it absurd that such freedoms should be restricted. The Giver is a novel by Lois Lowry about Jonas. He begins to question the perfect society he lives in, which is devoid of problems. When he starts receiving memories from his past job as the Receiver Of Memory, Jonas begins to have doubts. The community, in order to achieve security, sacrifices its freedom, leading them to be ignorant of the past. They also become unable of predicting the future. The loss of freedom eliminates emotion. The question is: Does it make sense to erase the freedom of learning, experiencing the world, or feeling emotions to achieve security?
The education system in Jonas’ community is dominated by a government that restricts what knowledge can be learned. The education of Jonas’ community is centered on Sameness, and as a result no one has any knowledge of the past. Indoctrination is used to ensure that everyone in the community has a role and that they are not able to disrupt society with their own ideas or concepts that do not fit with Sameness. Citizens have no idea of other ways of thinking. Even Jonas is ignorant until he discovers family and love through a memory from Christmas. Jonas explains, “I did not know that there was a different way to live until I received this memory” (157). He had no idea that there were other ways to live, or even what Christmas and love meant before receiving this memory. It shows just how limited the memories of these people are. The security of the system prevents anyone from being free within their own mind. How can one experience the physical world? Answer: with your senses and thoughts. How can a person perceive when both their senses and thoughts are impaired? This is a trick; the person who is capable of perceiving is actually an illusion.
The community of The Giver also challenges basic truths about life, which most societies do not question. Jonas and his community are unable to hear or see any color. The music is also not allowed. In an environment where everything is controlled, people may not notice that color and music are present. The ability to distinguish hair color and chord progressions is not enough. Colors allow people to have distinct characteristics about their body (hair, eye color, skin tone), while music allows them to express themselves. Because they are expressive of individuality, music and color clash with Sameness. Everyone is genetically altered before birth so they can all be the same. To ensure the security and safety of the entire community, all members are genetically altered before birth. If someone is born differently in Jonas’s society, they will be released via lethal infection. The narrator describes his euthanization procedure for twins: “He pushed very slowly the plunger and then injected liquid into scalp veins until the cylinder was empty.” (187). The community does not accept twins because the government hates confusion and frustrated. Adults who are no longer needed in Jonas’ community can also be released. The community will remove citizens who do not meet certain physical criteria.
Human beings react to and connect with the world through emotions. A typical person’s emotions can change throughout the course of a normal day. They may go from excitement to sadness. Your emotional state is determined by your own mental or physical experience as you go about doing normal human activities. You could say that emotions define us. Jonas’s community, on the contrary, views emotions as catalysts for disrupting Sameness. Each family must share their feelings every evening, but their emotions remain bland. Readers will be pleasantly surprised to discover that teenagers are often given medications to regulate their emotions. Jonas is told by his mother that he’s ready to take pills when he has a sexually-charged dream. Stirrings is treated with pills (48). Residents of this community are taught emotions must be controlled by medication and not felt, but restrained. They have taken care that feelings are not a way to learn about life. To be fair to emotions, they can lead to feelings like unrest or anger that are problematic for governments. The government cannot maintain order, if their people’s emotions are not in line with their government’s goals. This decision makes people more robotic and less human.
It is morally questionable if, to achieve equality, a society has to sacrifice something as minor as color perception in order for everyone to be the same. Individuality is seen as a threat by the community because it makes people unpredictable. What’s the purpose of living when you cannot control it? A community can euthanize disobedient miscreants or elderly citizens, but they have already deprived them of the chance to live a full life. A society becomes more complex when freedom is taken away and security is implemented. The Giver’s community is constantly monitoring and regulating its citizens, which requires time and resources. The community would have more time to work on more productive and fulfilling projects if it trusted its citizens. Then maybe the community can become more democratic and free like the superpowers.
