Book Review #23 – The Giver, by Lois Lowry (this post is in process and incomplete at time)
Book Review #23 – “The Giver” by Lois Lowry.
[authored by Lois Lowry, published in 1993 by Houghton Mifflin Company]
“Life here is so orderly, so predictable – so painless. It’s what they’ve chosen… Our people made that choice to go to Sameness. We relinquished color when we relinquished sunshine and did away with differences. We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others.” (The Giver).
The Established Order of Life in the Community of Sameness:
Newborn – Delivered by a Birthmother and categorized as Newchildren; is assigned a number, not a name, and for the baby’s first year is raised in the group Nurturing Facility by assigned Nurturers; is given a comfort object to keep until eight years old. Birthmothers are assigned to that role, are lowly regarded in the community, and become a Laborer after the maximum of three births.
ONE year old – The newchild is assigned a name and given to the assigned parents in a family unit.
THREE years old – The child is taught the “acquisition of correct language” according to the Book of Rules.
FOUR years old – Each child is given a back-fastened jacket for the daily uniform in order to learn interdependence since they need help from others to get dressed.
SEVEN years old – Each child is given a front-buttoned jacket for daily wear as a sign of independence.
EIGHT years old – The comfort object is taken away from each child, and each receives a uniform jacket with pockets for the first time to note the child’s growing responsibility to carry objects.
NINE years old – Each child is given a new bike for a personal possession for the first time, having been forbidden from riding bikes until then. Girls may now remove their long-required hair ribbons.
TEN years old – All boys are given uniform short haircuts, and all girls may finally have their braids snipped off.
ELEVEN years old – All standardized childhood behavior is to be continued, and each child is required to spend many hours volunteering in various community functions and facilities.
TWELVE years old – Each child now receives his/her Life Assignment, the career that will signify their role in the community. The twelve-year-old is considered a “citizen-in-training.” Every member of the community has a particular role in one of the established functions that maintain the community. The ages after twelve will cease being noted in the community records, which means no one knows exactly how old one is after reaching the teenage years.
FAMILY UNITS – When considered to be an adult, the Elders assign spouses to establish a family unit and raise two children maximum, 1 boy and 1 girl. The compatible spouse match is made after considering variables such as intelligence, personality, interests, and energy levels. All matches are monitored for three years by the Elders to confirm the fit of the spouses.
STANDARDIZED EDUCATION – All children are taught the same subjects as they age: Language and Communications; Commerce and Industry; Science and Technology; Civil Procedures and Government.
The Intended Benefits of the Community of Sameness: The persons managing this society believe in the priority of avoiding all risk, pain and suffering in order to maintain security, safety and carefree predictability. So the freedom of personal choice was sacrificed in order to enjoy a society with… No pain or discomfort; no color; no music; complete climate control without sunshine, wind, storms or uncertain weather patterns; no need to cook meals since standardized meals are delivered daily; no crime, injustice or unfairness; everyone is considered equal; no races or ethnic group bias; no deep emotions like sadness or affection or anger; no painful historical memories; an apparent social harmony; everyone contributes to society in some way; no poverty, hunger or deprivation; no unemployment; no sexual activity.
The Downsides of the Community: In order to enjoy those supposed benefits in their society, it nonetheless operated this way…
(1.) There was no consideration given to the sanctity of human life in that society. There was an active eugenics program in every stage of life that included infanticide, assisted suicide, capital punishment, and euthanasia. The acceptable term used for killing an unwanted person was “Release” which was actually a lethal injection administered to anyone unworthy of life in the community:
- A baby who was termed “Inadequate” by being disabled, by not thriving according to their developmental charts, by being unable to sleep through the night by the end of the first year, or by being the smaller one of identical twins;
- Any child who has proven to be rebellious by committing three infractions from their Book of Rules;
- Any person of any age who simply wants to be “released,” at which time they are helped to do so;
- Any adult who willingly breaks the established rules or who is unable to contribute to the community;
- All elderly citizens in the House of the Old who have outlived their usefulness.
(2.) There was a complete absence of beauty throughout society. There was no color anywhere in the environment, with everything being a dull, nondescript gray shade of blandness. There was no use of the imagination, no music, no art. There was no natural beauty like sky, sunshine, snow, clouds. There was no enjoyable variety in geography such as hills, valleys, mountains. There were no living animals that provided joy and beauty and companionship. There was no creativity or artistic self-expression. There was no inspiring literature or history books, only a required shelf in each family unit with a dictionary, an organizational manual, and the Book of Rules.
(3.) There was no sense of a Divine Power, or God or religion. Since there was no sense of a transcendent Being, or of a creation outside their own abilities, there was the ongoing delusion of self-sufficiency and absolute independence. So of course, there wasn’t an inkling of belief in being made in God’s image, since there was essentially no God in their awareness. Also, naturally, there was no belief in being morally responsible to a Higher Power in any way.
(4.) There was no personal freedom to make one’s own choices. The concept of free will was foreign to their thinking. The decisions were already made in almost every person’s case by either a select committee or by the ruling Committee of Elders. The Elders decided the names to the Ones, the spouse matches, the Life Assignments, the family unit assignments, and who was to be “released” in the community. Without free will, there was no freedom of conscience, no individuality, no independent thinking, no unique personalities, no personal choices.
(5.) There was no personal privacy. The two-way speakers in every house were turned on every minute of every day. There was constant surveillance outside each house. There were daily telling of secrets, dreams, and inner feelings required in each family unit. Everyone was accounted for at all times.
(6.) There was no emotional depth allowed to develop. The touching of others was forbidden. Sadness or anger was not tolerated. Romance between the genders was outlawed and maintained by every person taking a daily pill that sublimated sexual desires and limited sexual development. As a result, the idea of falling in love, or even of loving another person like a parent, sibling, or friend was a foreign concept and not even understood in the least.
(7.) There was no wisdom learned from historical memories. Because so many historical memories were most likely painful to remember and would make the citizens experience all types of profound and deep emotions, there was only one person in this society who was assigned to hold community memories, whether tragic or joyful or anything between… The Giver. His job was to bear the burdens of all the memories from the past and completely keep them from the conscious awareness of the community members. There was no opportunity, then, for the people to learn from the past, to recognize mistakes made that shouldn’t be repeated, to gain wisdom from what has occurred down through history. Every once in a while, the Elders assign someone to become a Receiver, and the Giver proceeds to transfer all his memories onto the Receiver, who will then bear those memories for the community going forward so the people won’t have to bear them in any way.
An Overview of “The Giver.” The tone of this science fiction story is rather bleak, so readers shouldn’t be surprised if they feel somewhat unsettled while going through the story. But this brilliant book has sold millions upon millions of copies since it was published, and is a work of genius by Lois Lowry that somehow is understand by middle schoolers and equally loved by adults as well. The Giver has earned numerous awards, including the Newberry Medal for the Book of the Year in 1993. The reader is plopped right down into a strange, fascinating community in the first words of the story, a society that might have wanted to build a utopia but has clearly become a dystopia instead. The word utopia literally means “good place,” and represents mankind’s never-ending search for the ideal, perfect world in which to live. Such a life, though, has proven impossible down through history, and if we don’t watch things carefully, a utopian society can easily devolve into a dystopian one. Dystopia literally means “bad place,” and in literature is an imagined society which is characterized by extreme oppression and totalitarian control. Sometimes we can be fooled into the supposed benefits of a dystopia, but what does one have to sacrifice in order to get those benefits? Is the trade-off worth it?