Are following rules easy for you? What if they controlled your life, like rules that told you when exactly you could get a new jacket or that one was not to step outside unless under certain conditions? This essay is about characters who rebel from the novels Journey to the River Sea written by Eva Ibbotson and The Giver by Lois Lowry. The kind of rebellion I’m addressing means resisting or acting against the rules. Although these characters may be disobedient, they do have a valid reason.
When the main character, Maia, in Eva Ibbotson’s novel, arrived at her uncle’s place, the Carter family lived under very ridiculous set ways and rules. Most of the rules consisted of having zero interaction with the natives and nature. Yet, the Carters lived in the middle of a vibrant and flourishing tropical island in Manaus, South America, with high heat and fresh, juicy fruit just inches from their fingertips, and so it was hard to follow the rules. …show more content…
When Maia arrived in Manaus, plenty more rebellion sparked. When the twins earned their prize money for turning in a wanted boy, that Maia had to do with, they disobeyed their parents who told them to put it in the bank. The Carters ate nothing native, and so their servants were not to to serve them native meals nor fresh fruit. One day, a servant bended the rules and gave Maia, two pieces of fresh fruit. On top of that the family’s governess, a proper and mature adult allowed Maia to run away with her wanted friend. The governess even went with them and removed her corset, which was a rule set in stone by Mrs. Carter and would have gotten the governess immediately fired.
All citizens in Lois Lowry’s book, The Giver must follow a plan set out before them with very little say. They live in a world with no pain, yet no happiness. This means, there are no holidays or celebrations. Even though we may think they are living in an unjust dictatorship, but since, being the case that the citizens in the book couldn’t remember or were never told of another way of living, they accepted it. However, with rules so rigid, it would be practically impossible to not have people breaking them. For instance, in the community, there is a specific age before children are granted a bicycle and allowed to ride one. Nevertheless, the older siblings have already taught their younger siblings how to ride. Regardless of these small actions that disobeyed the rules, most of the rebellion in this book, comes from the protagonist, Jonas, himself; being the case that he was chosen to receive memories from the past. On account of that, he experienced both sorrow and joy. Before that, his first observation that helped him get chosen was an apple that he saw change from his colourless world to red while tossing back and forth with his friend. He then, puzzled and confused, took the apple home, which was not allowed. That was only the beginning of his defiance towards the community and the elders, who were the dictators. After a while, he started to skip his injections. These pills were to stop feelings and dreams of love, but because Jonas had experienced this emotion through memories he