What would it be like to live in a world where everything is orderly and predictable, everyone is the same and all important decisions were made by one's leaders? In the controlling world of The Giver, Jonas gets assigned the role of the Receiver. The Giver gives him memories both happy and painful of their past world to keep for the community. Eventually Jonas realizes that the community members need to feel pain in order to be truly happy and understand the true meaning of life. The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is a clear example of a dystopian society because the society is an illusion of a perfect world, citizens conform to uniform expectations and a figurehead is worshipped by the citizens of the community.
The first reason why The Giver is a dystopian society is because the society is an illusion of a perfect world. As Jonas travels on his journey to find Elsewhere, he realizes that “after all the sameness and predictability, he was awed by the surprises that lay beyond each curve of the road” (Lowry 172). Discovering this helps Jonas when he has to keep going up the snow covered hill to find Elsewhere. Even though …show more content…
While Jonas and Lily are observing Gabriel, Lily points out that he has the same “funny” eyes as Jonas. Mother scolds Lily because “no one mentioned such things ... [it] was considered rude to call attention to things that were unsettling or different about individuals” (20). The society conformed to sameness therefore causing everyone to be similar and as one sees in the quote, it is wrong to call attention to the individuality of other members of the community. The sameness between individuals leaves Jonas feeling embarrassed about his eyes even though they are what make him special and have the ability to be the Receiver. The citizens conforming to uniform expectations and sameness further proves that The Giver is a dystopian
The first reason why The Giver is a dystopian society is because the society is an illusion of a perfect world. As Jonas travels on his journey to find Elsewhere, he realizes that “after all the sameness and predictability, he was awed by the surprises that lay beyond each curve of the road” (Lowry 172). Discovering this helps Jonas when he has to keep going up the snow covered hill to find Elsewhere. Even though …show more content…
While Jonas and Lily are observing Gabriel, Lily points out that he has the same “funny” eyes as Jonas. Mother scolds Lily because “no one mentioned such things ... [it] was considered rude to call attention to things that were unsettling or different about individuals” (20). The society conformed to sameness therefore causing everyone to be similar and as one sees in the quote, it is wrong to call attention to the individuality of other members of the community. The sameness between individuals leaves Jonas feeling embarrassed about his eyes even though they are what make him special and have the ability to be the Receiver. The citizens conforming to uniform expectations and sameness further proves that The Giver is a dystopian