Society is obsessed with perfecting the world. From photoshopping beauty to creating robots to work for free, all of humanity is devoted and desperate to create a Utopia. They go to drastic measures to erase any trace of human imperfection and difference. In The Giver, the reader explores the Utopian state created by author, Lois Lowry. In this state there is not a trace of fear, pain, war, or hatred. There is no competition for social status or financial need. This society expresses control at every corner. They are shaping the communities’ minds to think the way the Elders want them to. By creating “sameness” they have complete control over everyone; no one feels, yet everyone unknowingly …show more content…
For all of these reasons it is clear that the best critical approach in which to analyze Lois Lowry’s The Giver is the sociological critical approach as it is a representation of a society that …show more content…
They are controlled by autocrats called the Elders who hide and “protect them” from love and pain. Marriages in this society are arranged, pending the subject’s ability to have a family. They are created for the sole purpose of raising assigned children that will call their assigned parents mom and dad and to have a functional roommate to ensure stability is kept in the community. This is a clinical process that eradicates any sort of love and the ability to connect and create bonds with people and objects. In chapter 16, Jonas asks his parents if they love him, to which his mother replies that love is “...so meaningless and that it’s become almost obsolete.” (160). Jonas’ parents do not consider how this may affect him because they have never craved love the way he does. They can not begin to fathom the immeasurable pain and heartache he is feeling. This is because this society feels no pain. They are given pills when they fall off of their bikes and scrape their knees to numb the pain. However beyond this, they do not suffer or know emotional pain. They are protected from sentimental heartbreak and physical acts of violence. In an essay entitled “In Pursuit of Happiness” the writer, Joshua Stearns, comments that “We need pain to provide a contrast for pleasure.”(1). The human body isn’t built