Imagine a place where no one has blood related family members, everyone is assured a long, safe, and peaceful life, and everyone’s futures were decided by council members. In other words, that is “the community” in which the story of The Giver written by Lois Lowry takes place. In this novel, lessons and morals concerning the real world are expressed along with the three main themes of the story -- compromise, the power of knowledge, and perspective -- through a story about a boy, in a very unrealistic world.
First, one of the major themes in The Giver is compromise, which delivers the message that everything comes with a price. In The Giver, the citizens of the community (the setting of this story) are not able to see color. When Jonas, …show more content…
This theme explains that in order to understand one’s thoughts or the reason one acts upon, you must put yourself in their shoes. As Jonas continues his education with the Giver, he starts to find many of the citizens’ “normal” tasks disturbing in a way he had never noticed before. For instance, he is terrorized by the how Nuturers “release” (kill) the smaller twin at birth, and do not find this wrong. With every new disturbing discovery, the Giver reminds him that, “’They can’t help it. They know nothing.’” (Lowry 191). I inferred that Lowry wrote that phrase repeatedly in the book as emphasis, and to state that a different perspective can change the meaning and value of an action (the message of this theme rephrased). Frankly, I thought that the theme of perspective was not expressed as clearly as the others. However, I believe it teaches a lesson all people need to learn -- in a world where media can easily force an opinion onto a massive number of people, the ability to see different perspectives is the only way to reach a state of mutual understanding.
In conclusion, the fictional world of The Giver is constructed upon the truths and reality of the real world, and teaches lessons through the three main themes of this novel: compromise, the power of knowledge, and perspective. The intriguing world of this novel again reappears in the following three books of the series -- I cannot wait to read
First, one of the major themes in The Giver is compromise, which delivers the message that everything comes with a price. In The Giver, the citizens of the community (the setting of this story) are not able to see color. When Jonas, …show more content…
This theme explains that in order to understand one’s thoughts or the reason one acts upon, you must put yourself in their shoes. As Jonas continues his education with the Giver, he starts to find many of the citizens’ “normal” tasks disturbing in a way he had never noticed before. For instance, he is terrorized by the how Nuturers “release” (kill) the smaller twin at birth, and do not find this wrong. With every new disturbing discovery, the Giver reminds him that, “’They can’t help it. They know nothing.’” (Lowry 191). I inferred that Lowry wrote that phrase repeatedly in the book as emphasis, and to state that a different perspective can change the meaning and value of an action (the message of this theme rephrased). Frankly, I thought that the theme of perspective was not expressed as clearly as the others. However, I believe it teaches a lesson all people need to learn -- in a world where media can easily force an opinion onto a massive number of people, the ability to see different perspectives is the only way to reach a state of mutual understanding.
In conclusion, the fictional world of The Giver is constructed upon the truths and reality of the real world, and teaches lessons through the three main themes of this novel: compromise, the power of knowledge, and perspective. The intriguing world of this novel again reappears in the following three books of the series -- I cannot wait to read