I am not easily moved by literature. Since before I can remember, literature has been the keystone of my education; whether it was having my mother lovingly read me a children’s story before bed as a young preschooler, or staying up past my bedtime in elementary school engrossed in wondrous tales of adventure and danger. Reading, specifically for enjoyment, has always been a priority in my life as it allowed me to escape the monotony found in everyday life, providing me with the necessary tools to break the chains of reality and enter a lush world full of new exciting experiences. However, with the flood of literature I was exposed to as a child came standards which were abnormally high, numbing my reactions to books that where anything
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The book, which takes place in a dystopian society established on the principles of conformity, offers complex questions to children in a less severe, but equally as thought provoking manner. It provokes questions about the importance of fitting in (or lack thereof), the ethics involved with murder, and how to prevent ourselves from becoming the emotionless humans in the book. The symbolism in The Giver is also very accessible to younger readers, such as the entire community being described as devoid of color, symbolizing the drabness of a world where everyone is forced to be the same. This in turn intensifies the messages and questions given throughout the book by not only providing the readers with a story, but also offering literary devices that enhance the meaning of events in the book. The scene which has been seared into my mind since I first read this book in fourth grade was the scene where the protagonist’s father, who was described as a loving man, euthanizes a child simply because it was a twin, which was against the rules of the society. While first reading this scene, I remember the sick feeling I got in my stomach as the author described the protagonist’s father carelessly tossing the body down a chute into an incinerator. This scene, which shocked me more than seven years ago, still induces deep reflections on the ethics of society whenever I am reminded of
The book, which takes place in a dystopian society established on the principles of conformity, offers complex questions to children in a less severe, but equally as thought provoking manner. It provokes questions about the importance of fitting in (or lack thereof), the ethics involved with murder, and how to prevent ourselves from becoming the emotionless humans in the book. The symbolism in The Giver is also very accessible to younger readers, such as the entire community being described as devoid of color, symbolizing the drabness of a world where everyone is forced to be the same. This in turn intensifies the messages and questions given throughout the book by not only providing the readers with a story, but also offering literary devices that enhance the meaning of events in the book. The scene which has been seared into my mind since I first read this book in fourth grade was the scene where the protagonist’s father, who was described as a loving man, euthanizes a child simply because it was a twin, which was against the rules of the society. While first reading this scene, I remember the sick feeling I got in my stomach as the author described the protagonist’s father carelessly tossing the body down a chute into an incinerator. This scene, which shocked me more than seven years ago, still induces deep reflections on the ethics of society whenever I am reminded of