In the novel, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, conformity becomes clear throughout the community. In the beginning, Jonas lives in a community based off of sameness. Jonas becomes assigned as the new receiver of memory, 10 years after the last failed attempt. Jonas receives memories from the Giver enlarging his perspective of love. After seeing how this utopia was actually a dystopia, Jonas and the Giver prepare an escape plan to Elsewhere, to give the memories of the past to the people of the community. In The Giver the author uses the rules of the community, the characters and the all-around setting to develop the theme that memories are extremely important to the human race and sameness is not always the right way to go.
The theme is shown through the community’s rules. After Jonas got selected as the receiver of memory he was given pages of rules and instructions briefing him of his new job. Jonas read the rule, “Do not discuss your training with any other member of the community, including parents and Elders”(86). This shows that the community does not want the population, even the leaders to know about certain things that go on every day. Another rule that Jonas read was, “You may lie”(87). This quote also shows that the community wants to keep several memories private. The author establishes the theme by using these quotes because if
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The Giver told Jonas to watch the release that happened that morning. What Jonas saw was horrific. Jonas said, “My father killed it. My father killed it”(188). Jonas’s father killed the newborn but he did not think it was bad. It was part of the everyday life in the community. Jonas went to go look for Asher and found him playing a game of war. The text said, “He was struggling not to cry.” Asher was playing a game that symbolized or showed war. Asher did not know it was bad. This shows the theme the community does not have memories so they do not know they are doing anything