Conformity In The Giver

In the novel, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, conformity comes up many times during the story. Jonas’s whole life has revolved around staying in the guidelines of the community and living in the purpose of serving the community. Jonas then becomes the Receiver of Memory; an extremely prestigious career. During his training he learns about the importance of love, family, and individuality. He wishes for these things, and wishes to share it with others. He decides to leave the community with the help of the former Receiver in order to share the memories with the rest of the community. In The Giver, the author uses characters, setting, and dialogue to develop the theme that conformity is wrong.

The author uses setting to reveal the theme of this novel. Jonas rides alongside Asher on the way to school, when Asher turns around to go back home to take his stirring pill. Jonas wants to ask Asher what he takes it for, but he stops himself. Jonas then reminds himself about one of the unwritten rules of the community “Always better, less rude, to talk about things that were the same” (48). The community has rules that restrict the citizens from understanding the concept of being their own individual people. They think it is rude to talk about different things, because they have conformed to the community’s

During this time Jonas receives his first memory of grandparents and their love. He questions the Giver about it, then the Giver explained to him why the citizens can not able see their grandparents. Jonas is still under the impression that what the community does is acceptable and exclaims, “It seems to work pretty well that way, doesn’t it? The way we do it in our community?” (157). This shows that since Jonas can’t feel love he does not completely understand the concept of grandparents. The community has in a way, brainwashed the citizens to thinking that they should conform to the way the community does