Differences Between Jonas's Society And Reality In The Giver By Lois Lowry

If there is no choice would the world be a better place? In the book The Giver Lois Lowry there is something called sameness giving citizens no choice for anything to keep everyone safe in the community. Jonas (protagonist) thought his world was perfect until he became a receiver and realized how corrupted his world truly was and how beautiful life long ago was with color and difference. The three main differences between Jonas’s society and reality are family, release, and memories. Family is one of the most cherished things life has to offer. In Jonas’s society, citizens must apply for a Spouse and for children. The Committee of Elders observe the people in the community to assign family unit. According to the novel, the narrator states, “Two children- one male, one female- to each family unit. It was written very clearly in the rules” (Lowry 8) This quote shows that unlike society today, the government in Jonas’s society decides when parents receive babies. In Jonas’s community, unlike our society today, elderly people are sent to the House of Old instead of remaining with their family units and becoming

Although Jonas 's Society has no memories, The Giver teaches Jonas that, without memories, knowledge is useless. As one can see, Jonas learned that “‘... without memories it’s all meaningless. ’” (Lowry 105) , this shows without memories there is no meaning to knowledge or history. In the novel they got rid of memories to hide the pain and then gave the burden to one person, the Receiver. For example, The Giver tells Jonas, “‘ They gave me that burden. And the previous Receiver. And the one before him’” (Lowry 105) Even though Receiver is a burden it is also a grave honor and through pain is wisdom. In the modern day, we must bare the painful memories and enjoy the good ones, but in Jonas’s community all citizens have no more than one generation of memories so that they feel no