Examples Of Government Power In The Giver

Government Power in The Giver (3rd draft) Can you imagine living in a world where every aspect of your life is restricted in some way? This is the reality of the people in The Giver, where the central theme of Government Power is present in everyday life. The Elders possess complete control over its citizens, dictating what they wear, their spouse, their children and more, resulting in a dystopian society with little access to information from the ‘outside world’. There are 2 methods of control that I will be focusing on today, Dehumanisation and Control of Language, which are clearly shown on pages 115-116, a significant part of the text. Evidently, the theme of Government Power in the Giver is shown when the COE uses Dehumanisation and Control of Language to control its citizens.

Clear examples of this are shown when Jonas checks if the voice recorder is on, then whispers; “I liked the feeling of love, I wish we still had that.” This shows that love is not an emotion that is present in families from the community. The COE has achieved this by making families assigned, not allowing people the feeling of having a real family. This takes away parts of what makes the citizens human, successively dehumanising them as a form of government power. Additionally, the people in the giver still want normal human things, but due to generations of living in the community and a lack of education, they do not know what they truly want. At the bottom of page 115, two semi-detached panels, one smaller than the other with a line in between, create the illusion that Jonas is in the same panel as the candle. This shows Jonas’s desire to be near a candle, but cannot be due to government restrictions. This builds tension in Jonas and makes him upset with the government’s