Sameness In The Giver By Lois Lowry

The book The Giver by Lois Lowry, is about a 12 year-old boy named Jonas. Jonas lives in an utopian society, which is completely focused on the idea of sameness. Sameness in his society resulted in no memories, no feelings, and no color. On his choosing ceremony, in which his job is assigned, Jonas is selected to become Receiver of Memory. As Jonas receives the memories, passed down to him from the current Receiver, who tells Jonas to call him Giver, he begins to see a world he knew so well in a different way. Jonas starts to think that keeping memories, feeling and color from everyone in the society is wrong, and starts to see sameness as a bad thing. Instead of valuing uniqueness and choice, people in his society value sameness, and being perfectly equal. Throughout the book, Lowry warns against too much conformity and reminds that no perfect society exist, making sameness a bad thing to have in the long run.

That means people in his society do not get to pick their spouse, and kids are assigned to each family unit. This is not necessarily a good thing, because different people may want a smaller or larger family. Each family unit has one daughter and one son. Some people may want a larger, or smaller family, depending on the person. Also, if someone ends up with a spouse they do not like, both people may not be happy. Having a family assignment can lead to sadness, anger and many other emotions Jonas’ society wanted to eliminate. Though most people in Jonas’ society did not mind, or even give a second thought about family assignments, Jonas began to see this part of society as wrong, as he received the memories of life before sameness and