Similarities Between The Giver And 1984

George Orwell once said, “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” The authors of the ages before us shuddered at the horrors that they thought would overcome humanity in the progressing millennia. The common man is oppressed, and blissfully ignorant of the mechanisms and systematic crushing of their spirit. Two books written to stimulate awareness of the possible future human society and the way of life that may come upon us are The Giver and 1984. Both of these books carried themes of fascism and totalitarianism, resounding heavily throughout both texts. 1984 is a dystopian world of irony. Many of the institutions and that exist around the main character to be the entire opposite of what the prior definition of the world

A passage from The Giver says, “It was as if a hatchet lay lodged in his leg, slicing through each nerve with a hot blade. In his agony, he felt flames licking at the torn bone and flesh.” Lois Lowry’s use of personification enhances the description of pain. Pain is something that Jonas has only felt three times. He went through pain when he fell off his bike and scraped his knee, when he crushed his finger in the door, and when he received the memory of sunburn. The burning in his leg is an abstract concept to Jonas and he understands why his community has taken out pain to have Sameness. “ … The willow-herb straggled over the heaps of rubble; and the places where the bombs had cleared a larger path and there had sprung up sordid colonies of wooden dwellings like chicken-houses?” This quote shows that the society Winston Smith lives in is not a desirable place to live and life grows slowly. The setting, unlike Jonas’, seems more harsh and severe. Both authors use personification to describe the setting and ideas of characters as they live their lives of oppressed

In The Giver, the symbolism is carefully hidden, so that it becomes part of the book, while in 1984, the symbolism is palpable. One of the most present cases of symbolism is the character Gabriel in The Giver. Gabriel represents innocence, something the committee hasn’t yet conditioned and oppressed. Gabriel also represents the seemingly weak links in society. Gabriel is deemed weak and unsatisfactory by the community. Due to this, there is the constant threat of release looming over Gabriel’s head. The community exercises influence based on who gets to live and die. The Council of Elders decides