The Giver Critical Lens Essay

Pale Eyes When daily life is controlled, it is possible some people wouldn’t have the ability to see color and most parents wouldn’t love their children just due to the fact that it was not the way they were “programmed”. It may get a little frustrating after awhile... if someone even noticed that something was off. In the science fiction novel The Giver by Lois Lowry, there is a twelve-year-old boy named Jonas. He is named the new Receiver which is a very respected and high-end job in his community. This job also introduces him to a man that he calls the Giver. The Giver’s job is to show Jonas all the memories from the past and to teach him how to guide the Council of Elders using the memories that the Giver passes to him. Throughout the

There are many ways to interpret the story and it all depends on the angle that the reader takes.

When everything and everyone are exactly alike, everyone looks the exact same and no mistakes are made due to “sameness” being introduced. Sameness makes small differences and mistakes very noticeable. The text of the story included the quote, “Everyone had known, he remembered with humiliation, that the announcement Attention, this a reminder to all male elevens that objects are not to be removed from the recreation area and snacks are to be eaten not hoarded.” (Lowry 29). It is obvious that even the smallest mistake- the removal of an apple from the playard- caused a public announcement to be made directly at Jonas causing him embarrassment and the sense that he should never do anything like

Everybody always needs people to lighten the load, even if only one person will support them. An example from the text supporting this is, “The Giver was rigid in his chair, his face in his hands. ‘I’ll come back tomorrow, sir’ he said quickly. Then he hesitated. ‘Unless there’s something I can do to help’. The Giver looked down at him, his face contorted with suffering. ‘Please’ he gasped, take some of the pain.” (Lowry 149). This excerpt shows that even an assured brave man like the Giver suffers greatly when forced to bear a weight this colossal alone. Jonas is the one person that the Givers trusts and confides in, the one person that he uses to lean on in these kinds of times. In the end of chapter 22, it said, “He wept because he was afraid now that he could not save Gabriel, he no longer cared about himself.” (Lowry 218). This piece of evidence shows that Jonas, had he not been trying his hardest to keep Gabriel alive, would have been fine with dying due to the fact he didn’t care about his life or what happened to him.The only thing keeping him alive was his reliance on the fact that Gabe needed him which proves that he relies on Gabe just to keep surviving. In addition there were multiple other quotes proving this such as , “The Giver hugged him. ‘I love you, Jonas’, he said. ‘But I have another place to go. When my work here is finished, I want to