No Rules In The Giver

1218 Words5 Pages

What would happen if there was such a society where no choices, no love, and no true happiness existed? In the novel The Giver, by Lois Lowry, such a place does exist. The Giver is about a community that is so controlled they can no longer see color. They cannot do anything for themselves including making their own decisions. All of their lives have been planned out for them since they were young. Jonas is the main character, and he wants to find out what really happened to his society, and where it all went wrong. The Giver helps him on his journey to find Elsewhere, which is the place with no rules, and you have choices because out in the real world you have the ability to do as you please. When choice is taken away from society, all of its rules, families, and celebrations will not be pleasurable and will become overmanaged. Rules are things that keep us organized, controlled, and safe, but the rules are not always followed. One of the required rules of Jonas’ society would be the rituals they must have every morning and evening. For example, Jonas’s family has rituals after dinner, “It was one of the rituals, the evening telling of feelings”(Lowry 5). This evidence shows that in Jonas’ society they are required to tell their feelings every night before bed, however in modern society parents may just ask “how was school”, or “what did you do in class …show more content…

People may consider both of these societies dystopic, and others may say that they are different based on the little things. For instance, they cannot have their own children or families, and they may not make their own choices. Except the worst thing that is different about them in that Jonas’ society has no feeling or emotion, nor can they see color. Their society has taken away all of the choice, causing it to have overmanaged rules, families, and celebrations that they cannot enjoy, or find