The Giver Society

Imagine a superb society where there is no world hunger, no natural disasters and no illnesses, a “perfect” world. Ask yourself, is the type of society that you would imagine termed perfect? Our society is far from being impeccable. The Giver, is a book about a perfect society in which a character Jonas (protagonist) finds grotesque things within the society. This society had birthmothers, ceremonies, and certain ages that receive certain items pertaining to their age. However, our society has a lot of similarities as well as differences in relation to their society. In The Giver, they have something called birthmothers who have conceived and carried all of the children in the community. Once a girl has turned 12 years of

In Jonas’s society they celebrate the birth of children by having a ceremony one day every year to turn a new age. “One at a time there were always fifty in each year’s group, if none had been released they had been brought to the stage by the Nurtures who had cared for them since birth” (Lowry, 11). In Jonas’s population, it doesn’t matter what day you were born, everyone celebrates their day of birth on the same day every year. On the contrary, our society celebrates the child’s birth on the day they were born and we call them birthdays. Birthdays can be celebrated in many ways, from parties to vacations to fun destinations. At the same time, we both celebrate someone’s birth and turning a new age and receive gifts pertaining to their

In Jonas’s Society, when minors turn a certain age, they get the privilege to do something and/or give up something they did in the previous age. “The children all received their bicycles at Nine; they were not allowed to ride bicycles before then” (Lowry, 13). Furthermore, “‘Lily’, her mother said fondly, ‘your very close to being an Eight, when your an Eight, your comfort object will be taken away’” (Lowry, 18). This states that when you become a new age, you receive something or get the privilege to do something, but at the same time, you lose something, or you get something taken away from the previous age. Everybody in your age group receives things at the same time, so everybody will be equal. In contrast, our modern civilization has people who get some things before others. The reason is because we are all different, whether our parents think we're ready or not, or its a financial situation to where some families can’t afford things. That’s where some start to get jealous of others for what they have. Then there would be no equality. In the same way, both populations have the idea of having privileges and more responsibility when someone turns a new age as well as taking some things away. For instance, some families take away their child’s bottles by the age of one, whereas other children keep their bottles until their parents