The Giver by Lois Lowry is a frequently challenged book that is part of many middle and high school curriculums. On the American Library Association’s list of most commonly banned books, it ranked eleventh from 1990-1999 and twenty-third from 2000-2009 (Admin). This novel, even though its theme is anti-censorship, is challenged on the basis of sexual influences and violence, especially the recurring theme of euthanasia. Despite these protests, The Giver should remain in curriculums and continue to be read for generations.
The Giver is the quintessential example of the detrimental effects of excessive censorship. The novel takes place in a utopian world where all emotion/ love has been stripped from the citizens of “Community”. The world is a monotone, personality drained void where choice has been eliminated from everyday life. The maturation novel follows a young boy named Jonas. At the start of the novel, he is twelve years old and is given the position of “Receiver of Memories” at the Ceremony of Twelve, an initiation into adulthood which determines one’s career. As he receives information from the Giver of Memories, his mind is opened to the ability to feel and experience natural human emotions. However, in a highly censored world where all books are illegal except for three mandatory government books and “precision of language” is a highly valued virtue, he must be careful in how he shares his unique understanding.
Many concerned parents and members of the community say The
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Restricting knowledge is the first step toward a society much like the one presented in The Giver by Lois Lowry. The book satirizes censorship and shows the potential threat it would bring to the global population. Although the theme of the novel is the danger that censorship creates and lack of individualism, the uninformed still protest its reading based on the belief of the presence of sexual ideas and violent themes. This is the irony of