“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared. ” – Lois Lowry. The Giver by Lois Lowry is a novel about a boy named Jonas who begins to see his community differently. The book begins with what seems to be a perfect place; it turns out that the people in the Community are living shallow and superficial lives. As Jonas begins his work as the Receiver of Memories, he gains wisdom and through that wisdom, he begins to learn the history of the place we call planet Earth.
Many may believe that the society in The Giver is inferior to ours, but I believe it is not because of pouses, jobs, and history. To begin with, the primary motivation behind why Jonas’ reality is predominant is a result of Spouses. Love is a powerful thing, millions can agree. Just like love is powerful it can make you do things you never thought you could do. Relationships can be toxic, and abusive which is why you notice in the last decade how much divorce rates have increased. In Jonas’s world, your spouse is chosen for you. Meaning, the person most compatible for you in your community is given to you.
If you think about it, many people in the US do online dating and that is a very similar dea where people are matched by their compatibility based on the information on their online profiles. In Jonas’ community, the couple only needs to get along, as there is no love involved at all. It’s almost as if they are just picking a roommate. They have to be able to live together and function as a “family unit. ” In this society, it makes total sense; in order to preserve the peace and order in the community, it is important to match couples based on compatible traits so that harmony at home will be ensured.
This way of getting a spouse is perfect because of things like divorce, abuse, broken hearts, cheating etc. o not happen. This is the first reason why I believe Jonas’s world is superior. Moreover, the second reason behind why I believe this world is an improvement upon our world is because of Employment. When we are kids we dream about what we want to be when we grow up. If we follow the right path we will get to this dream job. In Jonas’s community, the kids are observed and do volunteer hours.
When they turn twelve, they finally receive this dream job they have longed strived for. After four years of training, you get to do this job you love so much for your entire adulthood. You would never have worry about problems adults n our world go through; things like a time shift, how much you get paid or getting fired. Millions of people across the world are unemployed, can’t get a job with a fair amount of pay, or they aren’t “good enough” for the job. With a system for job’s like Jonas’s community problems like this wouldn’t ever exist.
In addition, with a system of job’s like this you will be around people who share the same interest about the specific career you and your colleagues are doing. You wouldn’t be around negative people in your job. This the second reason why their world is an improvement. Likewise, the last reason behind why I believe this world is an improvement upon our world is a direct result of history. When we think about tragic events we think of World War, The Holocaust, 9/11, Plagues, Mass Shootings, Terrorist attacks, Slavery, Natural disasters etc.
Imagine not knowing these things? Not knowing that millions of people died over one selfish act done by someone in power? Without memory, there is no pain. Not only does this allow people to forget all of the pain that had been suffered throughout human history, but you now have the choice to start fresh without knowing mistakes from the past. We learn from history that we don’t learn from history. History is rewritten and told differently every time it is spoken. Meaning we don’t really know if Christopher Columbus really sailed the ocean blue in 1492.
If we repeat the same events throughout the course of our time on this earth, what is the point of even knowing our History? Knowing about tragic events in history can lead to people trying to replicate these events. There have been hundreds of terrorist attempts in the United States alone this year. Not knowing our history would help prevent all the terrible events across the globe we know see in on a daily basis. This is the third reason why their world is an improvement. Some may believe that this world we live in is better than Jonas’s world.
They might say that because people in Jonas’s world do not experience climate. One of the leading causes of death in the umbrella of climate is natural disasters. Millions of people die, get injured, lose their homes because of things like earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados etc. Thousands of people get injured in the snow because they slip and fallI. That one slip can lead to someone to be paralyzed for the rest of their lives and completely shatter dreams they had in the future. It’s not worth eeping the four seasons we have if it can save people’s lives across the globe.
Others may say, people in Jonas’s world don’t have all the modes of transportation we have. But why need cars, planes, buses when all they do is travel through their small community? Weekly dozens of plane crashes and hundreds of people lose their lives, and daily families pass away because of a car crashes. No one should have to go through the pain of losing a loved one because of an accident in a mode of transportation. If anything, eliminating these different ways to travel, would prevent millions of deaths that could’ve been avoided. Finally olor. seeing black and white.
Without color, people will say you will have no imagination. But without seeing color, this would completely dismiss one of the biggest problems the world faces today regarding color. Things like racism and inequality wouldn’t even exist. Think about it, one of the most controversial topics in our society completely eliminated out because we see in a different color. Color would affect people in a positive way, finally seeing with our own eyes, everyone as equal. We would all be same. No longer worrying about our skin color and being trapped under thousands of years of prejudice and racism.
We would now be mentally and physically free. The Giver is a powerful, unique novel, which deals with the morbid realities of life. It provides the reader with ideas to contemplate about our society, the facts which are kept from us. Lois Lowry put together a stunning, memorable novel, and subsequent reading that will and has fascinated readers with a new mindset on the world we all live in. It has allowed readers including myself to take a glimpse into a futuristic utopian society. However, sticking to my original argument I strongly believe Jonas’s world is superior to our own. Reasons being spouses, jobs, and history.
