A Response to "The Giver"

With an extremely rich and complex text such as the giver, it's hard to choose where to begin. This novel has such an intense message to send its young readers, yet it does so in an approachable manner by starting off with the basics. For instance, informing the audience of the norms of the society of the novel, such as what ages get what and when they get it. Then, it displays how norms are challenged and broken. Simple, but brilliant. I related to this novel on many levels. Including the feeling that Jonas has of isolation when no one else can relate to him.  


After reading this novel again after many years, I noticed something I did not before: the political statement this book is making. A comment on corrupt government, this book relates to the science fiction novel, The Hunger Games. I noticed several similarities between this novel and THG actually. I noticed the amount of control and power both novels talked about. In THG, the government controls the amount of food you can eat and the lives of your children (interestingly, not that far off from our government). Although the audience sees this happening in The Giver as well, The Giver shows a government that is much more powerful mostly because of its subtleness with its power. The people (save the giver and Jonas) don't truly know what they are missing (color, for example, or the fact that "being released" is actually quite a horrible thing called death) because their government does not inform them of such things. One last similarity I noticed between the two novels was the community assemblies. Both assemblies determine the rest of these humans' lives at such a young age. There is also the communal aspect, which we don't experience in our lives as much. 


I found this book to be somewhat of a comment on communism. I do not know if this was Lois Lowry's intention, but there are aspects of the novel that suggest so. For instance, the attempt to mostly eradicate class through the eradication of difference. The government went so far as to erase feelings and relationships amongst its citizens, this way, (ideally) everyone is equal and no one has an advantage. There is an exception to this however, which challenges the question of whether or not Lowry was making a comment about communism and its faults, and that is the different titles in the town. Such as the laborers and birthmothers who are frowned down upon. 


Additionally, there could be a comment about the postmodern society we live in. For example, she flips society on its side, or rather makes situations extreme, in order to make a comment about our current society. There is also this idea of the citizens constantly being watched and talked at, with the speakers and the planes that fly overhead. In turn, this makes the citizens well aware that they need to act a certain way because they are constantly being watched. 


The most powerful, yet tragic, part of this entire novel is when Jonas discovers love (126-127). He realizes what it is and then asks his parents if they love him. His parents dismiss this question and tell him it is inappropriate to ask such things. It was in this moment that I saw Lowry making a comment on our destiny. Similar to The Eye, The Ear and The Arm, which is comprised largely of computers, robots, and inanimate objects, Lowry seems to be saying that we are destined to be emotionless beings if we try to block out any sort of emotions as a way of dealing with our problems.