The Giver Week 1

In Lois Lowry's novel, Jonas and his family live in the "perfect society" , it could be described as a Utopian Society: , life is safe, orderly, and predictable. Rules are strictly adhered to; every aspect of a person's life is carefully planned. People rarely make choices on their own; everything is decided for them by the community. For this blog post, you have the choice of journal responses ~ Please read the following three responses and CHOOSE one:
1. Would you want your future to be decided by others ? Why or Why not?
2. How do you feel about the "standard practices" and "rituals" in the community?
3. Why is interdependence fostered in the community?
Guidelines for Blog Post - Minimum 3 paragraphs, include examples and evidence from the novel. Enjoy.


First of all, I should probably describe what is going on in the book. The Giver is a book about a imaginary future based utopian community. The book's main character is Jonas and the book revolves around in his point of view. In Jonas' community there are rules for about almost anything and if you do not obey the rules you get released (except for some rules that are lightly taken). Also when you are an infant and you get sick you get released, and when you're very old you get released as well. Besides that, until the age of twelve there is an annual ceremony for every age. There are ceremonies such as getting a ribbon, or getting your own bike. The most important ceremony is the Ceremony of Twelve and this is when you get assigned your job. In Jonas' community you do not get to choose your job. You also don't get to choose your family either. When you get old you are assigned your spouse, and you have to apply for your children (1 boy 1 girl). Yes, you are given your children, because there are birthmothers whose jobs are to give birth. Anyway there is a council who watches what you do until you turn twelve, and they try to make the best choice for you. When Jonas turns twelve, he is 'selected' to be the Receiver of Memory. The Receiver of Memory is very special because there is only one Receiver in the community. The Receiver of Memory is supposed to get special training from the former Receiver. This is what have happened so far in the book, and I chose to answer question number 1 for this blogpost.

1. Would you want your future to be decided by others ? Why or Why not?
I can answer this question quite easily. I would definitely not like to have my future decided by other people. My main reason is because if someone else decided my future for me it might be totally different to what I really want to do. They might give me a job that I have absolutely no interest in. And of course, leading into the choosing itself, it would be no fun if others just chose it for you. In my opinion we deserve to look at all the possiblities laying ahead of us and choose the one we want. If someone chose my future for me, especially in Jonas' community, I'd expect my life to be extremely boring because although you're living an every day life, you don't really have a life because you practically do the same thing every day and you have no passion for it. Also, your job is not the only thing that gets chosen for you in Jonas' community. Your spouse is assigned to you as well. You should have the freedom to marry the person you want and I know I would want that too instead of just being assigned a spouse matching my intelligence level etc.

I guess I'm actually more against living in Jonas' community than just having my future chose by others. Of course I still don't like the idea of being my future pre-determined since it means that I didn't choose it, and I might have no intention to live the kind of life that was chosen for me. However in addition to the pre-determined future and family units, there are a lot of features in Jonas' community that I dislike. First of all, I do not like the fact that they are given their assigned jobs at the age of twelve. In my opinion, you haven't really been able to enjoy your life yet. Well you could have had much fun when you were young, but can you really remember all that if it happened when you were young? You probably couldn't remember too much of it. They stop you before you start to really enjoy your life, and they give you a job. Also before you turn twelve (since Eight to be more exact) you have to do volunteer hours to fulfill the required amount. To be honest when I read this part I thought, how is it volunteer work if you HAVE to do it? Anyway, since we're getting a little off task, after you receive training and you have your job, you apply for a spouse and children. Honestly, what's the point of having a spouse if you don't love them and you barely have anything to do with them. Why not just have a center where babies are trained and taken care by some people and when they grow up just give them jobs? Also, people should have the choice to have children or not. This is where I come back to the reponse to the question. People should have the freedom to make choices for themselves.

Well, there are some bad things that might happen. Not all people are capable of making the right choices for them. They might make the wrong choices and very bad results might greet them. For example, if they choose a job that is not fit for them or if they choose not to have a job at all, they might end up losing everything they had or commiting suicide. Also if they choose the wrong person to marry they could go through very hard times making the both of them very unhappy and a possible divorce in the end. However, I think the risk is worth it. For every good thing there is always a bad side. Despite all the bad things that might occur because people can choose for themselves, I still think that it is right that people have the choice to choose and I would definitely choose my future for myself.