Can you imagine a world without color or emotions? I can't. But, that is the world imagined by Lowry in The Giver. From early on in my reading of this book, I was reminded of 1984. As Lowry described the speakers giving announcements or the regimented daily schedules I thought of the other science fiction book I love.
In The Giver, people live in a world where they do not know emotions, choice, or color. There is no such thing as happiness, remorse, anger, love, courage or fear. People are not even affected by killing another through "release." As I was reading the book, I constantly thought, "why?" "why bother even living?" I think that is what Lowry was attempting to elucidate for all of us. Yes-- there is pain, heart-ache, fear, and unhappiness. But, negative feelings are balanced by joy, love, exhilaration, and courage. I was proud of Jonas as he realized that he could not allow the community to continue without emotion. In part, I think his feelings were selfish, he didn't want to live such a solitary life. However, more than that, I think he wanted to share the wonderful (and sometimes painful) emotions with the people he loved. With the capacity to love, he wanted to share it. In the end, he showed himself to be selfless. He lost his family, his home, his safety, his physical well-being so that others could feel and might make choices.
Lowry's descriptions of the Giver as a pained, tormented, old looking man made me think about how lucky we all are. All the things we experience would totally weigh us down psychologically if we couldn't share them with others. The Giver experienced some relief as he transferred memories to Jonas and could share not only the bad but the good.
At the beginning of the book, I thought that much of the story was just about giving us information so we could picture the community so different from our own lives. However, I was happily surprised when I realized how Lowry had tied together her descriptions with important events that moved the story along. For instance, learning about Father's job as Nurturer introduced us to Gabriel, an important character at the end of the book. Learning about the public admonishments informed us that Jonas could see more than others, what we later discover is his ability to see "beyond", to see color.
It made so much sense at the end to discover that Rosemary was The Giver's daughter. Of course the prospect of causing her pain and unhappiness was difficult for him. Only he, in the whole community, actually had the capacity to love and he was forced to transform his child. However, it is still somewhat unclear to me why Rosemary asked for release. Why couldn't she bear it? Did she come to love her father and couldn't bear to see him in pain? Did she lack the bravery to bear the burden? But, I suppose The Giver wondered as well.
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4 comments:
Great comment about the need to share emotions and thoughts to avoid being weighed down by them. I hadn't thought of the story quite that way.
Did you notice that The Giver, Jonas, Rosemary, and Gabriel all had light colored eyes? I thought maybe they were blood related since fathers seem to be anonymous.That explained to me why they all seemed just a bit different.
We are lucky. We have the ability to share our deepest pains and joys with others. It makes me wonder about people who are isolated (either by punishment or by choice). How do they cope? I felt like reaching out and hugging the Giver.
I also made the connection to 1984 as I read The Giver. I always find it interesting to read about futuristic societies and what life would be like if we were stripped of our humanity. What makes us truly unique are the memories that shape us. The Giver was heavily burdened with the memories of the past and I also can't imagine what it would be like to be consumed by these memories without an outlet for sharing them. Books such as The Giver, 1984 and Brave New World offer interesting perspectives and themes pertaining to the future. Maybe cloning isn't such a good thing. =)
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