Humanity
Owen Li
Nov.4th
Mini Essay of the Giver
In the contemporary world, there are many nations, whether how long have they been existed, or where they are located, they all have the way on how they govern their society and citizens. It is hard to judge which has more advantages to let the government control people more than let people manage the government, or the converse, but each of it makes people’s lives become totally different. In the book The Giver of Lois Lowry, the community is tend to be like republics. Because the government rules its citizens by sameness. All the people are equal. They are born and live in the same size of family unit, wear the same clothes, eat the same food, and even speak in a same way. None of them can see the color or get the emotions, so there is no different thoughts in their minds. Although The Giver demonstrates that sameness benefits the society by promoting peace and order, it shows us in the end, sameness cannot work, because it takes away the meaning of people’s lives.
Sameness brings the community peace and order by eliminating all the possibilities that could damage this society. There is only one weather that exists in the community. That’s the most suitable one for people’s lives and community’s development. Other climates may bring inconvenience. For example, the giver explained “Snow made growing food difficult, limited the agricultural periods. And unpredictable weather made transportation almost impossible at times.”(106) Before Jonas realized there are so many different weathers, and each of them brought him different feelings, he knew nothing about this. The government did this for the good of all people. They won’t get hurt or sick because of climate changing, and they don’t need to have special arrangements for different weathers. They can keep living in a same way throughout their lives. Also, the government keeps every family unit the same which includes parents and exactly two children-one boy and one girl. The giver told Jonas the truth from generations ago about how damageable can starve be, “The population had gotten so big that hunger was everywhere. Excruciating hunger and starvation. It was followed by warfare.”(140-141) The memories from centuries ago told the giver population can cause a series of problem that will damage the community. Thus the family unit in the community now is the most suitable for people’s lives. They will not have starving or any shortage of resources, so they will be happy and positive all the time. This eliminates the possibility of rebellion. Besides, sameness give people satisfaction. When Jonas looked back to his friends after he knew how abundant can life be, he complained to the giver, “That they were satisfied with their lives which had none of the vibrance his own was taking on.”(124) The envy can make a person to do evil things or be hateful to the world, and comparison causes envy. The government notices this so that they try all the things they can control to keep things in community the same, then nobody will doubt the equality.
Sameness also takes away their emotions, their choices and even some of people’s lives. The giver showed the video about the job of Jonas’s father to Jonas. “The new child, no longer crying, moved his arms and legs in a jerking motion. Then he went limp. His head fell to the side, his eyes half open. Then he was still.”(187) Jonas’s father released, or actually he killed an innocent infant just because he is smaller than his cousin. The purpose of why government do this is that they do not want there are two people with close emotions or feelings, because this will cause the confusion. Jonas said after he could see the color and the differences between things, “‘If everything’s the same, then there aren’t any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things!’”(123) Before this, he knew nothing. He had not made any choices for himself. Although Jonas tried to explain what he learned from the giver, to others “But his father had continued to comb Lily’s long hair, and Lily, impatient, had finally wiggled under her brother’s touch.”(127) Jonas was trying to explain the existence of elephant and how he feels about the death of the elephant. However, without memory, there is no one else who can comprehend a world without Sameness. Jonas feels alone, yet he knows that he is experiencing choice and emotion.
Jonas was shocked deeply when he started to understand sameness took away the meaning of life. After Jonas got overwhelming knowledge, he fell in great misery, “He didn’t want the memories, didn’t want the honor, didn’t want the wisdom, didn’t want the pain. He wanted his childhood again, his scraped knees and ball games.”(152) Then after Jonas received a lot of memories that make him started to know different sides of the world through getting the images of wars and deaths, He realized that sameness is the only way to relieve people from pain, he stopped hating it. But he never felt comfortable with it, because the sameness causes Gabe need to be killed. At last, he decided to get all of the emotions and differences between people back. So he left the community that he had been living for fifteen years and started his own journey.
In conclusion, a successful society needs to approach the balance of control and freedom. On a hand, it needs to prevent people from doing things that against the laws, on the other hand, it can’t change or shape the personalities of people. Only the government that follows these rules can obtain the peace, otherwise, these is only one consequence, that is going to rack and ruin.
