GIVER PROJECT

THE GIVER IS A UTOPIA BECAUSE...

• Common beliefs
• Everyone is equal
• Highly regulated
• Self-sufficient

REASON #1: COMMON BELIEFS

• In Jonas's society it is easily shown that everybody in his community believes in the same things. This kind of setting is very commonly found in a utopia. In this case, the most evident reason that there are common beliefs is that the citizens of the community are not allowed to make decisions or choices and they respect that rule. This makes the people almost powerless, but they still believe in it.

QUOTE

• In his first visits with the giver, Jonas realizes the importance of peace and why the community doesn't "'dare let people make choices on their own'" (Lowry 124). It can be seen that Jonas was taught this belief at a young age and he still strongly believes in it, along with everyone else in the community.

QUOTE ANALYSIS

• This quote supports the idea of the giver being a utopia because it shows that people in Jonas's society live in a very regulated atmosphere and are also somewhat brainwashed. The citizens of the community grow up in a society thinking that choices can lead to bad occurrences like war and disagreements. The citizens also don't really think much of the ability to make choices because they have never been able to do it. They are also taught that their community is free of conflict because of the inability to make choices.

QUOTE ANALYSIS (CONTINUED)

• These pieces of evidence from the setting of the giver match up almost perfectly to those of a utopian society. It is obvious that the giver is a utopia because of the presence of common beliefs among the citizens.

REASON #2: EVERYONE IS EQUAL

• Everyone is equal, meaning that nobody is better or worse than anyone else. There are many examples of this throughout the book. First of all, almost everybody has the same physical traits like skin color, haircut, and inability to see colors. Some other reasons that everyone is equal is that they all wear the same clothes, take the same pills, and ride the same bikes. It can be clearly seen that the only diversity in Jonas's community is each citizen's job and personality.

QUOTE

• After learning that he could now see the color red, the giver told Jonas "that there had been a time when flesh had different colors" (Lowry 126). This made Jonas realize the extremities that the past elders of his community took to to enforce equality.

QUOTE ANALYSIS

• This quote shows that in the past, people had differences like flesh color. It is also seen that in the present everyone is the same and are all essentially equal. This is clearly an obvious example of a utopia. This can also mean that authorities would have chosen to eradicate skin color differences by a decision made amongst themselves, not the citizens. This infers that people have a very limited amount of power which also means they have the same amount, therefore making them equal.

REASON #3: HIGHLY REGULATED

• The community is guided by a long list of strict rules and regulations. This trait of a community is almost necessary to consider it a utopia. There is a lot of evidence in the giver to support this. One example is the fact that Lily, Jonas's sister, has to wear her hair ribbon a certain way or she will get in trouble. This shows that rules in this type of society can be very specific and if there is a rule about hair ribbons, there must be hundreds of other ones.

QUOTE

• The community would only allow "two children-one male, one female-to each family unit. It was written very clearly in the rules" (Lowry 11). This rule and been around for years and it was just one part of the vast list of other rules for the community.

QUOTE ANALYSIS

• This quote shows that Jonas's community is very highly regulated and people living in it are limited to two children and they can only be one male and one female. This can be easily seen as a very strict rule and shows that the giver is definitely an example of a utopia. As a result of only allowing two children of different genders, none of the people living in family units are related. This is because all children are born by designated birth givers. Just this rule can support the idea that it is very highly regulated.

QUOTE ANALYSIS (CONTINUED)

• Rules like this can have large effects on a society. Also, throughout the book, there are examples of many other strict rules and regulations. Another interesting thing that can be seen about this quote is that there is a reference to a long list of rules. This is also some hard evidence that the society is highly regulated.

REASON #4: IT IS SELF-SUFFICIENT

• In Jonas's society it is clear that the community is self sufficient. This is a certainly a characteristic of a utopia. First of all, it is evident that everyone in his community has their own certain roles to do. In the community, everyone is assigned a job at the age of 12 so the community is always supplied with enough workers and resources to be isolated from the rest of the world.

QUOTE

• While Jonas was escaping from the community, he looked out of the vehicle and saw "fields on either side of the road..." (Lowry 167). These agricultural fields stretched on for miles.

QUOTE ANALYSIS

• This quote shows evidence of a utopia because Jonas sees all those fields while escaping from the community. This means that the community has established their own food supply therefore making them self-sufficient and not needing help from the outside world. Also, if the community has its own food supply it is almost obvious that they would also produce all of their resources, which would consider them self-sufficient.

CONCLUSION

• Overall, it can be clearly seen that the giver is an example of a utopian society because there are common beliefs, everyone is equal, it is self-sufficient, and highly regulated. An abundance of evidence from the book has easily supported this claim and it is quite obvious that the community is a utopia.

CITATION

• Lowry,Lois.The Giver.New York:HoughtonMifflin,1993.