LOIS LOWRY, THE GIVER, A PERFECT UTOPIA

UTOPIA

• The giver is a utopia for three reasons, one reason is sameness. The people are all the same and equal. Secondly, the people can't make their own decisions, everything is chosen for the people. Making a perfect society. Making the community safer. Lastly the community is very isolated and protected from the outside world and all the harm it can cause.

SAMENESS

• In this community the people have no say in what they do, it is chosen for them by the elders and community leaders they are all the same and have equality and no racial scrutiny. The people and everything they do is the same other than jobs. They dress, talk and act the same way.

QUOTE

• When Jonas is with the giver they talk about decisions and choices and he realizes "if everything's the same, then there aren't any choices!" (Lowry 97).

ANALYSIS

• This quote shows a lot. It shows that to keep people all the same they cannot make choices, by doing this sameness is created. Sameness is key to this utopia because if there were differences and everything wasn't the same then there would be discrimination. By not being able to make decisions this utopia is kept safe. All of the people live nag in this community are equals because they are all the same. In the book the people can't see color, so they cannot tell what color skin is or clothes or anything different that you could be picked on for. Also in the book they have the entire community being the same, the climate is the sane and the community is entirely flat. Sameness keeps everything going, differences would destroy this perfect utopia.

THE PEOPLE ARE ISOLATED

• The members of the community live in a very small restricted area that is very isolated from the outside world and other people. Isolation keeps the community safe, people from the outside could harm the community. With the community being safe the people have no worry of being harmed. The community is a floating island, this is the ultimate protection and isolation.

QUOTE

• With planes being banned around the community he "had never seen aircraft so close, for it was against the rules" Lowry 2).

ANALYSIS

• This shows that the people living in the community have no access to the outer world and they are cut off from other communities and other people making them very isolated. Being isolated keeps the people safe and protected from harms that the outer world poses on the community. Making a very secure but isolated home. With the community being an island they are very safe from any foreign harms that may occur. So isolation is a great thing for the community, without isolation and protection, chaos could threaten this perfect utopia.

DECISION MAKING

• The people cannot make their own decisions, it is chosen for them by the elders who know what is best for the community members.

QOUTE ON DECISIONS

• "He was certain that his Assignment, whatever it was to be, and Asher's too, would be the right one for them. He only wished that the midday break would conclude, that the audience would reenter the Auditorium, and the suspense would end." (6.52-53)

ANALYSIS

• This quote shows that the people have no say in what they do, it is chosen for them and they don't even think twice about it, they are brain washed into thinking elders know what is best creating perfect harmony and unison. Not being able to make decisions makes this community safe. With elders and laws in place to protect this utopia, if the people could make any decision that they wanted to the utopia would fall apart. With others making the decisions for all others everything is right and fair. If this utopia gave all of the citizens the right to make decisions the entire community would fall apart and become a dystopia.

CITATION

• Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1993.