Person Experiences Fear

In every nightmare, a person experiences fear, because he/she is trying to survive something that terrifies them. In Lois Lowry’s The Giver, the main character Jonas, lives in a community where very little things are allowed. Jonas is not allowed to leave the community. In Mindy McGinnis’ Not a Drop to Drink, the main character named Lynn has to try to survive when water is a rare resource in the book. There are many similarities and differences regarding the topics of fear and survival in The Giver and in Not A Drop To Drink.

For example in The Giver, Jonas was frightened whenever he saw the aircraft fly over the community, because Jonas has never seen anything like that before.

In the beginning of the novel, Jonas says, “It was almost December and Jonas was beginning to become frightened. Jonas felt frightened a year ago when an unidentified aircraft had overflowed the community twice”(Lowry 1). When Jonas sees his dad killing one of the twins, Jonas realizes that he is releasing somebody. Jonas finds out about release and he becomes frightened, because he doesn’t want this to happen to Gabriel. Similarly, in Not a Drop to Drink, whenever Lyne sees that there isn’t any water left in the pond for her and her mother, she starts to become frightened and worried that she won’t survive without water. This makes the two books alike, because in The Giver, Jonas fears that Gabriel will get released, so he leaves the community, and he brings Gabriel with him. On the other hand, in Not A Drop To Drink, Lyne and Stebbs try to fight to stay alive. Lyne fears that she will not find water after they run out of water in her pond. In The Giver, Jonas tries to survive whenever he leaves the community with Gabriel and they are stranded in Elsewhere.

Stebbs tries to help Lynn survive whenever Lynn’s mother dies, by finding food and water. In The Giver, Jonas tries to survive whenever he leaves the community with Gabriel and they are stranded in Elsewhere. In comparison to Not a Drop to Drink, Lyne, Stebbs, and Lucy try to survive when they are trying to fight for water, whenever it runs out. They are both alike because they both deal with survival. On the other hand, fear and survival are different in The Giver and in Not a Drop to Drink. “He left because he was afraid now that he could not save Gabriel. He no longer cared about himself.”( Lowry 186). “Do you want to die like this?” Mother had asked, that night and every night since then. (McGinnis 56). They are different, because one talks about how Jonas feared when they were going to take Gabriel. The other quote talks about how Lynn’s mother is trying to find water for her and Lynn to survive. “Just know that there’s bad men in the world, and dying fast by your mother is a better way than theirs”(McGinnis 97). This quote from Not a Drop to Drink shows that this is dealing with survival.

As if “I knew that there had been times in the past-terrible times-when people had destroyed others in haste,in fear, and had brought about their own destruction” (Lowry 152). A quote from The Giver, is dealing with fear and how there had been terrible times in the past. This shows a difference, because the quote from The Giver is saying that people feared in the past when it was terrible. On the other hand, the quote from Not a Drop to Drink show that Lynn’s mother is telling Lynn that it is better to die with her instead of being bad and alone with nobody. This quote shows that if they don’t survive, it’s better to die together.

In conclusion, the fear and survival in The Giver and in Not A Drop To Drink, are central themes in both novels. The topics of The Giver and Not a Drop to Drink are similar because Jonas is afraid that Gabriel will be released, just like Lyn is afraid that her and her mother will not survive because they ran out of water. The two novels are different because fear in The Giver is over what could happen and fear in Not a Drop to Drink is over losing a resource. `

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