What is the Community Like in the Giver?

Imagine being in a society where you don't have the ability of emotion. Emotions can impact us in various ways that can make us grow as a person. For example, How did the feeling of pain affect Jonas ? How did it impact the community to not have any sense of pain? What comes from painful memories? In the book, “The Giver,” by Lois Lowry talked about how the people of the community, where Jonah lived offered equal opportunities for everyone living in it.

It seemed like a perfect way to live in because the inhabitants of the community couldn’t decide for themselves. Since the community doesn’t have the freedom to make choices mistakes seems to be avoidable, without mistakes there are no worries. The ceremony of 12 is when the 11’s are promoted to 12 and are assigned a job. The receiver is a person who holds the memories of the past generations. Jonas after receiving those memories, he came to the conclusion that he didn't agree on how the community was ran by the elders he wasn’t in favor of people weren’t aware that they are capable of so much more. For example, they would be able to feel emotions such as pain, love, and grief. Subsequently, Jonas decides to leave the community in order to be relieved of his burden and change the people in his community.

The sense of pain can either help us grow as a person by learning from our mistakes and the sense of pain can help us become physically stronger. In the book, When Jonas was announced as the new receiver it was declared by one of the elders that he needed to have courage because he would endure physical pain from his assignment. An assignment is a job that is given to a member of the community by the elders who have watched him or her very carefully assign them these specific jobs. In the community no one has ever had experienced pain, nor anything related to that emotion. Hence, how could Jonah be prepared to tolerate pain? When Jonas began his training his mentor the current receiver of memories (who Jonas refers to as the giver) had proceeded to give him painful memories even though the giver realizes that it was too soon. The first painful memory that Jonas received from the giver was a sunburn.

Jonas’s favorite memory involves him going down hill on a snow covered hill with a sleigh. The giver wanted Jonas to see this memory in a different perspective as a result, Jonas again was going downhill a snow covered hill, but this time it was different the hill was steeper and when he tried to take control of the sleigh it wouldn’t come to a stop and that caused him to rise from the sleigh and he was in midair before he suddenly plunged to the ground. Consequently, the impact between Jonas’s body and the ground was so vigorous that it caused Jonas a vast sense of pain throughout his whole body as a wave of heat, and since Jonas had never felt an immense amount of pain his first reaction was to yell out fire abruptly but his body responded by vomiting. According to the book, “The Giver,” It stated “The pain that he received from the accident still made him linger.” Jonas learned that greater pain existed. Jonas also realized that some people were oblivious to a sensation such as Pain, so how has it affected the community to live without pain?

Emotions are a reason for why we are human beings. Pain is an emotion that make us perform actions that we may or may not be aware of. How did it impact the community to not have any sense of pain? Since emotions are a reason for why we perform our actions what would happen if we couldn’t feel? In the book, “The Giver,” (on page 187) Lowry states, “ He pushed the plunger very slowly, injecting the liquid into the scalp vein until the syringe was empty.” This piece of text explains what occurs when someone is released. After the “Ceremony” Jonas’s father doesn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that he murdered a newborn child. The elders are the ones who operate the community they have somehow brainwashed the people in the community to make it seem okay

Mentions that after Jonas received a memory about love he wanted to keep feeling that sensation and wanted other to feel it as well. As he had begun to comprehend why the elders ran the community the way that they did. He began to noticed that the people in his community didn’t mind not knowing of such aspects of life beyond their community

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