Young Adult Essay

The Giver Book Response

In our society today, being unique is what makes us human. Our personality is what separate us from the billion of others around us. However in the young adult novel, “The Giver” , the government, known as Community of Elders, in a dystopian future prides themselves in making sure no one is different. The story is told through the life of a boy named Jonas, and his interactions with the rules of the  government. They make their choices for everyone in the city, which makes it nearly impossible to have a personality. The government in “The Giver” has complete control over every aspect of their citizens.

The Community of Elders decides when and how you grow up. For instance, the protagonist Jonas explains how he was given a “comfort object” or a stuffed animal, until the Community of Elders decided he didn’t need it. In the story Jonas’ sister, Lily, wanted her stuffed animal and her mom explains how, "you're very close to being an Eight, and when you're an Eight, your comfort object will be taken away. It will be recycled to the younger children. You should be starting to go off to sleep without it." Children may still need their comfort object for psychological reasons, but it will be taken from them anyway. The kids are forced to grow up, instead of doing it at their own pace. Also, the kids are not allowed to go onto a bike until they reach a certain age and are presented with bikes of their own. The text says, “The children all received their bicycles at Nine; they were not allowed to ride bicycles before then.” The children do not get to decide when they feel they are ready to ride a bike, or whether they even want a bike, the decision is already made for them. These examples prove that the authority shapes the lives of their citizens, instead of letting them create their own.

Also The Community of Elders decides who you would spend the rest of your life with through a process called, “The Matching of the Spouses”.  In the novel a character explains, “...sometimes an adult who applied to receive a spouse waited months or even years before a Match was approved and announced. All of the factors--disposition, energy level, intelligence, and interests--had to correspond and to interact perfectly.” Jonas explains how his parents balance each other out and “match perfectly.” The government of the futuristic society give the people being paired no say in who they will have to share their life with.

Finally the leaders of the future society control the details involving a couple’s children. The couple (that is paired) is only allowed “Two children--one male, one female--to each family unit. It was written very clearly in the rules.” The children are also not blood related to the parents, the children are birthed by an assigned “birthmother”.  At a ceremony ,the family is given a random child already named, nurtured, and some children are even already walking. Jonas tells the time of when his “family unit” received another kid, “...he remembered his mother taking the newchild, his sister, into her arms, while the document was read to the assembled family units. "Newchild Twenty-three," the Namer had read. "Lily.” This demonstrates that the citizens in this near future world are given a family by the government instead of making their own.

In our lives we are faced with decisions everyday, and some affect our entire lives. We choose our afterschool activities, schools, occupations, every detail that can shape our life.  The young adult novel “The Giver” shows a world where none of these decisions exist, and shows how miserable these citizens are. The government thinks they’re protecting them by controling them completly, but most people in this future socieity don’t know happiness, and never will.