Rating: Five Stars—ajklsdflk (when words fail to describe how wonderful a book is)
Years and years ago, when I read THE GIVER (click the link for a summary) as a tiny, young person, I didn’t catch much of the detail and depth. Granted, I knew that it was good, and I could sense that it was deep, but my small mind wasn’t large enough to go beyond that. So this time around, I was really excited to delve into the story and figure out why it stuck with me.
The Symbolism. Oh my goodness, there’s so much I could talk about under this category, but I’ll limit myself to a couple points. For one thing, Jonas’ job and his subsequent isolation from his peers quite accurately depicts the way many children feel growing up. After all, it is a common mark of childhood to feel lonely and separated from the rest of the herd, whether for reasons real or perceived. Alongside this, the pain Jonas must experience in his job mirrors the pain of growing up and losing innocence—the pain of seeing the world for what it really is. Like Jonas, as we become adults, we often learn a great deal of stuff we wish we didn’t have to know, and it weighs on us in much the same way that the Giver’s memories weigh on him.
Emotions. With their feelings-sharing exercises, the people in THE GIVER seem rather focused on emotions. But for such emotions-oriented folk, they are rather callous and unfeeling. In the same way, they maintain strict rules about avoiding rudeness but do not hesitate to be insensitive. Asher gets laughed at for his inability, as a three-year-old, to differentiate between the words “snack” and “smack”, and while that may not seem like such a big deal, the circumstances around that resulted in a painful period of his life—not something that should be joked about. If these people were truly feeling and truly considerate, they would care about details like that.
Harshness. Beneath the polite surface, these people offer very little mercy and very little true kindness. Back to the unfortunate trouble with Asher—as a three-year-old, he was punished rather severely for innocent linguistic mistakes that are natural to young children. A society that would put so much pressure on its toddlers is twisted, regardless of how squeaky clean it appears from the outside. This overboard punishment extends to the elderly as well—people who should be afforded leniency and respect at their time of life. It’s quite evident that the government requires perfect behavior, even when that expectation is unreasonable.
Death. In a community that suffers few accidental or unplanned deaths, you would think this would mean they value life more. After all, they have figured out how to keep people ticking. But this is not the case. It’s quite evident they value life even less now. I won’t expand on the major details, in case you haven’t read the book, but their most unsettling problem is hard to miss, even in some of the smaller circumstances. Take the reference to the little boy, Caleb, who once fell into the river and drowned and was then replaced by another little boy with the same name, as though humans are just interchangeable parts of machinery.
The System. Their system does work—to a point. They have less crime. The streets are safer. People are more polite and more careful with their language. Everyone makes sure to be politically correct. But all of these “improvements” have come at great cost. In order to achieve this level of peacefulness, humans have had to surrender their humanity—their free will, their emotions, and their thoughts. They have had to remove all the spice of life—sunlight, weather, heat, cold, different skin tones, different features, history, everything. They have become mindless cattle that embrace their oblivion as they calmly wait for the slaughterhouse at the end of the road. And all of this begs the question—is the commonly idealized Utopia just another from of dystopia in the end?
What about you, my little coffee beans? Have you read THE GIVER? What are your thoughts on the story? Do you agree/disagree with me? What are some points I missed?
