CI 5442: Science Fiction Response #2

Alright, The Giver. I read this book in fifth grade and I hated it. I admit that part of this might have been caused by my mother who expressed her distaste for the book to me when she found out that I was reading it. Because of this and the fact that everyone just loves I thought I would read it again. Reading it now I can see why people like it, but it still makes me uncomfortable. I think Jonas is a great character and I was relieved when both he and the Giver decide to force emotions back into the community but their society bothers me so much. I think my discomfort with science fiction is my apprehension that dystopian societies could be created or that they are on their way to being built already.

Jonas is the one redeeming character in the book for me—the Giver to a lesser extent. Jonas thinks carefully about his words throughout the text illustrating a connection with language that others don’t seem to possess. Even when he is receiving memories from the Giver he is attuned to his lack of language. He grasps the power of words such as warmth, family, grandparents, and love as well as more negative and painful words like war, pain, and death. For the amount of emphasis his community places on the precision of language, it is remarkable how much they miss with the lack of memories and real feelings. Jonas asks his parents his parents if they love him and their response illustrates the lack of depth within their emotions and actions within the community. His father replies, “You of all people. Precision of language, please!” while his mother explains:

Your father means that you used a very generalized word, so meaningless that it’s become almost obsolete….our community can’t function smoothly if people don’t use precise language. You could ask, ‘Do you enjoy me?’ The answer is ‘Yes’….Do you understand why it’s inappropriate to use a word like ‘love’? (127)

It’s sad to think that a word as powerful as love could be reduced to mere “enjoyment” and “pride” the way Jonas’ parents describe their affection for him and his sister. I think that Lowry is able to provide readers with a glimpse into a bleak existence without emotions by emphasizing the power of language through Jonas.

Clearly language is tied to emotion, but as Jonas learns, both emotion and language are firmly grounded in memory. A powerful moment for me in the text was when Jonas attempts to rejoin his childhood friends in a game of “good guy” versus “bad guy.” A game he had played many times, yet, “He never recognized it before as a game of war” (133). He pleads with his friends to stop the game saying, “You had no way of knowing this. I didn’t know it myself until recently. But it’s a cruel game” (134). His friends don’t have the same memories as Jonas and therefore they don’t understand. It’s like when you are a kid and you hear a bad word for the first time and then you go around using it because you don’t know what it means and why it is inappropriate.

My least favorite part in the book is when Jonas sees his father “releasing” a newly born infant because it is the smaller of two identical twins. I was as horrified as Jonas to “see” the needle being driven into the smaller infants head until his struggles ceased. For Jonas’ father, it isn’t a big deal and he dumps the baby into something resembling “the same sort of chute into which trash was deposited at school” (150). That is exactly the image that killed this book for me when I was younger and even reading it again it gives me chills. I think Lowry wanted to illustrate the disconnect achieved by the members in society because of their lack of memories and feelings—attributes that define our species and set us apart from other creatures. Without these elements humans become nothing more than empty shells.

I was so relieved when Jonas inspires the Giver to understand the importance of memories and the need to release them back into the community. Although the pair knows that releasing the memories will be difficult and painful for the community, but in the end the memories will release the community from their meaningless and empty existence. The Giver notes that memories “are forever” and need to be shared (144). He notes that the people will be in great need of him once the memories are returned to them and, therefore, he won’t be able to leave with Jonas. He tells Jonas, “The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared” (154). Only through expression and communication can we—as humans—come to terms with experiences, emotions, and events in our lives.

Lowry creates a world that enables readers to see the importance and significance of the entire spectrum of human experiences—from unbelievable suffering and pain to blissful moments of happiness and love. Readers can explore the power of language and memories by entering a dystopian society. The novel explores extreme control in a safe and hypothetical environment—but that doesn’t make it any less disturbing. While the premise of the story still bothers me I will acknowledge that it did make me think about the world and the future; especially in terms of what I can do to prevent such an existence from becoming a reality.