The Giver

Author:  Lois Lowry

Published: In 1993 by Houghton Mifflin Company

ISBN: 978-0385732550

Synopsis: 

      The Giver is a provocative story that follows a year in the life of Jonas, a young boy living in an unnamed "utopian" society.  In this community the people do not suffer, they are conflict free and they never have the chance to make a bad decision.  Every choice in Jonas' life is made for him:  where he lives, what his job will be, who he will marry if he chooses to, and even who his children will be.  He lives contented in this world until the Ceremony when he becomes a twelve.  The Ceremony in which he recieves his lifelong assignment in the community.  Unlike  his friends Jonas is selected to become the next Receiver, a position of the highest honor.  But, as Jonas begins his training with his predecessor he starts to realize that something is missing in their perfect world; something is wrong.  It is impossible to escape the haunting nature of this book or the questions it provokes.  It is a powerful story that challenges readers to think critically about the world they live in.
 

My Reaction: 

    I read The Giver as a child.  I can remember being awed and captivated by the book, by the questions it brought to mind.  I needed to think about it to understand the story and it's powerful impact on me.  And I did that by talking to my mom about it.  There are some books in which the story is not complete until you have a chance to discuss it.  After rereading The Giver I felt the same way.  So, what did I do?  I called up my mom and talked to her about it.  Now The Giver is only a vague memory for her.  The only thing that really stuck was the fact that the characters see in black and white.  I think it's interesting that this is the moment she remembered, because that is one of the strongest memories I had of the book as well.  I will never forget the moment I realized I had been imagining the story all wrong as child.  The world I envisioned was completely inaccurate, because I saw their world in color while they saw only black and white.  It was impossible for me to fathom a world like that --completely void of vibrance.  When I closed my mind and tried to imagine a scene in the book color was just there.  It was as if I had the opposite problem of Jonas. I could only catch a glimpse of gray in a few items, like a gray field or a gray building.  But I could never see the gray world in it's entirety.
     What I find most interesting about this is the fact that I still had this same problem today when I reread The Giver.  Even though I knew that the world didn't have color I couldn't do it.  Especially when it came to envisioning the people's eyes.  For whatever reason I imagined that most of the peoples eyes in the community were brown and that Jonas' pale ones were blue.  It shocked me when I realized, at the same place in the story, that despite my efforts I had once again failed to see the world correctly. 
     Now I know this may seem trivial in comparison to all of the monstrous issues this story presents.  But for me, it was the pivotal point of my understanding of the book as a child.  It was the moment I really began to question the beauty of the community because it felt fundamentally wrong.  How can there be a world without color?  From this question spurred others, which eventually lead me to critically analyze everything in the story.  Like I mentioned earlier, I wanted to understand how this story could exist and why people would have chosen to created it.
    Unfortunately, I can't remember now what conclusions I came to but I can remember the feeling I had at the end of the book the first time I read it.  I felt hopeful.  I expected to feel that same way this time, but surprisingly I didn't.  I felt despair and confusion.  At the end of the story I was struck with the thought that it was all for nothing.  There was no way to tell if the boys had survived or if Jonas had just slipped into a pleasant delirium or if the community would have changed at all.  I was left feeling very differently than I had as a child.  I think the reason for this is a change in perspective.  As an adult I think my visioned was dulled by the presence of pain and suffering and it's inescapable nature.  I felt sorrow in response to the character's indifference toward the concept of release and sorrow in the idea of all of them having to suffer.  As a child I think I was more optimistic.  What I found really upsetting was the fact that the people couldn't know true happiness or love.  I believed it was more important to have the pleasant aspects of life than the chance of avoiding the negative ones.  But alas, I suppose I will never truly know what caused the shift in my reading of The Giver.  All I can say is that no matter how many times I read this book I know it will make me think about my role in society and how I have the choice to make a difference.

My Rating (1-5 stars):

 

Still Curious: 

 Check out the other two books Lois Lowry wrote which take place in this same world:

             Gathering Blue                                  The Messenger 

               

Many people have been inspired by The Giver to create their own interpretations.  Here are some links to some interesting ones that I found.

Take a look at this cover that someone designed for The Giver that I enjoyed it.

Here's a short graphic novel version of the story