The Giver, Lois Lowry
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Do you want to live in a community of Sameness?[/caption]
The Giver rings a bell to me. But I am not sure whether I have read it in the past or not. One day, my Korean student bought a novel "The Giver" and it made me more intrigued about it. Hence, I borrowed the novel from my co-worker who also has it and he even used it in the class as a lesson.
In the first few pages, it was hard to comprehend the setting of the story and even the plot. I had lots of questions of who or what these words mean: Release, Nurturers, Giver, Receiver, and the list goes on. It appeared to be very metaphorical to me. Well, since I don't like putting down a book without finishing it, I did continue reading it and I was glad I read until the last page. It really made me think about life, people, community, rules, etc.
The story in a nutshell goes like this: It is a story about an isolated community that thrives in Sameness and Organization. It was so structured, and every citizen obeyed the rules religiously or else, they would be Released to Elsewhere. (The words which first letter are capitalized are the words frequently used in the story.) To be released means a final decision and a grim judgment. No one liked it. No one was allowed to use the word lightly even in games. Precision of language is followed by everyone - young and adult alike. Also, the community held a ceremony for every year (like birthday). They have a Ceremony for Ones until the Ceremony of Twelve. The Ceremony of Twelve was the last one and was considered the most important since at this age, each 12-year-old boy/girl was given an assignment based on their aptitudes and attitudes during the 12 years. There's a committee for that. This committee has to observe each child very carefully so as not to make a mistake when they give assignment. Even whom to marry, what job to take, which baby to take care of are all decided upon by the committee. We could see that the citizen does not have the free will to do the things they like to do for themselves. They were governed and controlled by different committees. Each assignment had rules that should be strictly followed. Once the rules were violated, the community would release the citizen who caused the confusion in the community. In addition, the people couldn't recognize colors and didn't have the sense of true or real feelings. However, on the bright side, since the community is so structured, there's less chaos compared to the community we have now. But the question is, are they happy? But well, they don't know what happiness is.
This made me really thank God for the gift of free will. I may experience pain and hurts, but according to the Giver, one of the characters in the book, this knowledge of pain and joy gives us wisdom.
Now, I am planning to watch the movie. I'm going to borrow the file from my student. Let's see whether the movie has really portrayed what is written in the book.
Side note:
Memories are meant to be shared. If not, most likely, the person will suffer loneliness.
#maloureads
Do you want to live in a community of Sameness?[/caption]The Giver rings a bell to me. But I am not sure whether I have read it in the past or not. One day, my Korean student bought a novel "The Giver" and it made me more intrigued about it. Hence, I borrowed the novel from my co-worker who also has it and he even used it in the class as a lesson.
In the first few pages, it was hard to comprehend the setting of the story and even the plot. I had lots of questions of who or what these words mean: Release, Nurturers, Giver, Receiver, and the list goes on. It appeared to be very metaphorical to me. Well, since I don't like putting down a book without finishing it, I did continue reading it and I was glad I read until the last page. It really made me think about life, people, community, rules, etc.
The story in a nutshell goes like this: It is a story about an isolated community that thrives in Sameness and Organization. It was so structured, and every citizen obeyed the rules religiously or else, they would be Released to Elsewhere. (The words which first letter are capitalized are the words frequently used in the story.) To be released means a final decision and a grim judgment. No one liked it. No one was allowed to use the word lightly even in games. Precision of language is followed by everyone - young and adult alike. Also, the community held a ceremony for every year (like birthday). They have a Ceremony for Ones until the Ceremony of Twelve. The Ceremony of Twelve was the last one and was considered the most important since at this age, each 12-year-old boy/girl was given an assignment based on their aptitudes and attitudes during the 12 years. There's a committee for that. This committee has to observe each child very carefully so as not to make a mistake when they give assignment. Even whom to marry, what job to take, which baby to take care of are all decided upon by the committee. We could see that the citizen does not have the free will to do the things they like to do for themselves. They were governed and controlled by different committees. Each assignment had rules that should be strictly followed. Once the rules were violated, the community would release the citizen who caused the confusion in the community. In addition, the people couldn't recognize colors and didn't have the sense of true or real feelings. However, on the bright side, since the community is so structured, there's less chaos compared to the community we have now. But the question is, are they happy? But well, they don't know what happiness is.
This made me really thank God for the gift of free will. I may experience pain and hurts, but according to the Giver, one of the characters in the book, this knowledge of pain and joy gives us wisdom.
Now, I am planning to watch the movie. I'm going to borrow the file from my student. Let's see whether the movie has really portrayed what is written in the book.
Side note:
Memories are meant to be shared. If not, most likely, the person will suffer loneliness.
#maloureads
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