The Giver, written by Lois Lowry, is about the importance of agency. This book takes place in Jonas' community, somewhere in the far future. Here, everything was PERFECT. The people rarely made decisions on their own. Living on a strict set of guidelines and rules, the people here had no awareness of sunshine, rain, snow, music, animals, agency, nor memories. Jonas and the other children had no say in the outcome of their future, for it was chosen by the towns committee.
As jobs were assigned to the twelve year old children, Jonas was singled out to be The Receiver, and get special training from The Giver. The Giver holds all memories from past centuries, including ours. It was now Jonas' turn to learn of all pleasant and unpleasant memories our world holds.
As his training started, he began to learn about the world of our days. He received memories of snow, sunburns, colors, and love. When the innocent life of a baby, named Gabriel, lies in Jonas' hands, he is faced with a difficult decision. Would he leave the only community he's known in hopes their is freedom Elsewhere? Or would he stay in a perfect community where his fate has been decided. What's more important?
I loved the giver! It was easy to get into the book, and I enjoyed reading it. Lois Lowry is an AMAZING author and everything about his writing I loved! Something I thought could have been changed was the speed of the book. I feel like the first 120 pages is just giving you background knowledge, and the last 60 is where it actually begins. The story-line is sad, and it makes you realize how lucky we are to have complete agency.
In this book, death and punishments are regular. There is only one scene that goes into detail about the death of a newborn baby. The child isn't a main part of the book, but you still feel for the infant to be killed. If you're not comfortable reading about deaths, take caution while reading this book!
I feel like the theme of the book is that hardships will come with agency, but it is well worth it. In their land, they have absolutely no freedom, and they don't benefit from it. This book makes me realize how lucky we are to have the agency, not only in this time, but in the country we live in. It shows how important making your own decisions are when Jonas is willing to give up his life with small faith that it might work out in the end. :) A
4 comments:
WOW! I picked this up from a library when I was in 3rd grade, but never could actually read it, but now I REALLY want to! Wow, this review was great! Thanks!
I feel like this was a book that you could realate with others who dont have agency. I dont think this book was neccesary about deaths. This book was really good, Im glad you wrote a reveiw on it.
I still can't stop wondering about the ending of this book! It really leaves you hanging in a way, but I wouldn't read a sequal to The Giver. It would ruin it for me!
The ending of the book definitely left me hanging! But I think that its better left that way, with endless possibilities of what could've happened! Although I didn't enjoy the deaths in this book, I think it really shows how bad of a society they were living in.. which led to Jonas' escape. Santana, you should definitely read it!!
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