Giver Movie Tie-in Edition: Newbery Winner

The Giver is a children’s literature novel written by Lois Lowry. It takes place in a monotone, perfect world that shuns individuality. Jonas, the hero that is followed throughout the story, begins to notice the true imperfection of the world he lives in. He is accompanied by a man who is only known as “the Giver.”
It’s amazing what The Giver has to offer the children that have read it. It is a book that is, in a way, simple in its complexity. Simple in the aspect that a child can be exposed to it and still understand the basic plot and foundation; Complex in the aspect that an adult can be exposed to it and be able to analyze the true meaning and theme that is hidden beneath its surface. Jonas really questions what individuality truly is. The truth is uncovered to him by the Giver that humans are afraid of being subjected to peculiar situations. When Jonas talks about releasing one of the twins that were recently born with the Giver, he exclaims, “Well, they can’t have two identical people around! Think how confusing it would be!” (182). It would be easier for one of the twins to be released then for everyone to be possibly subjected to awkward situations such as mixing up two people that look identical to each other. Another example for this theme would be how everyone is required to accept one another’s apologies. The thought behind this is that if someone does not accept your apology, it can lead to future skirmishes. No body likes to be caught in a situation where they are trying to mend a relationship between two people, so it’s easier for everyone to be uniform and friendly. It is more comfortable.
Comfortable is a key element in this novel. Lowry does an amazing job of exposing human nature. Everyone hates being singled out, put in awkward situations, and just simply being different. By making everyone uniform, same number of people in the house, we all act the same, wear the same clothes, it minimizes suffering. In no way can suffering be totally and utterly eliminated, there will still be things that irritates people individually. What Lowry enforces through her protagonist Jonas is that if there is minimal suffering, then there is minimal happiness. No one is truly depressed, but no one is truly happy either. When having dinner with his family and everyone was sharing their emotions of the day, Jonas had experienced sadness first hand, and realized that all the “emotions” everyone spoke of during dinner were fleeting feelings that held no true meaning: “But now Jonas had experienced real sadness. He had felt grief. He knew there was no quick comfort for emotions like those” (166). Jonas came to the conclusion that no one truly new what raw emotion was, only himself and the Giver. No body could truly love, hate, or feel sadness. He began to realize how empty his society profoundly was.
In conclusion, this novel was amazing. Lowry does a fantastic job by setting a sober tone for a novel that explores the theme of humanity’s natural fear of individuality. Though there is no true physical conflict, the true problem lies within the society itself. While a very good book for adults, it is also a true masterpiece for its intended audience, children. If ever taught in a classroom setting, a fun way to incorporate the book into activities would be for children to pair up into groups and assign them to create a utopia of their own. A way to expand this assignment would be for the children to write their own dystopian fiction with plot, character, and theme. Questions such as: Can there ever be a true utopia? Are humans naturally flawed, leading to the conclusion that all society is imperfect? Can be addressed. This can be also seen as a lesson plan, incorporating other books that are similar to The Giver, such as The City of Ember, written by Jeanne DuPrau, and The Roar, written by Emma Clayton. Both which are dystopian themed novels that are aimed toward children. If students are having difficulty interpreting the text or understanding it two great sites would be: randomhouse or loislowry.com. For teachers who need lesson plans or activities that pair well with the novel these two sites are very informative: englishunitplans or webenglishteacher.com. This book was overall incredible and I’m glad that I was able to read it, even if it is classified as children’s literature!

Works Cited
Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. Print.

I flew through this book!
Well written, fascinating story, posing important questions about the world we live in.

Trigger warning – there are some heavier moments in this book. Would not recommend for the very young.

The copy of this book that I read had a transcript of the authors Newberry Award acceptance speech as an appendix. She talks about the experiences in her life that lead up to the creation of this story and I feel that the context gives the story even greater meaning, not that it needed it. In particular, I was very moved by the fact that the man on the cover of this book is actually a painter (known personally by the author) who went blind in his old age and could no longer see the colors he loved. The story truly stands on its own but her speech made it feel all the more important. I was never assigned this book to read in school but I see why others were. It is a truly impactful story that makes me feel oddly grateful and appreciative of even the most god awful and horrific parts of life.

I had read this book as a youth, it didn’t really resonated with me at the time. I am now much older and decided to read it again. Reading it now with the world we are living in, this book now has enlightened to the possibility of how people can be easily manipulated in losing their freedom of choice.