By Kyla Laquian
Courier Staff Writer
The dystopia Lois Lowry had created in his novel The Giver, is an intriguing yet peculiar one. It explores the essence of human nature through this dystopian society he conjured, that acts as a suppressant towards everything that makes us human, and raises thought provoking questions about human nature itself. It is post-acocalyptic, when the human race decides that in order to avoid their own destruction, everybody must convert to sameness.
People in the community do not have the simple, human pleasures of perceiving color, listening to music, or even feel emotions such as happiness, sadness, love or anger. Each of the “dwellings” that the people live in are identical to one another, and the term “home” is rejected because it implies feelings of love and warmth which is what they are attempting to shun. The family members are assigned to one another, and do not love one another, but “appreciate” one another. The brilliant young protagonist Jonas, who is always at the top of his class and displays special abilities such as the ability to “see beyond” or in other words, notice hints of color, is eventually assigned the most important role in the community, which is the Receiver of Memories. An unexpected twist occurs when Jonas decides to return all of the memories of humanity’s past back to the people, due to his revelation that to be human includes both flaws and perfections, and is something that is unique to our race which we should never reject.
Jonas receives his training from the former Receiver now known as the Giver of Memories, and he receives snippets of memories of humanity’s past, the goal being to eventually possess all of the memories of the past so that he can eventually advice the community on decision making. Initially, Jonas receives only happy memories, simple stuff such as the exhilaration of racing down a hill on a sled, feelings of warmth and fuzziness on holiday evenings spent with family, birthday parties, and captivating sceneries of muted red, orange sunsets.
But soon Jonas is also exposed to pain, suffering, starvation, war, and death, which are things nobody in the community has ever experienced. For somebody who has never experienced pain before, the feeling of finally experiencing them is excruciating. Jonas musts the mental strength to carry on and the unexpected occurs. It was assumed by the Council of Elders that after receiving the memories, Jonas would agree that pain and suffering needs to be avoided, and that he would have the greatest understanding of this suffering. A loophole in his training was that Jonas also received happy memories of things humanity had done, and is aware that we are also capable of being able to love and move one another, rescue each other from harm, and have compassion. Jonas realizes the beauty of what it means to be human, that possessing emotions does have negative effects, but that love and selflessness are unique connections humans possess with one another, and can inspire us to accomplish marvelous things. Jonas hatches a plan, a conspiracy, with the Giver to cross a certain boundary line which will give the memories back to the people in the community.
From this point onward, the author recounts the steps taken for Jonas to escape unnoticed and reach the boundary line in a journalistic manner, with the aspects of the plan being recalled rather than being acted in the present. It is also interesting how at the end of the book when Jonas finally reaches the boundary line, it is not revealed about how the people received the memories of humanity’s past and how they coped with finally having them. When Jonas started to have his first revelation about the beauty of human nature, it occurred when he reached the bottom of a snowy hill, and heard a family singing in unison indoors. The author creates parallelism and implies that the community came to the realization of appreciating human nature, by ending with Jonas finally crossing the threshold that gave the people back the memories of humanity, and Jonas hearing the joyous, holiday singing that echoed, possibly back from the community. “For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing. Behind him, across the vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps it was only an echo.” The novel moved me to appreciate the little things and the common qualities the human race possesses, which are normally taken for granted and overlooked because we live by them day to day. So, the next time you walk by a friend in the halls, make the small effort to smile, and when you are with friends, appreciate their chiming laughter. Cherish the tiny moments, and enjoy what it means to be human.