The Giver (government) 4

" Jonas, you and I are the only ones who have feelings. We've been sharing them now for almost a year." "I',m sorry, Giver," Jonas said miserably. "I don't mean to be so hateful. Not to you." The Giver rubbed Jonas's hunched shoudlers. "And after we eat," he went on, "we'll make a plan." Jonas looked up, puzzled. "A plan for what? There's nothing. There's nothing we can do. It's always been this way. Before me, before you, before the ones who came before you. Back and back and back." His voice trailed the familiar phrase. "Jonas," The Giver said, after a moment, "it's true that it has been this way for what seems forever. But the memories tell us that it has not always been. People felt things once. You and I have been part of that, so we know. We know that they once felt things like pride, and sorrow, and-"

This passage from The Giver by Lois Lowry talks about trying to make a plan so the memories of the community can be restored. In this passage The Giver is talking to Jonas about trying to save the memories and restore the values of the community. When the Giver tells Jonas that they need to restore the memories, Jonas becomes quickly surprised. He soon realizes that his vision of the future is not going to happen; his community is still going to be hopeless and unchanged because the people are living in fear because of the government. Jonas wanted his community to change, but instead of changing they are just going to be like how they always were, everything is going to be the same. Jonas realizes this and he becomes sad that he won’t be able to make a difference in the society; his society will still follow its dystopian ways. But when Jonas becomes sad by this the Giver gives Jonas hope, like a father figure and quickly revitalizes Jonas and his decisions of a better future and a utopian like society.

My reaction to this passage is that Jonas as the new receiver is doing a good job in trying to get the community out of this dystopian world. But the problem is people don’t want to go against the government because the government has put so much fear into them that they are scarred and they believe that the government is a higher power then them, they control all the power and give the people no freedom. As the new receiver Jonas is just trying to make his society better, the Giver implemented to Jonas that their society that they live in is bad and although it may seem like everything is perfect, things are bad and it is heading toward disaster. I wonder what Jonas will do because it seems like nobody wants to change in the society, will Jonas step down as the new receiver? Will the Giver provide Jonas with the courage to keep pushing and stay strong because the people will eventually follow?

The purpose of this passage is to show how much fear the government has put into the people. It could also show maybe how much the people believe in the government that things will get better. If the people did not believe in the government then they would go with Jonas’s idea to change the society and restore their values that they once had. But the people aren’t going with Jonas which shows that they believe in the government, that they can push them through this tough time. Also it shows that the people are living in fear and the government has all of the control in the society, the people aren’t living free because they are being controlled like robots. The specific techniques used to achieve this purpose are the use of phrases and repetition. The phrases like “back and back and back” suggests that Jonas wants to go back to the time where everything was good in their society, where everybody was free and the government did not run them. But the people do not want to go back, they are afraid of change. They are afraid to get rid of the “sameness” in the society. Also the phrase “back and back and back” is repeated over and over again to emphasize the fact that Jonas is trying really hard to restore the values of the community that they once had. The Giver sys that the memories tell them that it has “not been this way forever” which suggests it once used to be good probably during the time that Rosemary was the receiver, once Rosemary stepped down as the receiver the society became in total chaos. Jonas is trying to revive a big job but with the help of the Giver he can do it. The overall effect of this passage is that people are not willing to be different; they are not willing to change because they don’t want to be different. They are willing to just go with the flow like they have been doing even though that it is not working, they are still unwilling to change from these dystopian ways that the government has them under.

The word “human” means to be able to live around each, getting along with each other and being compassionate with each other. Everybody may have their different views but everybody gets along. Being a human also means you try and do the best for yourself and do things that will positively affect your life. In this situation Jonas is just trying to be human when wishing that people would follow his lead and change the way that they have been behaving in hopes of getting out of these dystopian ways. Jonas is just trying to do what is the best for his society, being the new receiver he feels like it is his obligation to do these tasks and to try and make things better.

Our depictions of the future reveal that the present although maybe a time to cherish, there are still a lot of bad qualities during this time. People are all different and not everybody is willing to be different. If not everybody is willing to be different then everybody is too much alike and that is not good in the society because you need diversity. If everybody is the same then it creates“sameness” in the society and causes a disaster just like what is happening in this society. We us images and language to manipulate people’s minds by providing people with false information so they believe what they say.