The Giver (government) 5

" The word had been "starving." You have never been starving, he had been told. You will never be starving. Now he was. If he had stayed in the community, he would not be. It was as simple as that. Once he had yearned for choices. Then, when he had had a choice, he had made the wrong one: the choice to leave. And now he was starving. But if he had stayed. His thoughts continued. If he had stayed he would have starved in other ways. He would have lived a life hungry for feelings, for color, for love. And Gabriel? For Gabriel there would have been no life at all. So there had not really been a choice (173)."

            In this passage from “The Giver” by Lois Lowry Jonas is reflecting back on his past actions. He wonders if it was the right thing to do, should he have left in hopes for a better life or should he have stayed in his town which is characterized by a dystopian society. He is reflecting back on the past because he questions his decision of leaving, he thinks that by leaving he has made things worse because he is not with the Giver anymore and he feels like he is starving. He made the right decision though of leaving because if he had stayed then he would be dealing with the same old problems that he dealt with before and his previous town is heading towards a disaster.

            My reaction to this passage is that Jonas did make the right decisions by leaving his town and going to a new one in hopes of a better lifestyle. He definitely found a better lifestyle where he is at now, the people are together, they have goals that they are striving for and there is more of a community life where Jonas is now. The only bad thing is that Jonas is no longer with the Giver, he is by himself so I wonder how the transition will be without the Giver considering Jonas has relied on the Giver so much like a father figure throughout this whole novel.  

            The purpose of this passage is to show that Jonas questions his decisions to leave, was it really worth it? Was it necessary to leave? What would of happened if he stayed in the society? He would have been around negative people who are living in fear of the government, Jonas needed a change and he needed to be in a place that was a good environment with a positive attitude. The specific literary techniques used in this passage are word choice, the technique of asking rhetorical questions, and imagery. The word choice in this passage contributes to the overall understanding of the novel and the passage. Words like “starving” and “if he had stayed he would have starved in other ways, he would have lived a life hungry for feelings, for love and for color.” These sentences and words suggest that Jonas thinks he is starving in his new society because everything seems so different to him because he is not used to living in a society that is perfect. He reflects back on the past and realizes that it was the right decision for him to leave because if he stayed he would have lived a life without “color, love and feeling.” The use of rhetorical questions gives the reader a better understand of the novel and it also posses questions to the reader in which he/she might have never questioned before. It makes the novel more interesting by the use of posing questions to the reader it makes the reader think in a different perspective. The imagery in this passage helps to contribute to Jonas reflecting back on the past. You can see Jonas looking back and reflecting on his dystopian society and you can hear all of the chaos in that society because of how dysfunctional it is. The imagery is from words like “for love, for feelings and for color.” If Jonas stayed in his society then he would have misses out on all of those things which are so important in life. The overall effect of this passage is achieved greatly through the eyes of Jonas when reflecting back on the past; he realizes that he needs to move on because his society is going down the wrong road.

            In this novel the word “human” means to be able to live a life freely without any problems, concerns or issues. You are able to live your life without anybody telling you what to do. You can make your own decisions and you are able to live by yourself. In Jonas’s case he is going to have to be able to live without the Giver. Even though this will be hard for Jonas, he will be able to do it because the Giver has provided him with all of the necessary tasks for success; he has been there for Jonas through the thick and the thin. Our depictions of the future reveal that the present will only last for a short time. With all of the technological advancements in today’s society, the world is moving quickly and the life we live now is going to be very different each and every year so don’t take anything for granted. We use images and language to manipulate people’s minds by reeling them into something that we want them to believe. When they believe it they will think that you are right and that will cause people to do things that they do not want to do.