The Giver- Quotation about Lies

"Now Jonas had a thought that he had never had before. This new thought was frightening. What if others- adults- had, upon becoming Twelves, received in their instructions the same terrifying sentence?

What if they had all been instructed: You may lie?

His mind reeled. Now, empowered to ask questions of utmost rudeness- and promised answers- he could, conceivably (though it was unimaginable), ask someone, some adult, his father perhaps: "Do you lie?"

But he would have no way of knowing if the answer he received was true." (pg. 71)

This quote at the very end of chapter 9 really stood out for me. I found it very intriguing that Jonas actually could pin point the fact that if everyone could lie, then himself and the rest of the people in his community, could be living amoung a society of lies. This triggers back to my blog about Individuality vs. Conformity, when I talked about Jonas being different from the rest of his community. When I talked about the blue eyes and how they had depth. Depth that could mean that he is more observant and has a different and better understanding than others.

But his understanding of the fact that he could be living a lie is true. He is living a lie, and he is only starting, a little bit, to understand this. His community is controlled completely, and everyone in it has chosen Sameness over individuality. A question that comes to mind when I read this quote is : Do other people in the community question whether or not people are telling the truth or not when they were given the ability to lie? I can not answer this question, because The Giver was written in third person to Jonas's point of view. All I can know is what he questions or what he is thinking. Jonas has been chosen to gain all the memories of the world and the past, so he obviously has been seen as a child who thinks differently than everyone else, and a child who thinks about the possiblies of more than what is seen.

The Giver- Individuality versus Conformity

Within the first 5 chapters of the Giver, a major theme shown is individuality versus conformity. It is better seen to be just like everybody else than to be unique and different. This is where Jonas feels a little left out, because he is slightly different, and beginning to realize it. The first difference seen is when Jonas's father brings home the newborn, Gabe, from the nurturing centre and his little sister, Lily, draws attention to Jonas's and Gabe's similar eyes. They both have light, pale eyes, which are uncommon in the community of dark eyed people. Jonas's finds it very rude of Lily to call attention to such things that are unsettling or different about individuals.

"Now, seeing the newchild and its expression, he was reminded that the light eyes were not only a rarity but gave the one who had them a certain look- what was it? Depth, he decided; as if one were looking into the clear water of the river, down to the bottom, where things might lurk which hadn't been discovered yet. He felt self-conscious, realizing that he, too, had that look."(pg. 21)

Here, I believe that Lowry is foreshadowing future events that those with these "pale, solemn, knowing eyes" that have depth, may see and understand things that most people can not.

Another difference about Jonas that Lowry describes is the changing of the apple. She does not describe how it changes, because in Jonas's point of view, its simply a strange occurrence that is different, but something he has never seen before."But suddenly Jonas has noticed, following the path of the apple through the air with his eyed, that the piece of fruit had- well, changed. Just for an instant." (pg. 24) Jonas's uneasy feelings and the hints that he is different from everybody else, also adds suspense to the novel. "... and with his laughter tried to ignore his uneasy conviction that something had happened. But he had taken the apple home, against the recreation area rules." (pg. 24-25)

But, Jonas is not the only person who is seen as different in this community of sameness. People all through the community are noticing some differences in others. When Jonas is at the House of Old, the woman he is bathing, Larissa, talks about how everyones life has meaning, but some more than others. She describes how a man, who had just been released had an amazing life. Whereas another woman that had been released had only been a birth mother and who's life had very little meaning. The fact here is that these releasing ceremonies are meant to make each person's life sound meaningful, when they have all lived meaningless lives in a community of sameness. Also, the way that Larissa speaks of each person shows that even though this community is supposed to be a place of uniformity, people do judge each other and are subconsciously aware of each others differences.

The Giver- Jonas's life and rules compared to ours

Rules in our society are lax. People are not forced to obey all laws. Even though it is always prefered that rules are followed, people still easily get away with breaking them. In the novel, The Giver, nobody gets away with breaking rules, or at least very rarely. Their rules are also very much more strict and controlling than those in which we are used to. A lot of these rules are to keep complete control over the community in a way in which the people in the community are unknowing of many things outside the community. For one, animals are unknown mythical creatures. "Lily considered, and shook her head."I don't know. They acted like...like..." "Animals?" Jonas suggested. He laughed...Neither child knew what the word meant, exactly, but it was often used to describe someone uneducated or clumsy, someone who didn't fit in." (pg.6)
Some of the rules that applied to family households were; only one girl and one boy to each family, a feeling ritual must be held every evening, and a dream telling ritual must be held every morning. These were to keep things in order with families. Children were given to the parents, who were matched by the Elders, and they had to express their feelings with each other, keeping nothing private. Then if the children started having "stirrings", which really are when their hormones start kicking in, then they must be treated with daily pills that make the "stirrings" go away. "Stirrings. He had heard the word before. He remembered that there was a reference to the Stirrings in the Book of Rules, though he didn't remember what it had said. And now and then the speaker mentioned it. ATTENTION. A REMINDER THAT STIRRINGS MUST BE REPORTED IN ORDER FOR TREATMENT TO TAKE PLACE." (pg. 37)
Then there were rules according to ages. For instance; 8 year olds had to have their "comfort object" taken away and recycled to the newborns, 9 year olds had to get their first bicycle, and little girls had to wear hair ribbons and they had to be tied tightly. Then what Jonas himself is going through is the "Ceremony of 12's" where each 12 year gets assigned a specific role in the community. In our normal society we get to choose our own jobs, but in The Giver, The Elders watch all the children's progress with their volunteer hours that they start when they are 9, therefore being able to tell where they will work well in the community.
So therefore, because of all these rules that the society in The Giver follow, it has become very controlled and nobody has any rights to privacy, or really anything else. Everything is controlled by only one person, who later will be introduced as the giver. But that's for another blog later.

Men and Women Ads

Men- Men are seen in ads as perfectly chiseled, buff guys who are considered "hot". You rarely ever see an over sized man or even an average man in ads. They are all above average and mostly shirtless showing off their perfect chests and biceps. Another thing is that the men will sometimes have a woman hanging off his neck, yet he has an expression of not caring. A lot of the models also kind of look angry, or are staring the camera down in what may be a seductive way. They are never smiling. Then the models in the underwear seem to have fairly large bumps in the front. In some of the ads the men would be the 'bread earners', because you see them in their nice suit and ties, OR they'd be the people doing all the dirty work. An example would be the men in the war attire with the guns and the stern, serious look on their faces. All men, according to advertisements, only enjoy beer, sports, and cars. A lot of t.v. ads use men and their sports addictions to sell their profits by using pictures of men watching very intense sports with their buddies, and a beer in hand. Oh yeah, and beer ads like to show men getting all the girls they want while drinking their brand of beer. I think they are almost telling us, even though we can't really see it, that men are seeing girls differently while intoxicated, so are really getting all the girls they think they are getting.


Women- A lot of ads see women as weak and the "cleaners" I guess you would say. In a lot of the advertisements the women are known for the cooking, house work, and taking care of the children. I saw that one of the ads for a food brand said "so easy the husband could do it" indicating that men do not know how to cook and it is only the woman's job. I specifically know that is not true. In my family my dad cooks, and my mom can't cook very well at all. Also, I saw in these ads that a lot of them were ads for children accessories, but directed at mothers. It almost assumes that the women have to pick out all the children's toys and accessories for some reason. In the men ads I never saw one kid in the pictures. They never had families or anything, but the women do. Whether it be her cooking at a stove while her family is waiting at the table to be served or if it's just a mother cradling her baby. Some ads present women as sexual beings. For example, an ad showed two stilleto heels and the end of a whip between them. That insinuates that the women was a very sexual person. I think that this degrades women, because not very many women are actually like that, but to show off a kind of perfume or something they try to make women feel that if they wear it they will be more sexually outgoing.

Men Roles-
Musician
Athlete
Sports Fan
Boxer
Position of Power
Soldier
Dare Devil

Women Roles-
Stay at Home Mom
Cleaner
Cook
Husband "pleaser"
Sex being

Male and female roles differ quite a bit. Women are seen as weaker than men, and men are seen as less caring than women. These differences kind of lead back in history to when Women had almost no rights, when men had averything. Women weren't allowed to work or learn and were only useful for having children and raising them. Men had all the rights and just made the money. They would make the money for the food, in which the wife would cook. Women's rights have definitely been "upgraded" since then, but many advertisements still like to see women as they were treated to depict between the two genders.