FREEDOM AND CHOICEEveryone should have freedom and make their own decisions. However, in The Giver, the poeple do not have freedom. Their job is also chosen by The Elders.
SAMENESS Everyone is the same.
MEMORIES
In the Giver, the people gave up their memories, to eliminate the pain and unhappiness that came with it.
Memories guide, enrich and influence one person's life. Without memories, people cannot learn from their mistakes, this is also the reason why The Giver has to hold the memories for everyone in the community.
FEELINGS AND EMOTIONSTo me, he looks real. But he is just a statue. He does not have any feelings or emotions. This is like The Giver. In Jonas's world, the people are precise in language, and what words they use to express their feelings towards others. Therefore, they do not have strong feelings towards someone or something :(
RELEASE OF A TWIN
NEWBORN GABRIEL This is a symbol of new hope. In The Giver, Gabriel is a newborn child. I think babies represent new hope and regeneration. Gabriel is too young to have absorbed the rules of the community, therefore he is still receptive to the powerful memories that Jonas transmits to him.
THE RED SLEDThe sled is red in colour, and represents the new and vital world of feelings that Jonas would discover...
Your first picture was on freedom and choice. Like you said, I also feel that everyone should have the freedom to make their own decisions. However, the people in Jonas’s community do not have this luxury. Other than the example that you have mentioned, the lack of choice also extends to the size of a family dwelling, their spouses and even what to wear. It seems as if all the people in the community just have to follow other’s decisions.
ReplyDeleteThe next picture is on sameness. This is yet another very prominent theme in the Giver. In Jonas’s community, people value sameness more than differences. It is seen in many instances such as everyone getting the same food, wearing the same clothes and children having the same birthdays and things. It is also seen whereby people try to talk about things that are the same to avoid calling attention to a person’s differences. However, though Jonas’s community values sameness, they have yet to master it completely. For example, there are certain stigmas to jobs. Not all assignments are equal as seen in the case of the birthmother and night time nurturers.
Without memories, the people in the community lack the knowledge of how to deal with things in a crisis. In “The Giver”, though the people do not want to contain these memories themselves, they however recognize the importance of memories. Therefore, this gives rise to a position called “the receiver of memory”. As you have mentioned, “memories guide, enrich and influence one person’s life”. I agree with this statement. I am sure too that many of our teachers and parents have told us that it is important to learn from our past mistakes. However, in Jonas’s community’s case, they only have one generation memories and will therefore probably repeat their previous mistakes.
Feelings and emotions are not really present in Jonas’s community. One very good example is the part where Jonas asks his parents if they love him. As we all know, his parents chastise him for the precision of language instead of giving him a definite answer. Their precision of language is however not precise at all. Love for one thing, is not obsolete. People in the community have very shallow emotions and just as you have mentioned, they do not have strong feelings towards someone or something.
Release of babies just to maintain the community is such a cruel thing! Though it is mentioned in the book that releasing of babies was always such a sad thing because they had not have a chance to enjoy life in the community yet, I highly doubt whether they are actually able to really feel sadness. It is not clearly mentioned in the book why Gabriel can receive memories but not the rest of the citizens( Lily, father and Asher). Perhaps though, as you said, Gabriel is too young to have absorbed the rules of the community and therefore is still receptive to the powerful memories that Jonas transmits to him.
Sled was just such an interesting memory that Jonas’s receives on his first day of training. I am rather similar to Jonas in the sense that snow is also a rather new thing to me. Living in a tropical country, it does not snow and therefore, I also seldom see it. However, unlike Jonas, I know that these things do exist.
The sled is red in colour. Other things that Jonas sees are red are Fiona’s hair, the apple, the faces of the crowd of people (red tones) and the row of books in the Annex room. As Jonas matures throughout the book, he starts to fall in love with colours but however also realizes new meanings to the colour red- it is the colour of blood.
Your photo montage was really nice and I enjoyed looking at them. The pictures are all very vibrant. I guess this probably shows that colour is indeed a very beautiful thing. Don’t you think so?