The Dystopian Society in "The Giver" by Lois Lowry

The book The Giver is about a supposedly ideal society, however as the book continues it seems to be more of a dystopia with a totalitarian government. Everyday life is the same and almost never changes because the consequence is so severe, which could be public humiliation to releasing. In our Society you can do almost whatever you want within the law, as long as it’s not toxic to our community. In many ways The Giver’s society and our society are very different and the differences by far outweigh the similarities, similarities between Jonas’ community and our society demonstrate that we’re not completely different. We both have rules and leaders, however our society is so forgiving.

Here are some ways that Jonas’ community and our society are alike. One of the many ways is Jonas' community is like our society is because we both have a lawmaking process which a group of people head. We also share the fact that we exclude the elderly from society; put them in nursing homes because they are a burden on us. We also share the fact that we both have certain rules that have to be followed with no exceptions. In both societies violence is not allowed. Another aspect we share in common with Jonas' society that there are serious consequences for breaking rules such as releasing, jail time or hard labor.

Although there are many ways our society and Jonas' community are the same. There are a lot more ways Jonas' community and United States are different. One way is that our society you have a choice to work while in Jonas's community you are given Assignments such as Caretaker of the Old, Receiver of Memory, and others. Also we have color and music while they don't have these things because it would an abomination to have any type on uniqueness. In our society, we are a little bit more flexible with the rules which make it unlikely to get in trouble for an honest mistake, but you have to follow the rules strictly in Jonas' community. You can get in trouble in Jonas' society just for speaking incorrectly or not eating snacks at school right away. Also everything is paid by the government in turn food and transportation is free, in our society most things we get for “free” are paid taxes.

Honestly The Giver is trying to give the reader a sense of value, so that we should appreciate our life and freedom. It's very important to remember how lucky we are, and that there is nothing more valuable than freedom. It is to our benefit that many things that you can't do in The Giver's society can be done in our society.