I am currently reading The Giver by Lois Lowry with my ela class. There
has been many memory moments, one memory moment is when the main
character's sister,Lily, tells her family what happened in the
afternoon. In chapter one, when the main character,Jonas, is eating in
the evening with his family they all share their feelings. Lily said,"I
felt very angry this afternoon," Lily announced."My childcare group was
at the play area, and we had a visiting group of sevens, and they didn't
obey the rules at all."..."Why do you think the visitors didn't obey
the rules?"Mother asked. Lily cosidered, and shook her head"I don't
know. They acted like... like..."."Animals?" Jonas suggested. he
laughed."That's right,"Lily said, laughing too."Like animals."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."This
memory might be important because the author tells us that there are
other communities, and they are all very different. The author also told
us that the people in Jonas's community don't know what animals are.
This got me thinking about the rules, leaders, and the community; also
it made ask myself, what if the community is like a prison and it was
made to see what society is better.
The author Lois Lowry has repeated a few things in the book The Giver. One of the few things she has repeated in her book is the word "released". For example in chapter one, page 2 it says," For a contributing citizen to be released from the community was a final decision, a terrible punishment, an overwhelming statement of failure."I think the word "released" keeps showing up in the story because it's important to the plot of the story, and maybe because it can affect the character later on in the story. The word "released" is a negative word in the book, the people are scared of being "released" because it means that they will be banished from their family units and the community.
