Thursday, July 14, 2011

The Giver

The Giver (The Giver, #1)
Most Challenged Book List

Lowry, Lois. (1993). The giver. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.

The Giver is on the Most Challenged Book list and is a Newbery Medal winner.  This definitely is a thought provoking book.  It takes place in a Utopian society where there are no real feelings of any kind.  It is supposedly a "perfect" world.  We, the reader, find out what is really going on because Jonas receives his job and learns all of the memories of their community and its previous chaos.  He now feels.  He feels pain, anxiety, sadness and fear along with love, by the end.  This book brought me back to high school when we had to read George Orwell's 1984, which I really don't remember.  All I remember is that it was also a society under the control of "Big Brother" in this case.  I may have to read that one again sometime.  I really enjoyed The Giver and its pondering of our rights to freedom verses our ultimate safety.  One of the main reasons that this book is so often challenged is its use of euthenasia to control the population.  I had a chat with my son who read it in middle school a couple years ago and he doesn't see what the big deal is.  He simply said the book put people to sleep to keep them out of pain, it is just a story, and that is what a Utopian society is, which is the point of the book.  He was very matter-of-fact about it.  He is suprised at how many of his required reading books have been challenged.  Interesting conversation with my high schooler.

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