Brandon Penner
The Perfect World
What is one’s perception of a perfect society? What if there was a place without any type of physical trauma such as serious illness, neglect or any kind of abuse? What if there was place that everyone can be accepted and respected for who they are? What if there was a place that made everyone feel secure and accepted? This place does not exist in reality but in the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry, the community is a utopia since everyone in the community is physically and emotionally safe.
The community in The Giver has a safe physical environment considering the people are free from any type of physical trauma such as serious illness, or any sort of abuse and neglect. One of the factors of physical safety that the community embraces is the elimination of animals. Lowry points out that not only has Jonas and his family never seen an animal, they believe that animals have never existed (18). In Africa, many civilians are prey to numerous predators that share the savannah. According to the African Wildlife Foundation, just hippos kill nearly 3000 people every year. Not only are some animals natural predators to humans but potentially every animal is capable of carrying deadly diseases. Former senior editor for CW Henderson publications and present senior medical writer for WebMD Daniel DeNoon reports in “Diseases from Animals: A Primer” that over 100 important diseases are transferable from animals to humans. The elimination of animals creates a potential disease free environment by eliminating the source of deadly diseases that are readily transferable to humans.
Another factor that contributes to the physical safety of the community is the support from the Committee of Elders to pick lifelong partners and choosing which parents are right for parenthood for each citizen of the community. This provides a safe physical environment considering it offers a stable environment free from sexual, verbal and physical...