The Launguage of the The Giver
Summary: Examines The Giver, by Lois Lowry. Details how Lowry creates a community where everything is perfect. Explores the issues of choice and free will.
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People today would not say "I left my comfort object at home" it would seem strange and not even the most proper societies say words like that. Also when a child is about to be born people don't say "your going to have a newchild" they say "your going to have a baby", it just seems to be the way we would respond because in our society. We have such familiarized words and slag nobody would want to say newchild. "My family unit just got a new TV"! Would not be the way we would talk about our families because when you think about family,you see a home and parents with kids but "family unit" is so scientific, so cold to use it makes the community seem like its robotic. Birthmother is another terms the community uses that seems so cold and void of care, personally I never thought the word Birthmother existed because it so uncommonly used in our society. Another would not commonly used today is "spouse." It is not that people don't know of the word but it is really only used in legal documents or formal and proper places. We would normally say wife of husband when talking but "spouse" makes the community seem even more scientific for using it in everyday life. Would you like that? A world where someone introduces you to the person that has to be your wife or husband, and you can't choose that special person, a place where nobody is special. This part of the book does though give a perspective about the peoples lives and how it seems so controlled and any word with emotional meaning is obsolete.
The society in this novel seems ideal. Everyone has a job, the elderly are lovingly cared for as are the newest members of the community. Every family has a mother, father and two children. There is much...