"The Giver": Life Without Memory

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the novel "The Giver" by Lois Lowry where the author explores the concept of life without memory and the effect its absence has on humanity. The paper relates that Lowry's novel shows how, although it is possible to exist without the benefit of experience, it is a drab and unremarkable existence compared to how rich and diverse life really is. Life without art, music, color, love, loss and individuality, makes humanity ebb away until what exists is nothing but a hollow shell.

From the Paper:

"The novel is set in a future society where all pain and sorrow have been eliminated by the conversion to "Sameness," a concept which has also eradicated joy and other measures of emotional depth from the citizens' lives. All human experience and memory have been isolated to the mind of one individual known as "the Receiver of Memory," who acts as advisor to the community leaders in times of crisis. The novel follows a 12-year-old boy named Jonas as he is chosen by his society to become the next Receiver.
"In the beginning of the novel, Jonas looks upon his society with the same naked trust and naivety as all children; he understands the rules, sees them as sensible and rational, and follows them religiously. He conforms to everything demanded of him until he begins to "Receive" memories of the world as it once was, full of life and color and adventures far beyond his previous imagining. The deeper Jonas delves into his training, the more he learns about what the citizens of his community are - and what they aren't, compared to what life outside the Community could be."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Lowry, Lois. The Giver. Laurel Leaf Publishing, Sept. 2002.

More papers on "The Giver": Life Without Memory:

• Analytical Essay # 126586 : "'The Giver' and Memory"
• Book Review # 65416 : "Life Without Father"
• Analytical Essay # 39747 : "Conceptions of the Good Life"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: