Essay Comparing The Giver And Pleasantville

726 Words3 Pages
“Where ignorance is bliss, ‘Tis folly to be wise,” said Thomas Gray. Expressing, that knowing nothing is sometimes better than knowing everything. The authors and directors of The Giver and Pleasantville, describe that the citizens were very ignorant and when they gained knowledge of different things they didn't know what to do with that knowledge. The two stories show the role ignorance has in a dystopia, how the citizens’ lack knowledge to keep them under control, how they gain knowledge, and what their reaction is to receiving knowledge. They are very ignorant because they aren’t aware of anything outside their own little bubble. The Giver tells us about a boy named Jonas that receives an assignment, an assignment that will change his life forever. However, in Pleasantville, the townspeople did gain several pleasures from the change, causing them to be even happier than they were before. Though Jonas and the denizens’ of Pleasantville both experience new knowledge, this knowledge can cause them to get into trouble. They enjoy being able to do things outside of the “bubble”, showing the…show more content…
In The Giver, we see that they don’t know what weather is in the scene where Jonas receives the memory of snow. After receiving the memory, the giver asked what he thought about it. “Jonas was confused. “I didn’t understand it, sir.”” The giver replied, “Of course you didn’t. You don’t know what snow is, do you? Jonas shook his head.” This shows us that citizens in The Giver don’t know what weather is. In Pleasantville, we are shown that they don’t know the at there are communities outside of there own. “What's outside of Pleasantville?” said Margaret Henderson. Bud replies, “There are some places that the road doesn't go in a circle. There are some places where the road keeps going.” “Keeps going?” “Yeah, yeah. It just keeps going. It all keeps
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  • Essay Comparing The Giver And Pleasantville

    744 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Giver written by Lois Lowry and Pleasantville directed by Gary Ross both explore a societal void of deep emotion, wisdom, or even freedom of choice within each text’s community. Both of texts explore the drawbacks of such voids, yet they examine these concepts in different ways. What follows is a critical analysis of the ways that human existence is explored through the similarities and differences presented in each text. Knowledge is power. It is the key that overcomes past faults and builds

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