Examples Of Dystopia In The Giver

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A dystopia is a society that has numerous problems hidden behind a facade of happiness. The novel, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, tells the story of a boy who sees beyond the charade. Jonas feels that there is more to life than identical dwellings and gray bicycles. When Jonas is chosen to become The Receiver of Memory, he discovers flaws in the apparently perfect community. What he discovers in his sessions with The Giver, the current carrier of the memories, eventually leads him to make a life changing decision that affects all members of the community. The society in The Giver is a dystopia because it lacks creativity, color, and the citizens are deprived of information. The lack of creativity in The Giver negatively affects the community. On page 84, The Giver says to Jonas, “It wasn’t a practical thing, so it became obsolete when we went to Sameness.” Although this quote is referring to climate before Sameness, it shows that the community is built on…show more content…
The Giver tells Jonas the the flashes he is seeing are color. Jonas is unaware of the idea of color (94). The community is deprived of color and because of this, objects lack individuality. The more traits an object has, the more originality and uniqueness it has. Individuality is important because with difference comes excitement and curiosity. If all answers were known and all actions expected, then life would be dull and have little purpose. The only goal of the citizens is to complete their tasks; they have no other reason to live. The society in The Giver does not work to answer questions or accomplish a goal, and the only desire is to simply live. Without a goal and a reason to live, the community has no purpose and is a dystopia because of the lack of curiosity. However, the desire to know proves to be a difficult task in the community because of the extent to which information is hidden from the

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