If You Care About the World,
Then You Should Read This
The Giver by Lois Lowry
When my kid wants me to read one of his books, then I'm game. I love books, and I enjoy sharing stories with my new teen. He had me reading Harry Potter last month, and this month he told me that I just had to read The Giver.
The Giver must be big on the middle school reading lists now, because all the kids around here seem to be reading this one. Some kid told Caleb he ought to read it, because it was a good and weird book and had his name in the book. Since Caleb is in the accelerated program, he would have missed this one if someone had not given him the heads up. Fortunately, he did hear about this gem and checked it out from the school library.
The story is set in a perfect world, so obviously it's not earth as we know it. While this may sound wonderful, the perfect world eliminates all differences and any worldly "bothers" like rain, snow, pain, sickness, and general searching for answers. Everyone is pretty much alike though assigned by skills to various jobs that fit based on interests and skills at age 12. With this set up, the whole system functions with no hitches. All potential problems are addressed and solved on the spot. If you say you are "starving" when you mean that you are simply hungry, then the "sin" of misstatement is pointed out, corrected, and an apology is offered up.
Natural selection is cancelled out by a fair system where everyone is judged and dealt with on objective terms. If you give birth to twins, for instance, the one weighing more is allowed to live while the smaller is disposed of. You would not worry about this, because you would be a breeder (on the low end of the social scale which exists even in this society), and the single baby selected would farm out to the selected family based on application. Likewise, the elderly are not allowed to burden society. When you become aged (which is simply past prime), then you go to a home briefly before being ushered off the planet. This potential sadness is simply called "release" so not a big deal.
Of course, all this makes sense, because folks do not know any other world. There is one exception, and the society selects one person to be "The Receiver/Giver." This person receives all the memories from generations past and the good and the bad of a world where things are not perfect. "The Giver" continues to work until a new person is selected to receive these memories and to carry the load of the world that existed before this perfect world was created.
Jonas hits age 12 in this book and discovers that he has been selected to be "The Receiver." He is not the first to be chosen for this honor. The girl prior was Rosemary, and the weight of knowing is too much for her. She asks to be released which is pretty much asking to be dead in this world. So, she leaves the space open, which Jonas must now try to fill. Now, this is the only exception I take with this book. I suppose it could be seen that a girl would have a harder time taking the pain of the world, but it does seem that even this perfect world is run by men.
Learning about all the missing parts of life is a heavy burden. In effect, Jonas does carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. While he is thrilled with seeing colors for the first time and mentally experiencing snow, he must also learn about war and about death when someone does not measure up to perfection or mediocrity, which may be one and the same.
This is certainly a book that explores issues relevant to modern day society where we want to make sure that everyone is equal and the same in many ways. While we might celebrate differences, we become caught up in making sure that "no child is left behind." No. We don't want to leave kids behind. We want to get to know the kids and build on what is special about each kid. An "A" on an end-of-grade test should not be the be-all and end-all. We don't need or want to become a world of good test takers. This is the kind of bland world vividly described in this novel.
This book is listed for ages 10 and up, and I suppose that is pretty accurate. It's not a long book or a hard book. But, it is a powerful book. I'm a book and street-smart adult, and I took a lot away from this text. Maybe it should be required reading for parents as well as kids. The current generation of grown folks missed it with the 1993 copyright date. Though it was not required reading for the "now" generation of leaders, I think it is well worth a look. I'm really glad that Caleb suggested the book, and it is one that I will hold in my head and in my heart. I hope that I can take what I learned from this book and pass it on. We do need to know where we've been to make the future better, and a world without the hard times does not do justice to the good times. We all know this on some level, but there are times when we need to be reminded.
