Maybe it’s because this is my re-read book, but this seemed like the book of the bunch that was the most designed to be taught. I know that Lois Lowry’s website has a section with resources for teachers and parents. Regardless, I really enjoyed rereading this book. There were a lot of things that I didn’t pick up on when I was in sixth grade – certain character traits that added more depth to the characters.
I really love the main plot of the book, before Jonas’ escape. Both the exposition which serves to explain the rules and lifestyle of the Community, and the escape attempt are interesting and fine, but the interactions with the Giver and experience of generations of memories are really where the books shines. I think the theme that Lowry decided to focus on – the value of memories in a place that does not want to experience them – is fascinating.
Another aspect of the book that makes it a very good read for the classroom is its element of mystery. The progression of the book, slowly uncovering new ideas about the way of life in the Community – such as the absence of color, the storage of all memories of pain, hunger, and war, and of course the eventual revelation about what the Community calls “release” – really does keep the reader interested. The ending seems a little bit rushed – the pacing staggers – and the particular form of cliffhanger Lowry uses, I’m not sure I like. I suppose I shouldn’t comment on the series until I read the sequels, but I liked The Giver as a standalone work and would have preferred it to be concluded on its own terms.
Like I mentioned earlier, there is plenty of teachability in this novel. The Community provides an excellent example for a discussion about dystopias. I read outside of the book a recollection of living in a Japanese town that heavily inspired Lowry’s development of the Community. There are many examples of symbolism in the book, from the recurring apple to the lack of color.
For me, though, the element of the Giver that I am the most interested in teaching is the entire memories theme. I think talking about the value that we put on ancestral memories is really fascinating. On the one hand, there’s a major “ignorance is bliss” idea that the Community seems to be based on. The citizens don’t know real pain, they don’t know real hunger, they don’t know what war is like, and they seem perfectly happy because of it. Jonas notes that even though every night, they go around and talk about their feelings, none of them have real, authentic feelings in the first place.
In a discussion like this, I think it’s safe to say that there would be some advocates for the Community, at least up until the realization of what “release” means (and possibly after). After all – the people don’t have any idea of what war is like – to them, war is just a game that kids play. They have none of the generational memory of war, and Jonas thinks this is a bad thing. It’s certainly unfortunate. But Lowry fails to expand on this particular fact: there is no war in the community. There is no real hunger, and there is no real pain. The narration makes Jonas and the Giver’s final plan seem noble, but I worry that the mere thought of something like war is enough to bring it back. There is an incredibly teachable discussion about the struggle in the book between freedom and comfort. For some reason, in a lot of books and occasionally real-world arguments, the two are supposed to be diametrically opposed to one another. There could be some really interesting conversations about that in the classroom.
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