The giver

The Giver

By Lois Lowry.

This book is a Newbery Medal winner, and a challenged book.

The first time I read this story about a possible future where people are not allowed to think for themselves, but have their every need met by someone chosen to perform that job for the whole society; I had a hard time picturing it in my mind. The family of Jonas, the main character, was sort of comprehensible because children in our society often have the major decisions about their lives made by their parents. Jonas’s family was like that except a bit more severe. But the fact that all of the adults in the society also let others make their decisions for them was not as easy to believe.

After having seen movies like Wall-E, the concept is not so far-fetched after all. More of the Messianic overtones of Jonas and the Giver became clear as I re-read the book for this course. Still, I think I am going to have to re-read this one a few more times to understand what Lois Lowry is really saying. I value books that keep me coming back to re-examine them.

Lowry, L. (1993). The Giver. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.