Literature Circles #5:The Giver by Lois Lowry

Throughout chapters 16-18, the book 'The Giver by Lois Lowry expresses many themes of freedom and choice.


When Jonas transmits memories to Gabriel to calm him down, he made the choice to share some of his memories with Gabriel.By making this choice, he could lose the memory to Gabriel, who will not able able to return it. He did not have to or get told to do so, he just did. Jonas had the freedom to do whatever he liked with the memories that were shared with him. (eg. sharing them with Gabriel).


Also when Jonas decides to discontinuing taking the anti-stirring pills, themes of freedom and choice were expressed. By making the decision he has put himself at risk, what if something bad happens, what if there was another reason as to why people in the community took the pills. Jonas had his freedom to make his own choices, he did not alert his parents about this.


In chapters 16-18, more themes of freedom and choice were shown. When Jonas plays 'Good Guys, Bad Guys' with Asher, Fiona and the others, he decides to stop playing. He decided on his own will that he would not play anymore. He had the freedom to make his own choice and opinion about this game.


Overall, I believe that throughout chapters 16-18 many themes of freedom and choices were shown.

The Giver-Would you want your future to be decided by others ?

The Giver by Lois Lowry is a book about Jonas, a boy who lives in a community where everyone's future is decided for them at the age of twelve. Each and everyone is placed in a job by the higher officials of the community. If you do not like the job you are given, you can apply for a change. Even when applied for, it is very rare for a change in jobs to occur. In class we have been asked to answer and reflect on the following question:


Would you want your future to be decided by others?


I would not want my future to be decided for me. I would like to be able to have some sort of say in my future. I don't want someone to have full control of my future. If someone did not like their job/position they would apply for a change, which were very rarely honored. It is a VERY important decision which would effect the rest of your life. I don't believe someone can make this big of a decision for you. Even if they knew you really well, they still may not chose the correct thing for you. This big of a decision needs to be made personally.

Although the community appears to be 'Perfect' there are a lot of faults. The choosing of the community's future being one of these faults. I do NOT believe that a single person or a group of people, just by observation and limited communication, can decide one's future. They would not know your own, personal feelings about everything. There might be an mistake in the person's feelings, and may not like what was chosen for them at all. Even Jonas says in the book felt like they had chosen the wrong person for the job and didn't like it.

Even though in Jonas's community usually everyone seems to like the jobs they are given, I still believe it would be better if everyone were in control of their own future.

So to answer the question, NO! I would definitely not want someone to be in control of my future.