In The Giver, a novel by Lois Lowry, 12-year old Jonas lives in an alternate community where there is no pain, no grief, and no war. When he takes on the role of Receiver of Memories, Jonas begins to learn about the way life used to be, when love, pain, hunger, and happiness existed. After deciding that the community is meaningless, Jonas sacrifices himself so the community will be able to experience the fulfillment of a life full of full of snow, color, and love. The story proves to us that even though we may wish for a world of perfection, when we eliminate the bad, we also take away some of the good, making the perfect life we strive for impossible to achieve.
When Jonas learns of snow through a sled ride he takes in a memory, he does not understand why such a wonderful experience would be kept from the community. The Giver tells him that “snow made growing food difficult…and unpredictable weather made travel almost impossible at times. (p. 67)”. Snow had made everyday tasks too difficult to complete, yet when climate control stopped snowfall, the community never knew of the magical snowflakes, because, in order to get closer to a life of perfection, something exciting and special had been taken away.
Jonas’ community is all the same “flat and hue less shade. (p. 97)” with no color anywhere. It is no wonder that Jonas wants the colors for everyone to see. Could you imagine the bright blue sky a colorless grey? Or a sunflower without its cheery yellow petals? Although color may seem like a harmless pleasure, people have been fighting wars over color for ages – and in many places the battles are still going on. When the community got rid of color, they also disposed of problems, such as prejudice of skin color. A world is far from perfect when people fight because of different colored skin, but it is just as flawed without the magnificence of color, causing world-wide perfection to be impossible.
Love. An emotion that is absolutely foreign to Jonas, yet when he experiences it, he decides it is the best feeling in the world, for it had made him feel “a little more complete. (p. 126)”. Although it is wonderful to love someone, along with life comes death – and along with death comes grief. If people were unable to love – to become emotionally attached to other things, then loss would not be so devastating. By eliminating love, the community made grief and sadness disappear. That way, no one was ever hurt, but they also sacrificed the ability to have deep feelings. What would our world be without love? Certainly not perfect. Not having to withstand something unpleasant is not worth getting rid of something truly beautiful and worthwhile.
Jonas learns that his community, although it may seem perfect at first glance, is lacking many things that make life special. When pain, war, and grief are taken away, along with them disappear snow, color, and love. For without one, you cannot have the other. When negative things are eliminated, something wonderful is sacrificed along with it, causing a perfect life to be impossible to achieve.
