The Giver Dystopian Society Essay

Ever since Lois Lowry’s award winning children’s book, The Giver, there have been several different claims over it being a dystopian or utopian novel. In order to make a conclusion, the definition of the words “dystopian” and “utopian” need to be comprehended. A civilization without war, famine, illness, or hatred or any other society flaws, is considered a utopia. The members of this social order are nice and are in a state of perpetual bliss. They live wonderfully pleasant carefree lives. They are ruled by a just and fair government who care about their every need. They are usually futuristic cities that have far more advanced technology than us. An excellent example for a utopian society is the lost city of Atlantis. Dystopian society’s, however, are horrible, gut ik,wrenching wastelands ruled by a corrupt and selfish government. A dystopian society seizes basic human rights and is extremely unfair. The members of this society are living a horrible nightmare. The streets are full of crime and people commit crimes daily.
The bloodbath in this society never ends. One example of a dystopian society is Panem from "The Hunger Games". It starts out as a poor but not terrible society, but the author quickly reveals it as the perfect example of a dystopian society. It is hinted that the children in The Giver are not born by their “mothers”, but by
Birthmothers, (a job that is looked down upon), who produce three children or a period of three years but then are sent off to work as laborers. It is also apparent that the community members are genetically modified to resemble each other. But there are exceptions; the protagonist Jonas, the baby Gabriel,a 6 year old girl, and The Giver. All of whom possess pale eyes. People who have committed three major transgressions are forced to undergo a mysterious “Ceremony of Release”. Although the use of release is not always a penalty, it is sometimes used to end the “happy” of the elderly, or it is used as a mercy killing for newborn babies that have failed to live up to their expectation. They also whip young children for making minor grammatical mistakes. One strange occurrence in the story is the fact that the author never uses the terms boy, girl, man or woman to describe a male or female. This strongly suggests that the characters in The Giver are not normal humans. (As I suggested before they are

probably genetically modified). Throughout the course of the story, there have been several references to “Elsewhere.” A strange thing