The Giver will celebrate it's 20th birthday this year, and even gets a film to bout! So congratulations to the Giver, the book that keeps on giving.
I'm slightly more than skeptical about the film, but I'll still see it in theaters, albeit the cheap theater in my town.
You can watch the trailer here. This trailer is the second one, because the first trailer made the movie look like an epic fail.
The Giver is a relatively old book, but has certainly withstood the test of times.
According to Marshall University Library Web page, The Giver has been challenged several times with the most recent accusations being, "adolescent pill-popping, suicide and lethal injections given to babies and the elderly."
According to Marshall University Library Web page, The Giver has been challenged several times with the most recent accusations being, "adolescent pill-popping, suicide and lethal injections given to babies and the elderly."
The underlying current I sense in the parents' reasoning is they don't trust their children.
Of course taking drugs blindly is bad, and everyone's opinion on euthanasia is different, but obviously Lowry isn't glorifying those things; that's why she wrote the book.
Alright, the evidence, submitted for the clearing of all banning and/or challenging, is given below.
Exhibit A: Taking pills that alter your thinking is bad.
"The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away," (129).
Exhibit B: Suicide is also bad.
Suicide is indeed shown in the book, when the Rosemary, the Receiver before Jonas, asks to be released.
But what the reader experiences along with the Giver and Jonas is immense sadness and grief, not joy and happiness.
The Giver, who recalls when Rosemary, his daughter was released said, "I was so devastated by my own grief at her loss and my own feeling of failure, that I didn't even try to help them (the citizens) through it. I was angry too," (144)
According to Merriam Webster's Dictionary, devastate is by definition: "To destroy much or most of (something): to cause great damage or harm to (something).
By reading about The Giver's intense sadness and overwhelming emotions, but also the story of Rosemary and understanding how terrified and desolate she was after feeling sadness, the reader can understand much about suicide.
Not only about those who commit suicide, but also those who are left behind.
Indeed, no one could say Lowry was advocating it.
Exhibit C: Giving lethal injections to the elderly and babies is unacceptable.
Finally, when Jonas learns what happens when citizens are "released," he is horrified, and that is expressed through his feelings, actions and behaviors after learning it.
Of course taking drugs blindly is bad, and everyone's opinion on euthanasia is different, but obviously Lowry isn't glorifying those things; that's why she wrote the book.
Alright, the evidence, submitted for the clearing of all banning and/or challenging, is given below.
Exhibit A: Taking pills that alter your thinking is bad.
"The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away," (129).
Exhibit B: Suicide is also bad.
Suicide is indeed shown in the book, when the Rosemary, the Receiver before Jonas, asks to be released.
But what the reader experiences along with the Giver and Jonas is immense sadness and grief, not joy and happiness.
The Giver, who recalls when Rosemary, his daughter was released said, "I was so devastated by my own grief at her loss and my own feeling of failure, that I didn't even try to help them (the citizens) through it. I was angry too," (144)
According to Merriam Webster's Dictionary, devastate is by definition: "To destroy much or most of (something): to cause great damage or harm to (something).
By reading about The Giver's intense sadness and overwhelming emotions, but also the story of Rosemary and understanding how terrified and desolate she was after feeling sadness, the reader can understand much about suicide.
Not only about those who commit suicide, but also those who are left behind.
Indeed, no one could say Lowry was advocating it.
Exhibit C: Giving lethal injections to the elderly and babies is unacceptable.
Finally, when Jonas learns what happens when citizens are "released," he is horrified, and that is expressed through his feelings, actions and behaviors after learning it.
"Jonas felt a ripping sensation inside himself, the feeling of terrible pain clawing its way forward to emerge in a cry," (151).
"Jonas wrapped his arms around himself and rocked his own body back and forth. "What should I do? I can't go back! I can't!" (153).
Clearly Jonas is devastated by the news and knows killing people to keep "order and control" is unacceptable.
Although readers are exposed to these themes such as suicide, taking pills and killing people, if the reader pays attention, Lowry carefully guides the him or her and shows her audience that these things are not OK.
It seems to me that the parents who wish to ban The Giver, don't trust their children to see that.
Parents don't trust their children to understand consequences of actions.
They don't trust them to see a moral.
They don't trust them to know what's right or wrong.
They don't trust them to think for themselves, quite ironic if you ask me, especially regarding the subject matter in The Giver.
The Giver tells us that yes, bad things happen in the world, but it helps us enjoy the good things.
If we lived in a world where we are given everything and told what to do with our lives and our time; where there is no color or feelings, is that really a life worth living?
If we lived in a world where we are given everything and told what to do with our lives and our time; where there is no color or feelings, is that really a life worth living?
Questions like that are important to address because it gives and teaches us (and children) a sense of gratitude and understanding.
Also, pill popping by definition is someone who regularly takes large amounts of pills.
If the daily pill taken by all citizens is considered pill popping, then so is everyone taking "The Pill" as birth control. Arrest everyone!
If the daily pill taken by all citizens is considered pill popping, then so is everyone taking "The Pill" as birth control. Arrest everyone!
