The Giver: Difference between revisions

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A Newbery Medal-winning young adult novel by Lois Lowry. Known for its expertly merciless [[Deconstruction]] of the [[Utopia]], and'''''The Giver''''' incidentally provides an introduction to the [[Dystopia]] genre for grade-school readers for whom some of the bits of ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' and ''[[Brave New World (novel)|Brave New World]]'' would be a bit too saucy.
 
In 2014, a [[The Giver (film)|film adaptation]] was released, starring [[Jeff Bridges]], [[Meryl Streep]] and Brenton Thwaites.
 
{{tropelist|In addition to its exploration of the [[Utopia]], this novel provides examples of:}}
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* [[Grammar Nazi]]: Proper and precise word use are important in The Community. Jonas was punished for hyperbole when he claimed he was starving. He was also asked to use less vague language when he asked his parents if they loved him. Young children are not given an exemption: one toddler is beaten for saying "smack" instead of "snack", and for a time refuses to speak at all.
** To clarify, he asked for a "smack," and received it.
* [[Instrumentality]]{{context}}<!-- MOD: Toward what? (E.g. that question is an instrumentality toward getting a description of this example placed on the page.) -->
* [[Instrumentality]]
* [[Happiness Is Mandatory]]: Well, actual happiness might disrupt things with excess energy, more "Quiet Contentment Is Mandatory."
* [[Heroes Want Redheads]]: Our protagonist Jonas has his Stirrings on Fiona, who has red hair.
* [[How Do You Like Them Apples?]]{{context}}
* [[Karma Houdini]]: Jamenson in ''Gathering Blue'' manipulates the protagonist and had {{spoiler|attempted to murder her father.}} His punishment? Nothing, he gets off scot-free.
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Ophelia in ''[[Hamlet]]'' reminds us that "There's [R]osemary, that's for remembrance" - is it any wonder the community banned her name after what she did to them?
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* [[Population Control]]: Every family is allowed two children. If a child dies, the parents either can apply or are simply given another baby of the same gender and given the same name, as a replacement.
* [[Released to Elsewhere]]: [[Trope Namer]].
** Somewhat played with, as while the trope itself is "mandatory euphemism for death," the premise of the book twists this a bit. Since the Givers contain more-or-less all the community's knowledge, we have no reason to believe that ''anybody'' knows that "release" is death, which in turn means they refer to it as "released to elsewhere" not as part of some Big Brotheresque Newspeak, but [[Fridge Horror|because they don't KNOW''know'' any better.]]
* [[Renowned Selective Mentor]]: The community only has one titular Giver at a time. Each Giver must choose a child as his successor during his lifetime. The main character Jonas becomes the Giver's student, and he is considered to have a special rank in the community.
* [[Science Fantasy]] / [[Mohs Scale of Sci Fi Hardness]]: Everything that happens in the book is mostly within the realm of reality, except for the psychic way memories are passed from The Giver to The Receiver. No science is involved, just physical contact and concentration, implying use of some form of magic or supernatural ability. But in the sequels, especially ''Messenger'', certain people possess "gifts" that are essentially magical powers that perform a set task. There is even a [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe|forest that changes itself to reflect the attitudes of the members of a community]].
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* [[Sinister Surveillance]]: ''No one can turn the speakers off''...
** Except the Giver
* [[Someone Has to Do It]]{{context}}
* [[Spiritual Successor]]: Gathering Blue was consider this to The Giver for several years. It wasn't until The Messenger that the two stories were connected.
* [[Town with a Dark Secret]]
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* [[The World Is Not Ready]]: For the memories.
* [[World of No Grandparents]]: Literally.
* [[Writers Cannot Do Math]]: Poorly -thought -out population control.
** Each family unit is allowed a maximum of 2 children, the same number of children are born each year and they are all assigned to a family unit. Not all adults have children, and not all family units have the maximum of 2 children.
** Birthmothers, the only job that allows giving birth, are only allowed to have 3 children each before they become laborers. This would require that at least 2/3 of all women become birth mothers to maintain a stable population, but this doesn't happen at the beginning of the book as the administration is handing out jobs to graduates.
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{{reflist}}
{{Top 100 Banned Books 1990s}}
{{Top 100 Banned Books 2000s}}
{{Top 100 Banned Books 2010s}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Young Adult Literature]]
[[Category:TheSchool GiverStudy Media]]
[[Category:LiteratureThe Great American Read]]
[[Category:Literature of the 1990s]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giver, The}}