Monday, May 12, 2014

What different kinds of conflict appear in The Giver?

There are multiple conflicts in the book The Giver by Lois Lowry in both of the categories you mentioned. For person versus society Jonas ultimately rebels against his society's restriction of choice. While he recognizes that without choice people are safer as they are unable to make wrong choices, he grows to feel that this restriction also restricts people from experiencing positive choices and the pleasure that comes with those choices. Examples of choices that are restricted in his society are the choice of occupation, the choice to marry a person based on love, and the choice to raise a family in the way that you want. Additionally, in order to control the citizens, Jonas' community controls the emotions of the people. Jonas takes a stand against this by refusing to take the daily pill for Stirrings, and he allows himself to have real emotions.


For person versus technology, you can look at the surveillance that happens at all times in the community. Someone is always watching, and whenever a citizen does anything, it is recorded and known by the elders. Jonas feels trapped by this, and ultimately he decides to set out for Elsewhere to escape the watchful eye of the elders. Another example of this conflict occurs when Jonas learns about climate control in the community, a component of Sameness. While the elders have developed a way to keep the weather and temperature moderate to avoid crop failure or drought, Jonas recognizes that they have also robbed the citizens of the experience of snow or sunshine. This "advancement" in weather control, while positive in some regards, becomes another technological advance that Jonas resents.

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