Sanchez 1

Jennifer Sanchez
English 113B
Professor Spitler-Lawson
11 May 2016
Final Project Text Essay
Word Count:1334
Power of Language
In todays society language, its an important communication throughout our daily lives.
Language is important because it helps us express our feelings and thoughts to each other. In the
book The Giver, the precise language its critical for the community. Every student is taught at
the age of three to say the correct words and not tell lies of what they are saying. As the whole
community is careful with their speaking, Jonas learns new words along the way that changes his
way of feeling towards the community. In The Giver, both words and how they are used are
strictly controlled. This leads to a type of control over the thoughts and means of expression of
the people in the community.
In The Giver, every member of the community is controlled in how they speak. In the
opening of the book Jonas tries to look for the right word to explain his feeling about the
ceremony, Im feeling apprehensive, he confessed, glad the appropriate descriptive word had
finally come to him (Lowry8). As a young boy he has learned to use the words that describe the
feeling, he learned the word frightened did not describe the real feeling he had because He had
been trained since earliest childhood, since his earliest learning of language, never to lie. As he
once said Im starving, they had taught him that it was lying to say that because he was not
starving that he was just hungry(Lowry70). In the real world, many people use this word

Sanchez 2
starving as an exaggeration, to let people know how hungry they are. In this book, precise
language is so important in their community, because it keeps them from saying lies. They are
controlled in their own language; they are not able to express themselves. According to Claude
Miller, When a perceived freedom is threatened or eliminated, the magnitude of reactance is
posited to be a direct result of how aware individuals are that they have the freedom to engage in
that particular behavior. If the community was to be aware of the controlling they have in their
own society, then they would break the sameness and then they would want the freedom to do
anything they want. Since the community is controlled by their language and life and they are
forced to stay out of lies or expressing feelings. If the whole community were to express these
exaggerated feelings, then they would be involved in this kind of behavior which is lying. Since
they are taught the importance of precise of language, they acknowledge that they must speak the
correct words.
Moreover, learning how to read, speak, and write is crucial for young children in the
community and to the real world. Many parents or teachers do not have the patient to deal with
kids when they are struggling with something at school. Like Asher who was learning new
words, he would get confused with the word smack and snack. Whenever he says smack, they
smack him with the wand to teach him that he is not using the correct word, The discipline
wand, in the hand of the Childcare worker, whistled as it came down across Ashers
hand(Lowry55) . Many places around the world, the action of hitting students occurs a lot. For
an example, in the Asian culture, many teachers mistreat students sexually or abusively.
According to Ji-Kang Chen, The term student victimization by teachers refers to student
reports of any teacher behavior intended to harm or maltreat students while in school. The types
of victimization are identified: physical, emotional, and sexual. Students were punched and

Sanchez 3
slapped in class if they did something wrong in class. Teachers hit students to discipline them to
not redo the same mistakes they were doing in class. This connects to The Giver and the real
world that many teachers hit students for them to learn that it is wrong what students are doing
and should not repeat it.
Additionally in The Giver, euphemism takes a big role in the novel. Elderly people,
twins, and people who have done failures are released, For a contributing citizen to be released
from the community was a final decision, a terrible punishment, an overwhelming statement of
failure(Lowry2). Release is later discovered that the meaning of it is killing. The word release is
a euphemism word because the word killing is a harsh word to say, so they rather use the word
release. Release sounds as a better word, as many do not know the meaning of it in the
community they think they just go to Elsewhere. As Leonard LaPointe quotes in Euphemism,
using circumlocutions and inferential reference, matters that are too upsetting or shaming to be
spoken of directly. Often euphemistic tip-toeing allows a negative concept to be colored with
positive overtones. This connects to when people refer to say lost rather than death, many
people are afraid to say death to a loved one. They would rather say it in a nice or funny way
because saying death makes it more depressive for a person. Also, the word collateral
damage is a euphemism word because people would rather say in a good way than saying war.
They want to make it seem by saying collateral damage is an unintentional injury to people, it
makes seem more of a positive word. There are many other euphemisms words that people
would say instead of sounding harsh in their speaking.
Furthermore, the community are not allowed to express their feelings towards each other
because it is against their sameness. They do not know the meaning of love. Jonas discovers the
feeling of love and realizes that no one understands the meaning of it. As Jonas mother quotes,

Sanchez 4
your father means that you used a very generalized word, so meaningless that its become
almost obsolete(Lowry127). Since his parents did not know the meaning of love, they do not
use that word towards each other. As adults are paired to be married and are given kids that are
not theirs, they do not love their family. When Jonas father suggested, Do you take pride in my
accomplishments?, and the answer is wholeheartedly, yes(Lowry127). This would be more of a
proud feeling than feeling love towards his child. Considering that Jonas already knows that
feeling of it, he believes that it is not a meaningless word to him. He already gained the feeling
of love since The Giver had transferred that enjoyment. Love is what he had been gaining
towards Fiona, he knew love was an important feel. According to Margaret, she explains the
meaning of love towards friendship, family, and a partner, the examination of the relationality
between a self and an other, that love would merely be the accepted term for describing a
certain quality of that relationality. Love would be the correct term to use towards someone who
you admire or care for. Since the community could not have feelings for each other, love was not
in their vocabulary. Love is an important word to let someone know your feelings towards
someone or something.
In the novel The Giver, precise of language its taken into consideration when they speak
to each other. They are controlled by their own emotions and the way they can express
themselves. They cant use figurative language in their conversations because then it will break
the rule of sameness. In the U.S, this is against our own rights, as the first amendment clearly
says that we have the freedom of speech. We have the right to say whatever we can, because it is
a way to specify ourselves. Would you like to live in this kind of society, where you are
controlled and not able to express yourself because it will be considered as a lie? This was the

Sanchez 5
type of society Jonas was living through, as he gained more knowledge he knew this was wrong.
Being controlled, having your future already planned should not be a way to live life.

Sanchez 6
Annotated Bibliography
Chen, Ji-Kang and Hsi-Sheng Wei. Student Victimization by Teachers in Taiwan: Prevalance
and Associations. Child Abuse & Neglect. volume 35. Issue 5. (2011) pages 382-390.
This article explains the maltreatment students in high school at Taiwan would get by
their teachers. Students who would get bad scores or do bad in class teachers would hit,
beat or slap students to discipline them. I found this article on the Csun Oviatt Library, I
found it under teacher and hitting kids under other options of articles. This is an
appropriate source because it is peer reviewed and a journal article. I picked this article
because it shows that other countries around the world also hit students to discipline them
by learning quick and not doing the same mistakes at school.
LaPointe, Leonard L. Euphemisms. Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology.
volume19. issue 2.(2011) page 1. This article explains the usage of euphemisms, how
there is other words that sound less harsh. The author gives examples on some words that
people would rather use than making it more difficult for people to hear. For an example
instead of saying dead you can use lost. I found this article on the Csun Oviatt
Library, under the research of controlled euphemisms. This is an appropriate article
because it is a peer reviewed journal article. This article will support my main point
in the novel of The Giver because they use many euphemisms words.
Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Laurel Leaf. 1993. Print
Miller, Claude H., et al. Psychological Reactance and Promotional Health Messages: The
Effetcts of Controlling Language, Lexical Concreteness, And The Restoration Of
Freedom. Human Communication Research. volume 33. issue 2. (2007) pages 219-240.
This article talks about how advertising and commercials their language is so controlled

Sanchez 7
since they are talking to the public. They do not have their freedom to talk as a regular
person but to make their vocabulary complex. I found this article on the Csun Oviatt
Library, under controlling language. This article is helpful because in the real world
some people are controlled in their language and this connects how in The Giver they are
controlled as well.
Toye, Margaret E. Towards a Poethic of Love. Feminist Theory. volume 11. issue 1. (2010)
pages 39-55. This article talks about the importance of the word love. You can have
this type of feelings towards someone you care, trust, or admire. I found this on Csun
Oviatt Library under, what is love. This article is an appropriate source because it is a
peer reviewed journal article. This would be helpful in my essay because it mentions how
love is an important word to tell someone like your family, friends, or partner.