Mason Cucci

How Does The Giver's Rules Affect the Community and

Individual?

The book The Giver is set in a Utopian society. The community in the story is unaware of love, color, and

personal freedoms; however, the main character, Jonas, has a special gift where he is able to gain these

traits. This allows the reader to understand that giving up love, color, and other personal freedoms has a

positive effect on both the community and the individual.

First, a community that has no knowledge of love, color, or personal freedoms will never know what pain or

sadness is, which ultimately leaves the community positively affected. The community doesn’t get to choose

a job because, “It was a secret selection, made by the leaders of the community, the Committee of Elders, who

took the responsibility so seriously that there were never even any jokes made about assignments” (Lowry

15). Because of this, everyone in the community is given a job that they are well suited for, which creates an

environment where nobody is jealous of another's placement. Not allowing jealousy is crucial because it

eliminates the idea that one person is better than another. There is a time when Jonas asks his parents if they

love him, and their response was a reprimand of his language. By removing love from the community, there is

favoring one person over another and no fighting in relationships. Similarly, the non-existence of color

eliminates big problems like racism and little problems like the worry of being judged because of the color of

clothing. In conclusion, the loss of personal freedoms, color, and love in a community helps to equalize

citizens and use them to create an idealistic environment.

Secondly, an individual who has no knowledge of love, color, or personal freedoms positively affects the

individual. For instance, “In his mind, Jonas saw again the face of the boy who had lain dying on a field and

had begged him for water” (Lowry 134). Because Jonas has traits other individuals in the community don’t, he

feels the sad emotion"s others never should have to suffer. In a community without pain or suffering, death is

viewed as peaceful. And Jonas society, death, is known as “release”. The community “releases” the elderly

and newborns that are labeled in “inadequate”. Twins are not allowed because they would be confusing for

the community. When they're born, the smaller one is “released”. The community is better off not
understanding the finality of death, therefore they celebrate releasing a life.

Thirdly, an individual that does not know what color positively affects them. The Giver states” the choice of

color was taken away to prevent people from making the wrong choice. Jonas and the community members

are not able to see color. The community believes eliminating color will maintain “sameness. The community

maintains conformity because colors could cause conflict. Red is a symbolic color, it represents difference

and emotion. Many would argue that not having emotions limits negative feelings like jealousy, anger and

tendencies toward crime. All the things that are red, or tun red, are connected to Jonas emotions. Without

emotions, the community can maintain peacefulness and the individual does not have to feel any negative

emotions which would cause them to feel upset.

There are many reasons to remove color, knowledge of love and personal freedoms from a society. It has

eliminated fear, pain, hunger, illness, conflict and hatred, everything we would like to eliminate in our own

society. The individual never has to feel stress about finding a job, having enough to eat, finding true love. No

one cares what they wear, or what anyone thinks about them. The community has figured out a way to find

the perfect mate, perfect job, and everyone has just what they need. The Giver is a perfect example of an

Utopian society.

Mason Cucci How Does The Giver's Rules Affect the Community and Individual?