Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Post 6: Nameless
Yesterday, Ms Li asked everyone in class a thought-provoking question: "Why is Jonas's society not named?" The first thought that came to my mind was “Jonas’s society has no name?” A second later, I realised that indeed, the society was nameless. However, I did not have any idea why the author did not want to give the society a name as I had never thought about it before.
I fully agree with the answer that Ms Li told us. The author is actually trying to leave the society as an open space. This society can take place anytime and anywhere, as it is not defined by any geographical location.
After hearing the answer, I thought of similar reasons why the author did not name Jonas’s society. Firstly, people can have space to exercise their imagination and creativity. They can think of different names that could be given to the society and the reason why certain names would fit the society the best.
Secondly, I feel that the author does not want the society to be named because when something or someone has a name, people often base their first impressions of the place or person on the names they are given. The author might not want anyone to have false first impressions of the society. For example, if the author named the society “Perfect”, some readers will assume that the society is flawless. Without a name, readers will be kept in suspense for awhile because they cannot deduce anything about the society just by looking at its name.
Lastly, I think that another reason why the author decides not to name the society is because some readers might feel offended or unhappy when they see a certain name given to the utopian society. Also, the reason why Jonas’s society is not defined by any geographical location is probably because it is hard for the author to imagine and decide where the society should be rightly placed on this Earth. If Jonas’s society had a geographical location, some readers might also feel offended and unhappy with the location of the society.
Since the society is something that is out of this world and impossible to create or exist, it is definitely better to let the society be nameless and have an undefined geographical location. This way, readers have the space to think and imagine.
After thinking about other possible answers, I still feel that Ms Li’s answer to the question is the most accurate and direct, because it does not involve much assumption. Friday, July 23, 2010
Post 5: New beginning
Reflection on how the novel relates to my life
There are many things in the novel that are similar and present in my life. Just like Jonas, I go to school daily, have friends who are of the same age as me, ride a bicycle, complete the required number of volunteer hours (CIP) and spend time with my friends whenever I am free. When I grow up, I will also have a job and start a family. Jonas is just like any other normal boy, but what makes him different and sets him apart from the people in our world is the fact that he grew up in a utopian community, where there are different rules and rituals.
People in our world also experience feelings similar to the Stirrings that Jonas felt. However, Jonas’s community actually eats pills to prevent the Stirrings. They are all not allowed to like or fall in love with the opposite sex at any point in their lives. In our world, it is only natural that feelings similar to the Stirrings are felt. It is not illegal or wrong to express our love to the opposite sex.
Out of all the characters in the book, I feel that Gabriel is the one who is the most similar to the people in our world. Gabriel is just like my baby sister. Like my baby sister, Gabriel is innocent, vulnerable and helpless because he cannot do anything to protect himself even if he were to be released. Gabriel possesses all the characteristics of a normal baby living in our world. He sleeps, cries and needs people to take care of him. Gabriel has not been exposed too much to the way the people in his community lived because Gabriel cannot participate in rituals like the evening telling of feelings and morning telling of dreams. He does not understand what is going on in the community around him, thus, he is not affected by the way the people lead their lives. As Gabriel is still a baby, the community cannot influence the way he looks at the community. Hence, if Gabriel is given a chance to live in our world, he can still grow up to be a normal boy as he has not been brainwashed by the community’s way of life. Then, Gabriel can grow up remembering fond memories, having true feelings and seeing the beauty of colour.
Because Gabriel is still a baby, I feel that he represents a new beginning. He is unlike everyone else in Jonas’s community because the utopian community has not been made known and introduced to him yet. Thus, Gabriel is different from the rest. When Gabriel is taken out of the community, he will not have problems adapting to the world outside, because his mind is not filled up with rules and rituals from the community. This makes Gabriel “new” as he has not been brainwashed yet. Also, Gabriel is the first person (who has not been influenced by the community) to escape from the community. Gabriel marks the “beginning” of perhaps more escapes to follow. Maybe because Jonas and Gabriel first escaped, other people in the community would also come to know the truth about release and slowly break away and out of this community.
Hence, to me, Gabriel represents a “new beginning”. Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Post 4:The absence of love
Response based on a discussion of the novel in class
I agree that Jonas's society is an uniformed society.
Everyone in the community owned a bicycle; every family unit could only have two children, one male and one female. In the community, everyone has to own the same things as someone else. Even families could not decide to have more than 2 children because every family unit could only have 2 children at most.
I agree that Jonas's society is a ritualistic society.
They have ceremonies for the Ones all the way up to the Twelves. Every night, the evening telling of feelings would also be part of their daily rituals as they shared their feelings with one another in the family unit. There were an endless amount of rituals that everyone in the society had to go through and never once did they attempt to break out of all these rituals.
I agree that Jonas's society is a place where relationships are diluted.
Spouses are assigned instead of allowing the people to date and fall in love naturally before deciding to start a family. Birthmothers give birth to children, yet they themselves do not become the child's real mother. This results in no one knowing who actually gave birth to them. Even the Birthmothers do not have a chance to show any affection towards the babies they give birth to, as once they give birth to them, the babies are brought away to be nurtured by Nurturers.
The main reason why relationships are diluted and hard to cultivate is because of the lack of love in the community. Love is hardly present in the community. Even parents do not show love to their children as to them and everyone else, love was meaningless and had become almost obsolete. Also, I feel that it is also hard for the parents to actually love the child given to them since they were not with the child since she or he was born. They probably have not seen or heard of such a child until the day they received it during the first Ceremony. Furthermore, the parents do not know anything about love. Thus, they cannot love and can only show affection towards the child. When the child grows up, he or she will probably forget about the parents that brought him up. Instead, he or she will start another family unit and not interact or see the parents anymore. This way, the child cannot really form a proper relationship with his or her parents.
Even the children in the community cannot forge long-lasting relationships with their peers and make friends that can stay with them throughout their whole life. Once they become a Twelve, they are assigned different jobs and have to begin training daily. From then on, they cannot hang out or spend much time with their childhood friends anymore.
In this community, it can be seen that relationships are not natural most of the time. Instead, they are all planned and organised. Also, relationships are never long-lasting because everyone has to spend most of their day working and can rarely spare time to make or be with their friends. Sunday, July 4, 2010
Post 3: The world in Jonas's eyes
Photo Montage
Everything in Jonas's world has a nondescript shade, meaning every colour was just about the same shade as Jonas's own tunic. If there were crayons in Jonas's world, they would probably look the same. There would not be a variety of crayons to use since there were no colours.
If there were rainbows in Jonas's community, the rainbows would probably look like this. There would not be seven colours in the rainbow anymore, perhaps the rainbow will be only made up of one dull colour. The rainbow might not even be a rainbow, because everyone would only be able to see a curved streak of dull colour in the sky, not seven beautiful colours. Jonas's community will not know about rainbows at all, because they have not seen colours. They will not be able to identify rainbows unless they understand the concept of colours.
This comic shows Jonas and Asher throwing an apple forward and back during the recreation period. They had begun a simple game of catch and there was been nothing unusual about it because it was what they would usually play. As Jonas and Asher threw the apple back and forth, Jonas saw that the apple had changed in a way that he could not describe or understand. This made him feel surprised.
This picture shows Jonas holding the apple which had changed from a nondescript shade to red. Jonas had been completely mystified because he could not figure out what had happened to the apple as he had not seen the colour red before. Behind Jonas, The Giver is also holding an apple. This implies that The Giver had already known that Jonas had the Capacity to See Beyond. Jonas was constantly being observed by the Committee.
This is a picture of The Giver, whose job had aged him. The Giver's job is to transmit all of the memories within him to Jonas, who is the Receiver of Memory. Throughout the book, The Giver transmits memories of snow, sleds, hills, sunshine, sunburn, colours, rainbows, pain, war and family to Jonas. The Giver has a daughter called Rosemary who was once the Receiver of Memory before she applied for release.
This picture shows the memory of a wonderful sail that The Giver had given to him. In the memory, it was a bright, breezy day on a clear turquoise lake and above him the white sail of the boat was billowing as he moved along in the brisk wind. Jonas was not aware that he had given most of this memory to Gabriel as he lulled and patted Gabriel to sleep.
This is a picture that looks similar to The Giver's favourite memory. Although in the book it does not say what festival or occasion the people in The Giver's memory were celebrating, I know that they were celebrating Christmas. In the memory, the room was warm, with a firelight glowing on a hearth. There were coloured lights twinkling from a tree inside the room. Lighted candles cast a soft, flickering glow. This part of the memory given to Jonas is similar to the picture below.
This is a comic strip that shows what happened when Jonas saw that his friends, Fiona, Asher and several other children, were playing a game of war. When Asher pretended to fire at Jonas, Jonas did not respond. Instead, he struggled not to cry when he recalled the memory of war that he had received. Jonas saw the face of the boy who had lain dying on the field and had begged him for water. Unlike Jonas, Fiona and Asher did not know anything about war at all because they did not have any memory of it. Hence, they were puzzled and did not understand why Jonas pleaded with them to stop playing it. This made Jonas realise that he and his friends were different and such times of fun had been taken from him. 
Friday, June 11, 2010
Post 2: Released Elsewhere
Poem
Death was near me,
But I could not see it.
It was hidden behind a kind mask.
The man behind the mask had no feelings.
How could this man have the heart to
Release an innocent baby who lay helpless?
Perhaps the reason why was because the man
Behind the mask had no feelings.
He felt no pain nor did he feel joy.
He felt no sadness nor did he feel happiness.
And the innocent child had no choice; no one did.
No one felt pain nor did anyone feel joy.
No one felt sadness nor did anyone feel happiness.
No one had choices in the community; it was a cycle.
Just maybe the baby was better off
Being released from this cycle
Rather than having to grow up
Like the man behind the mask
And feel no pain or joy--no sadness or happiness.
Sadly, the man behind the mask was my father.
This poem describes Jonas's feelings towards the release of a baby which was done by his father. The realization of what a release was is a key event which evokes feelings of anger and sadness inside of Jonas. This is what sparks off the idea and thought of escaping and running away from the community. Jonas finally starts to understand what really happens when a baby is released in order to allow the community to remain perfect and flawless. As he watches the video, he realizes that his father had killed the baby. The worst thing is that his father was unable to feel any emotion of sadness as he pushed the plunger to inject the liquid into the baby’s scalp vein. Unlike Jonas, his father could not feel any kind of emotion even when he did a cruel and painful thing to the newborn baby.
The fact that his own father had no emotions at all made Jonas angry because it meant everyone in the community was also unfeeling and cruel despite looking perfect on the surface. Jonas simply could not bare living in such a community where innocent newborn babies were cruelly killed without anybody doing anything to stop or protest to this cruel act. Thus, Jonas chose to run away and because he understood what being released really meant, he chose to take Gabriel along with him so Gabriel would not have to undergo such a cruel procedure. Monday, May 31, 2010
Post 1: A community not of our world
Initial Response to The Giver
After reading The Giver, I feel that Jonas is bold and I admire him because of his boldness. He did not know what the world was like outside his community, yet he was brave and still ran away with the Giver’s help. Jonas is also sympathetic, after secretly seeing his father kill the baby; he was concerned for Gabriel and genuinely did not want Gabriel to be killed. So instead of escaping by himself, he brought Gabriel along.
I feel that everyone in the community is well-protected and safe. They are not exposed to memories, feelings and the world beyond their community. However, I also feel that living in a community like this is not beneficial to the citizens. As they do not have memories and feelings, they cannot experience wonderful things like snow or the sea. The citizens cannot feel for each other and they are unable to question the committee’s decisions and rules set. The community is so organised and carefully planned out that the citizens do not have much freedom and choice. In times of danger and trouble, the citizens most probably cannot think and react well to the situation because they are always protected and do not often feel pain. This in turn will harm the citizens because they all do not have sufficient knowledge and memories that will come in handy during times of trouble and danger.
After reading The Giver, I began to appreciate the world I live in more. In Jonas's world, colours, memories and real feelings are not part of their daily lives. They live in a black and white world which is rather plain and uninteresting. I feel glad to be able to wake up to a world filled with colours. Also, people living in the community do not have memories. This is really sad, because memories are priceless things and can only belong to people when they experience it themselves. Unlike the world we live in, the people living in the community can never remember things like snow, sea, war, hunger and extreme pain. Lastly, I appreciate the world I live in because I can feel different feelings in my everyday life. In Jonas's world, feelings are mostly untrue and shallow. Anger and happiness are never felt fully. This makes the people in the community emotionally numb towards many things, just like how Jonas's father never felt any grief when he released the baby twin.
If there were rainbows in Jonas's community, the rainbows would probably look like this. There would not be seven colours in the rainbow anymore, perhaps the rainbow will be only made up of one dull colour. The rainbow might not even be a rainbow, because everyone would only be able to see a curved streak of dull colour in the sky, not seven beautiful colours. Jonas's community will not know about rainbows at all, because they have not seen colours. They will not be able to identify rainbows unless they understand the concept of colours.
This comic shows Jonas and Asher throwing an apple forward and back during the recreation period. They had begun a simple game of catch and there was been nothing unusual about it because it was what they would usually play. As Jonas and Asher threw the apple back and forth, Jonas saw that the apple had changed in a way that he could not describe or understand. This made him feel surprised.
This picture shows Jonas holding the apple which had changed from a nondescript shade to red. Jonas had been completely mystified because he could not figure out what had happened to the apple as he had not seen the colour red before. Behind Jonas, The Giver is also holding an apple. This implies that The Giver had already known that Jonas had the Capacity to See Beyond. Jonas was constantly being observed by the Committee.
This is a picture of The Giver, whose job had aged him. The Giver's job is to transmit all of the memories within him to Jonas, who is the Receiver of Memory. Throughout the book, The Giver transmits memories of snow, sleds, hills, sunshine, sunburn, colours, rainbows, pain, war and family to Jonas. The Giver has a daughter called Rosemary who was once the Receiver of Memory before she applied for release.
This is a picture that looks similar to The Giver's favourite memory. Although in the book it does not say what festival or occasion the people in The Giver's memory were celebrating, I know that they were celebrating Christmas. In the memory, the room was warm, with a firelight glowing on a hearth. There were coloured lights twinkling from a tree inside the room. Lighted candles cast a soft, flickering glow. This part of the memory given to Jonas is similar to the picture below.
This is a comic strip that shows what happened when Jonas saw that his friends, Fiona, Asher and several other children, were playing a game of war. When Asher pretended to fire at Jonas, Jonas did not respond. Instead, he struggled not to cry when he recalled the memory of war that he had received. Jonas saw the face of the boy who had lain dying on the field and had begged him for water. Unlike Jonas, Fiona and Asher did not know anything about war at all because they did not have any memory of it. Hence, they were puzzled and did not understand why Jonas pleaded with them to stop playing it. This made Jonas realise that he and his friends were different and such times of fun had been taken from him. 