The memories of
everyone from generations of people: these are what the Giver transfers to
Jonas. Once the Giver passes on a memory, he no longer has it. The Giver places
a hand on Jonas, and Jonas lives out the memory in his mind. How can centuries
worth of memories even be transferred? It really gives me the impression that
part of your life, your mind, continues to live on even after you’ve passed. Even
more peculiar is that when someone who has received memories passes, all of the
memories are given to everyone in society. Perhaps the memories were taken from
everyone in the first place. Moreover, a lot of this is somewhat similar to the
pensieve, from the Harry Potter series.
The
memories are what set Jonas and the Giver apart from everyone else in society.
Seeing the past helps them realize that the way life is now is wrong. However,
they do serve a purpose in society.
“And when I am called by
the Committee of Elders, I appear before them, to give them counsel and advice” (103).
The Receiver advises the leaders of
the society on things they have no clue how to handle. The wisdom from the
memories helps them understand what to do in circumstances where the Committee of Elders has nothing to
refer to.
This reminds me very much of modern
philosophy. When John Lachs came to speak to the class, we discussed how the
philosophy department could be rearranged. We said that a philosopher should be
in each department. This reminds me of the Receiver. He is the only one in society
who the Committee of Elders goes to for advice. It’s as though the Receiver
uses the memories as a kind of philosophy to help him determine what to do.
When the semester first started, I
wasn’t quite sure what I thought philosophy was. It seemed more of a way to
take the tiniest details about something and stretch it out into some big idea.
It seemed an unnecessary way of complicating an issue. Now that I’ve taken the
course, I have changed my mind. I feel like philosophy is more of a way to look
at a problem. It’s a way of thinking critically about a topic.
The Receiver does this. It improves
the life of the people in his town. Because the book is set in a dystopia and
everything is distorted by this, I find it interesting that there is a receiver
in the first place. He uses what everyone else doesn’t have, memories and real
emotions, to find an answer. Not everything is black and white or logical: this
scientific way of thinking doesn’t always work. Sometimes, philosophizing by
combining both reason and emotions together creates the best solution and way
of life.
Total Word
Count: 2085
Works Cited:
Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Laurel-Leaf, 1993. Print.
This was an awesome little series of posts Larissa! When you first mentioned that you were thinking about doing the Giver as your topic my first thought was actually the whole pensieve, Harry Potter similatity!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed it! (: