The Giver vs Brave New World
Quick plot summary of The Giver: there are no feelings, pain,
war, color, etc., only happiness. When the community went over to this state,
it removed those bad memories, but they can’t completely disappear, so the Receiver is the sole keeper of the community’s
collective memory. This person bears the pain and has deeper emotions than
everyone else. Jonas, a 12 year old kid, is the next Receiver. He is able to love,
see color, etc. and is frustrated by the community. So he and the Giver plot
for him to run away, and when he does, the memories he has will be released
back into the community.
That’s all
you need to know for this next bit to make sense.
My 3rd teacher
sat in the middle of circle of eager kids, all sitting crisscross-apple-sauce, anticipating
story time. We would continue reading The
Giver, a thrilling and slightly scary dystopia. We were at the part where
the Giver had started transferring the community’s memories to Jonas, the next Receiver.
The first memory Jonas received was that of a sleigh ride down a snowy hill. Our
class smiled as they recollected their first time sledding, this was the first
time our class positively responded to something in the book. Perhaps it was because we were happy that Jonas was starting to feel what he was missing, or maybe we were comforted by the Giver's presence and his grand-father like qualities. Up until that point, we hadn't seen familial-love or true happiness.
This society scared me,
and I know my friends were pretty freaked out too. It was strange to think of a
place where there are no feelings and no colors, where everything is
pre-arranged for you and you have no choice. So perhaps while reading Brave New World, I wasn’t as surprised
or shocked by the concept of eliminating feelings and close relationships with
people. A key difference between the two books is the method by which they
eliminate feelings. In Brave New World,
soma and conditioning function as the Giver does; taking away pain and
unhappiness. If soma is taken away, people won’t be able to cope with
situations and their feelings. For example, Lenina took enough soma to knock
her out for 17 hours because she couldn’t deal with the stuff she saw at the
reservation. The same thing would happen without the Giver; people would have a
hard time with their emotions, especially since they’ve never experienced them
before.
Just out of curiosity,
would you rather live in the world of The
Giver or Brave New World?
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Honestly, having not read the Giver and solely going by what you've said about the book, I would rather live in the world of the Giver, but never as the Receiver. How Jonas, as the next Giver, has the ability to feel those emotions otherwise absent from society makes him seem so similar to John in Brave New World.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting comparison. I personally did not like the societal structure of BNW, but the more I think about it the more I realize that its society and the society in the Giver are incredibly similar. They both attempt to repress emotions and create a society without choice in order to promote equality. I wonder if Lois Lowry had BNW in mind when writing the Giver.
ReplyDeleteNice post! I know we compared the two books briefly in class but I didn't realize how similar they were until you brought up that both books try to eliminate strong and negative human emotions, but in different ways. Both societies are messed up in different ways, but I think if i had to choose I'd choose to live in The Giver, just because society has a little bit more purpose (and the plot was better in my opinion).
ReplyDeleteI would not be able to choose. I would have chosen the Giver since they at least have families, but then I remembered that they don't experience love and that they have no colors so...it's a tie. Your analysis is spot on though, I wouldn't be surprised if somebody told me that BNW inspired the Giver.
ReplyDeleteI also remember reading The Giver sometime in elementary school. The idea of watering down the human existence, numbing all feelings and experiences for the utopian idea of eliminating pain and suffering, quickly reveals its great dystopian underbelly. It's also too hard for me to choose. Living without color and vibrant emotions is such an awful thought for me.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but remember that heartbreaking moment in The Giver when Jonas asks his parents if they love him and they sort of laugh at the idea. Something like, "Well, that's a vague idea! We value you. We are proud of you, if that's what you're asking." And Jonas is like, "But you don't love me." It reminds me of what happens in BNW, when John tries to confess his love, and Lenina just doesn't care.
ReplyDeleteBoth societies depend on a sort of emotional blandness. While the society in The Giver enforces this via rampant restriction, BNW seems to totally devalue relationships/closeness by making it without obstacle. In the end, though, it has the same basic result.
I had never read the Giver, so that was really interesting to read! The parallels you brought up are really cool. I'm not exactly sure which one I would rather live in - like you said, the prospect of not being able to feel is really scary to think about. I think maybe I'm leaning towards the world of The Giver just because the 'not feeling' is so systemic in Brave New World and that's really terrifying to me. The fact that it's government-induced somehow makes it seem much more menacing and evil.
ReplyDeleteI really loved The Giver when I was younger, although it took me a weirdly long time to see it as a dystopia. Just thought it was a really creepy place (I mean, I guess that’s true). It’s been awhile since I’ve read The Giver, but I think I’d rather live in the world of Brave New World, even though I like the book itself less. It seems easier, in the world of The Giver, to slip through and realize the injustice of it all. Brave New World makes it easier to just be completely cool with what’s happening. Also, not being able to see colors would suck.
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't remember much from The Giver (and am basing my decision mostly on your brief summary), I think that I would prefer to live in the World State of Brave New World. Although there are still countless restrictions, it seems more vibrant and alive, with more things to see and do. Your relationships may not be particularly personal, but at least you can have them, and possibly even develop deeper feelings. Emotions might be suppressed and outlawed, but they still partially exist in Brave New World. However, I honestly don't think that life in either Brave New World or The Giver would be that bad. If we didn't have our preconceived notions about emotions and feelings, we wouldn't feel that we were missing out on anything, and would experience nothing but happiness.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading The Giver in elementary school and being so confused after. Your blog post reminded me the dystopian aspects of The Giver. Personally, I want to try living in The Giver community. No war or unhappiness? I would take that any day over the World State's problems. Then again, if there isn't happiness or war, then how would we know what happiness exactly is? I don't know.
ReplyDeleteNot going to lie, I think that I would rather die than live in either of those societies. However, I think if I absolutely had to live in one or the other, I would have to choose Brave New World if I was an Alpha or Beta, but if I was any lower, I would choose the world of the giver. This is because the lives of those lower than Alpha and Beta in Brave New can’t even be considered live because they make exactly 0 decisions about their lives as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading The Giver in the elementary school as well. It is a tough choice between the two worlds...both worlds shield people from feelings, either with soma or by one person bearing the memories and emotions of the entire community. However, the feelings exist in BNW, and can be 'treated' by consuming soma while The Giver's world does not have any except within the receiver. I would also not like a world where one person is burdened with the entire community's feelings...So, if I absolutely have to choose, I would say the BNW would be my choice.
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