The Giver, by Lowis Lowry
Summary: While The Giver is about a supposedly perfect society, it becomes more of a dystopia as the story progresses. The citizens are not free to choose the lives they live, in fact, they live in “sameness.” Everything is determined by the Elders, and the world is experienced in black and white. Before Jonas receives his Life Assignment, he sees color in an apple. Soon his perception of the world changes as he receives memories from The Giver of times before (or outside of the world of) Sameness. He seeks to save Gabe from being released—or rather, killed.
Opinion: I think the author created this story because she wanted us to realize how much we should appreciate our life and freedom. It's very important to remember how lucky we are, and that there is nothing more valuable than our individuality and freedom. This book brings up so many questions about society, family, conformity, and censorship, among other values. I remember reading this book in the 7th grade and feeling profoundly depressed afterward. After reading it at 25 years of age, I found myself feeling similar, but on a deeper level. I would share this with students in 5th grade and up.
Themes: Modern Fantasy: Compassion, families and social structures, leadership and responsibility, power, authority, and governance.
Sunshine State Standards:
L.A.6.1.7.3 – The student will determine the main idea or essential message in grade level text through inferring, paraphrasing, summarizing, and identifying relevant details.
L.A.7.2.1.2 - locate and analyze the elements of characterization, setting, and plot, including rising action, conflict, resolution, theme, and other literary elements as appropriate in a variety of fiction.
L.A.8.2.1.7 - locate and analyze an author’s use of allusions and descriptive, idiomatic, and figurative language in a variety of literary text, identifying how word choice is used to appeal to the reader’s senses and emotions, providing evidence from text to support the analysis.
ESOL Considerations and Accommodations and Supportive Techniques:
Discussing the themes within The Giver, I would have students place themselves in Jonas’ scenario. ESL students and LD students could get a book on tape to read along with the book for extra help at home and within the classroom.
Grades for Read-Alouds: 5-8 Grades for Independent Reading: 6-8
Enhancing the Literary Experience: Students can connect this story to so many areas (see: “A Web of Possibilities” in Charlotte Huck’s Children’s Literature).
I also found this Utopia project online, where students would create their own Utopian society and share with the class, through presentations, information about their “perfect” society. (http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.student.htm)
Since this story closes with an open-ending, students can also create their own ending (“Chapter 24”).
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