Banned/Challenged: The Giver
About the film adaptation The Giver
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| 1. | At a glance – the most important points |
This study guide to Lois Lowry’s The Giver is designed to provide an easy-to-use overview of the structure, context, themes and characters of the novel. Here is a quick rundown of the most important points.
Part 2 takes a brief look at Lois Lowry and her career.
Lowry was born in Hawaii in 1937. Her father worked for the US military, so like many other military families they moved around the world a lot from base to base.
She wrote her first novel in 1977 and The Giver in the early 1990s. Its contemporary background is interesting but actually less relevant to the book itself than is frequently the case, in particular for dystopias or SF.
Part 3 provides analyses and interpretations of the novel.
The Giver – Origins and Sources:
We have in Lowry’s 1994 Newbery Medal acceptance speech an unusually detailed and open discussion of the precise influences and inspirations which combined to form The Giver.
Summaries:
Jonas is about to turn 12, at which point he and all other children his age will be given their Assignments, telling them what their future role in society will be. He is selected as Receiver of Memory, an unique and mysterious position. He trains with an old man called The Giver who is the only person in the community who has access to the knowledge and memories of the past. Jonas learns that his world has decided to give up on or control everything which can potentially cause conflict or limit efficiency. This includes many bad things, like war, hunger, unemployment or chaotic social systems, but also things like colours, weather, love, family and individuality. Jonas becomes increasingly sceptical about the nature of this society until he finally sees that euthanasia is used to kill all unwanted or “inadequate” citizens in the community. He takes his baby brother Gabriel and escapes from the community.
Structure:
The Giver is a linear, chronological narrative told from Jonas’ perspective. The book is short and divided into 23 chapters.
Characters:
There are really only two characters in the book, Jonas and The Giver. All other characters are limited by the social conditioning and the medication they take and are more like robots or pets than real individuals.
Jonas – becomes 12 years old at the start of the book. An intelligent, brave boy with a great capacity for empathy.
The Giver – an old man who is feeling the burden of the memories he must keep and the pain he must carry alone. He is tired and sad.
Jonas’ family (mother, father, his sister Lily and baby Gabriel)
Further characters: Fiona and Asher (childhood friends of Jonas), Rosemary and the Chief Elder.
Themes:
The major themes we will look at in this study guide are control, pain, Sameness and diversity, memory (history and the past) and choice. Another major theme is human connections.
Style and Language:
This is a particularly important aspect of the novel, because one of the major methods by the dystopian society in the novel to control the people is “precision of language”. The horrific secrets are hidden by euphemisms: truth and the very nature of reality is hidden or manipulated by the use of specific language.
Interpretation:
The book can be interpreted in the context of at least three genres to which it belongs – Young Adult fiction, science fiction and dystopian fiction.
There has been a major film adaptation (in 2014), which allows us a different perspective on the story and its themes.
Other ideas about interpretations of The Giver
| 2. | Lois Lowry: Life & Works |
Lois Lowry (*1937)
© 2016 Larry D. Moore[1]
| 2.1 | Biografie |
| YEAR | PLACE | EVENT | AGE |
| 1937 | Honolulu/Hawaii (USA) | 20th of March: Lois (originally Cena) Lowry is born. She is the middle child of three. Her parents are Norwegian (father) and German, English, Scots-Irish (mother). | |
| 1939 | Brooklyn/New York (USA) | Her father was a dentist in the US military and like many military families, they had to move often. This was the first relocation of Lois’ life. | 2 |
| 1942 | Carlisle/Pennsylvania (USA) | When her father had to serve on a hospital ship in the Pacific during World War 2, the rest of the family moved back to Lois’ mother’s hometown. | 5 |
| 1948– 1950 | Tokyo (Japan) | Her father was stationed in Japan and the family lived on a military base for a couple of years. Lois returned to the US to attend high school. | 11–13 |
| 1954– 1956 | Providence/Rhode Island (USA) | Lois studied at Pembroke College for two years until she married Donald Lowry. | 17–19 |
| 1956– 1972 | Many locations | Donald Lowry was also in the US military and the young family (Lois was to have 4 children during the early years of their marriage) moved often during this period, as he was stationed at different military bases around the country. They eventually settled after his retirement in Portland, Maine, where Lois finished her studies and graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a degree in English Literature. | 19–35 |
| 1963 | Washington D.C. (USA) | Lois’ older sister Helen dies of cancer, aged 28. This event inspires her first novel. | 26 |
| 1977 | Maine (USA) | Lowry is commissioned by the publisher Houghton Mifflin to write a book, which becomes her first published novel, A Summer to Die. Lois and Donald divorce. | 40 |
| 1979 | Boston/Massachusetts (USA) | After her divorce Lois moved to live and work in Boston. | 42 |