Freedom and Choice, Lit. Circle 4

"There was no answer to Jonas's whisper. Gabriel was sound asleep.

"Things could change, Gabe," Jonas went on. Things could be different. I don't know how, but there must be some way for things to be

different. There could be colors.

"And grandparents," he added, staring through the dimness toward the ceiling of his sleepingroom. "And everybody would have the memories.

"You know about memories," he whispered, turning toward the crib.

Gabriel's breathing was even and deep. Jonas liked having him there, though he felt guilty about the secret. Each night he gave memories to Gabriel: memories of boat rides and picnics in the sun; memories of fall against windowpanes; memories of dancing barefoot on a damp lawn.

"Gabe?"

The newchild stirred slightly in his sleep. Jonas looked over at him.

"There could be love," Jonas whispered.

The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away. "

(Pages 128 to 129, The Giver, Louis Lowry)

Throughout the chapters, 16 to 18, Jonas feels the pleasure of freedom. While the community restricts freedom and choice, although they may not notice, they also cut off the vibrating emotions of feeling feelings. Through memories, Jonas and other receivers feel the succinct sensation of freedom. The freedom of being an individual, the freedom of walking away at their own will, the freedom of riding across a meadow to a place where you choose to do things, the freedom of walking down the street without having to hide anything, and so forth. Most of the memories, not all though, contains this; contains freedom; but in it's own different way. When Jonas received the memory of having a birthday party, he felt atmosphere where a child could feel the joy of being a special and unique person. Not just that, he received countless memories that embrace happiness.

" " There are so many good memories," The Giver reminded Jonas. And it was true. By now Jonas had experienced countless bits of happiness, things he had never known of before.

He had seen a birthday party, with one child singled out and celebrated on his day, so that now he understood the joy of being an individual, special and unique and proud.

He had visited museums and seen paintings filled with all the colors he could now recognize and name.

In one ecstatic memory he had ridden a gleaming brown horse across a field that smelled of damp grass, and had dismounted beside a small stream from which both he and the horse drank cold, clear water. Now he understood about animals; and in the moment that the horse turned from the stream and nudged Jonas's shoulder affectionally with it's head, he had perceived the bonds between animal and human.

He had walked through woods, and sat at night beside a campfire. Although he had through the memories learned about the pain of loss and loneliness, now he gained, too, an understanding of solitude and it's joy."

(Page 121 to 122)

Along with freedom, comes choices. There are so many choices in our society, we never pondered about it, or what it would be like with having them. In the community Jonas lives in, choices, as well as freedom, is banished. Even though this is a negligent performance that the committee has dispatched, I'm sure they have no clue as to what it has done. Maybe the person or the group of people who choose this knew, knew that the older generations would feel pity on themselves, but this may have been done for the good of the people. They might have thought they were helping the people. For example; in the mornings, you wouldn't have to spend time on choosing clothes, or choosing breakfast, for there wouldn't a choice. Or contemplate all your life over what job would suit you, and on and on. To be able to make your own choices, first there must be freedom. Freedom to make choices. When Jonas first learned about colors, he started to question the community's control, the limitation of seeing colors, or choosing. He began to become curious of what it may be like if there the freedom of choosing.

" "Well..." Jonas had to stop and think it through. "If everything's the same, then there aren't any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things! A blue tunic, or a red one?"

He looked down at himself, at the colorless fabric of his clothing. "But it's all the same, always."

Then he laughed a little. "I know it's not important, what you wear. It doesn't matter. But-

"It's the choosing that's important, isn't it? The Giver asked him.

Jonas nodded. "My little brother --" he began, and then corrected himself. "No, that's inaccurate. He's not my brother, not really. But this newchild that my family takes care of -- his name's Gabriel?"

"Yes, I know about Gabriel."

"Well, he's right at the age where he's learning so much. He grabs toys when we hold them in front of him -- my father says he's learning small-muscle control. And he's really cute. "

The Giver nodded.

"But now that I can see colors, at least sometimes, I was just thinking: what if we could hold up things that were bright red, or bright yellow, and he could choose? Instead of the Sameness."

"He might make the wrong choices."

"Oh." Jonas was silent for a minute. "Oh, I see what you mean. It wouldn't matter for a newchild's toy. But later it does matter, doesn't it? We don't dare to let people make choices of their own."

"Not safe?" The Giver suggested.

"Definitely not safe," JOnas said with certainty. "What if they were allowed to choose thier own mate? And chose wrong?"

"Or what if," he went on, almost laughing at the absurdity, "they chose their own jobs?"

"Frightening isn't it?" The Giver said.

Jonas chuckled. "Very frightening. I can't even imagine it. We really have to protect people from wrong choices."

"It's safer."

Yes," Jonas agreed. "Much safer."

But when the conversation turned to other things, Jonas was left, still, with the feeling of frustration that he didn't understand.

(Page 97 to 99)

When I come to make up the conclusion, these chapters, chapters 16 to 18, related to freedom and choice because Jonas gets to wander through memories that represent the delight of having freedom, and the pleasure of being able to make your own choices. Not only that, but feeling the different aspects of freedom.

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”

Sources:

Freedom Picture - http://umattr.info/

Quote - http://thinkexist.com/quotations/freedom/

Choice Picture - http://monkeywong.com/2009/02/10/life-is-a-matter-of-choice/

By, Zarafsha :)

I commented on Radhi's Blog

Hey Mrs. N,

For our last Blog Post, I recall we had to comment on someone's posts. I commented on both of Radhi's Lit. Circle Blog post. Her blog post are just as amazing as always, and I have commented more on her blog, so you could check it out.

Here's a link to her blog -

http://rsharma17.blogspot.com/

-Zara

The Giver: The Instruction About Lying

Recently, in class we finished our second literature circle, on the book The Giver, by Louis Lowry. In this book, Jonas has just been selected to become the new Receiver of Memory. Jonas actually lives in a over safe community, where pretty much everything you have is chosen for you, your job, your spouse, the day you die, your child, your name, your house, your appearance, and, well, everything. Every year, on December, there is a Ceremony. At this ceremony, you turn older, and you get something new depending on your age. When you are twelve, you get your job. The Elders choose the job for you. The Elders have observed you to make sure you get the right job. Jonas, a peaceful, calm and intelligent boy, who usually stands out because of his lighter eyes, he just got selected to become the new Receiver. This in fact, is the most honored job in the community. The job keeps the current Receiver distinct from the others. The career also includes a set of rules for the trainee:

" 1. Go immediately at the end of school hours each day to the Annex entrance behind the House of Old and present yourself to the attendant.

2. Go immediately to your dwelling at the conclusion of Training Hours each day.

3. From this moment on you are exempted from rules governing rudeness. You may ask any question of any citizen and you will receive answers.

4. Do not discuss your training with any other member of the community, including parents and Elders.

5. From this moment you are prohibited from dream telling.

6. Except for illness or injury unrelated to your training, do not apply for any medication.

7. You are not permitted to apply for release.

8. You may lie. " (Page 68)

Jonas was startled by most of the rules, but he seemed to be highly disturbed by the last rule. Members of the community were taught since early age, not to lie. It was a rule that was well respected, and if it wasn't followed, then like all the times mistakes are made, some was to give you a chastisement. This rule kept the citizens trustworthy and honest. No one would turn betray one another, or hide anything from them, and the community would be organized and in order. This last rule disturbed Jonas exceptionally.

Jonas finds this particular thought disturbing, for all his life, he had strictly taught NEVER to lie. It makes him wonder what might be happening during his training that would be so secretive, or why would there ever be a purpose in his ever-so safe community to lie? Even before, he was starting to question the protection of his community. When the plane flew over the community, the apple, and now the instruction that allows him to lie. This thought almost frightened him, since he was positive no one lied. Asher didn't lie, Lily didn't lie, and obviously he was certain that he hadn't lied in his twelve years of living. He didn't think there ever was a time where was even tempted to lie. At thinking this thought, he wondered if his parents lied, or if any other elders did not tell the truth. Maybe every citizen, when they have become a Twelve, received the same alarming sentence in their set of instructions.

"He had never, within his memory, been tempted to lie. Asher did not lie. Lily did not lie. His parents did not lie. No one did. Unless...

Now Jonas had a thought that he had never had before. This new thought was frightening. What if others -- adults -- had, upon becoming Twelves, received in their instructions the same terrifying sentence?

What if they had all been instructed: You may lie? " (Page 71)

As I had mentioned before, why would there ever be a need to lie? In a community so safe, so ordered, so perfect (or so he thinks), so trustworthy. Well, could all that be a lie? Adults might lie, but there is no way of finding out if they do so. But then again, there would not be anything in their community to lie about. Their life there is so ordinary and upright; there are no secrets to hide or crimes to hide. For the committee can see everything you do, for example when Jonas took the apple room with him from the Recreation Center to examine why it changed.

"It had happened during the recreation period, when he had been playing with Asher. Jonas had casually picked up an apple from the basket where the snacks were kept, and had thrown it to his friend. Asher had thrown it back, and they had begun a simple game of catch.

There had been nothing special about it; it was an activity that he had performed countless times: throw, catch, throw, and catch. It was effortless for Jonas, and even boring, though Asher enjoyed it, and the catch was a required activity for Asher because it would improve his hand-eye coordination, which was not up to standards.

But suddenly Jonas had noticed, following the path of the apple through the air with his eyes, that the piece, that the piece of fruit had --- well, this was the part that he couldn't adequately understand --- the apple had changed. Just for an instant. It had changed in mid-air, he remembered. Then it was in his hand, and he looked at it carefully, but it was the same apple. Unchanged. The same size and shape: a perfect sphere. " (Page 24-25)

All in all, Jonas did not feel comfortable with that instruction. The main reason was that, all his life he has been taught not to lie. Never in his life. He had been scolded into doing so and there really wasn't any reason to lie about. No conflict in his life, or secret to hide or anything. Like I remarked before, life in the community is very ordinary, simple, and honest.

Giver Blog Post, One

In class, we have started Literature Circles again! This time we only have two book choices, The Giver, by Louis Lowry, and The White Mountains, by John Christopher. I am reading the Giver along with

Radhika, Norman and Zifan (my group members). For this blog post, we were to choose from these three choices.

1) Would you want your future to

be decided by others? Why or why not?

2) How do you feel about the "standard practices" and "rituals' in the community?

3) Why is interdependence fostered in the community?

I chose the second question; how do you feel about the "standard practices" and "rituals' in the community?

In the book, Giver, by Louis Lowry, there is a community where pretty much everything for the people is decided for them. For example, the job, their spouse, their child, and etc are chosen for them. The community is a totally safe place to live, but a very boring and strict place to live. There are these rituals and standard practices that the people of the community have to practice. So far I have read about sharing their feelings each night at every household and sharing your dreams of the night before, with your family members. "It was one of the rituals, the evening telling of feelings." (Page 5) "Usually, at the morning ritual when the family members told their dreams, Jonas didn't contribute much" (page 34) How do I feel about these rituals? I feel that they are different and sort of weird.

I think these are different because, in our world we don't do anything like this. Well, maybe sometimes we like to share our feelings but not against our own will. In the book, you have to do it. You absolutely have to share your feelings and dreams. It's sort of like a rule. It's also busting someone's personal "bubble". Each morning at breakfast, you have to share your dreams with the other members of the dwelling. Each person gets a turn, and one by one, they retell what they dreamed. Jonas usually does not dream. Sometimes when he dreams he can only grasp fragments of it but he can't put the story together. But still, he has to share exactly what he saw or what he remembers. "He rarely dreamed. Sometimes he awoke with a feeling of fragments afloat in his sleep, but he couldn't seem to grasp them and put them together into something worthy telling at the ritual." (Page 34)

I think these rituals are weird because, it's so different from what I've learned and known. So it feels different for me. For someone in the community it would feel perfectly fine because they don't know any other way of living. Just like us, they've learned that way from the time they were born, so it's just like taking a school bus to school inour world. If they saw this from another prospective, maybe they would have thought this was a bad idea. But at the same time, their way of living is much safer than ours, and more trust worthy. No one lies to you, because it’s a rule there. "He had been trained since earliest childhood, since his earliest learning of language, never to lie. It was an integral part of the learning of precise speech. Once, when he had been a Four, he had said, just prior to day meal at school, "I'm starving" Immediately he had been taken aside for a brief private lesson in language precision." (Page 70)

From the outside all this seems wrong, but the people don't think so. They believe their life is as wonderful as life gets. That's because they don't know any other ways of life. This is because they've never seen anything else but the community life. Even other communities, they are similar to the one Jonas lives in. Even us, someone from outer space or something might think our way of living is wrong. But we haven't seen any other way of living that is better. Now if we had, I'm sure we would have started to live like that, but we aren't. You can't really blame them for living like that. But you could blame the person or the people who started the community (s). And they, they probably thought it was the right thing to do. A safer lifestyle (and it is true), except for... well a lot of things.

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