The Giver is about a dystopian society where there is no conflict, no war or any strife but also no emotion, color, or free thought. It's centered around an 11 year old boy named Jonas who has been chosen by the town council to become the next "receiver of memory." This position is when the person has access to colors, free thought, emotions... basically, all the things that can cause human beings to error in. Jonas struggles with accepting the responsibilities of being the receiver of memory and the giver believes that he could be of a better investment elsewhere. They plan Jonas' escape and he makes it with a baby that was supposed to be put to sleep. It is the first part of a trilogy.
This book leans more towards the sci-fi genre rather than the fantasy genre because it talks about a place that could be reality one day.
As for the six elements of justice, I believe that this book has the potential to meet all six elements. It deals heavily with ethics and a classroom can have several class discussions off how the community treats its people, about the eugenics, the things that Jonas goes through, et cetera.
This book is one of the most popular books. Although this book is not considered a realistic book, I believe it can apply to all six elements. It's amazing how we can apply fantasy books to real-life!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this book, and it's entire series (there are actually 4 books!)! I agree with you that this is definitely sci-fi. Also, this book easily meets all the elements of social justice. There are very strong ethical values, and then Jonas is told he is allowed to ignore all the rules. After reading the other 3 books in the series and going back to this one, some other things become very clear. There are strong ethical values in The Giver, and it is interesting to see a character like Jonas struggling to legally break all the rules.
ReplyDeleteThe dystopian theme certainly matches both fantasy and sci-fiction genre. For now, it, indeed, is a fantasy to us, because it hasn't happen to us yet; meanwhile, it might be sci-ficiton, because it eventually would happen to us one day. You mentioned that this book leans more toward sci-fiction, is it because of the generations we are living in right now? Maybe it would have been more of fantasy if we were reading it 100 years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe dystopian theme certainly matches both fantasy and sci-fiction genre. For now, it, indeed, is a fantasy to us, because it hasn't happen to us yet; meanwhile, it might be sci-ficiton, because it eventually would happen to us one day. You mentioned that this book leans more toward sci-fiction, is it because of the generations we are living in right now? Maybe it would have been more of fantasy if we were reading it 100 years ago.
ReplyDeleteI personally have never read this book, but in your description, this gives me a very well idea of what this book is all about. According what you mentioned about the social justice and how it meets it all, I think this is an excellent books for students to read and understand the different social justice. Hopefully one day, I'll take the time to read it and understand exactly where your point is coming from!
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