All dystopian fiction shares one basic idea: a perfect
world is usually far from perfect. A "utopia" is a perfect world. A dystopia is a
world that first appears perfect, but turns out to be terribly wrong under the
surface.
This book is clever because it makes the dystopia
point so simply. The main idea of The Giver specifically is that
sameness is not the same thing as perfection--difference should be celebrated and not
feared. The community works so hard to keep everything the same, and prevent
discomfort, that they do things like beat toddlers for using the wrong word and kill
newborn infants because they have a twin. Mistakes are not tolerated, and anyone who
breaks a rule three times is killed. There is no love, and no real emotion at
all.
While it is true that all of the things that make us
human are painful (love, passion, disagreement, choice), they are also what makes life
worth living. Life without love, without memory, is horrifying.
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