The Giver

"The Giver"

This is one of the greatest I have ever read. I have read a lot of books and this was the most extraordinary of them all. Everything they did in the story had to pretty much be done in unison, as everything had to be perfect, feelings were not a real option and responsibility was the biggest factor in the community. Although it's very difficult to describe, the people in this community had to all follow certain rules and regulations.

Responsibility was a big part of everyone's life. From the time each person turned 12, or became a 12 as the story states, they were given a certain job that they would perform for the rest of their lives. Such jobs as Laborers to Birthmothers, everything was taken care of. And if a certain someone couldn't perform that task, they could file for an appeal (which were rarely granted) or file for a release. All these things together made the town run, no matter how strangely it was.

Perfection also seemed to be an important part of the community. No mistakes could be tolerated, in everything from language to behavior. For example, Asher often screwed up the pronunciation of words during his young years, and often got smacked in the head and legs for it, which eventually made Asher cease talking for a year. Disciplining children for bad behavior and bad grammar was not too uncommon, and it was standard for the community.

Freedom was not really an issue here. The people in the community did have some privileges, but most of what the people did was tradition and they apparently didn't know any better. Everything everyone did was pretty much standard, nothing was unusual because it was expected of the person to do, this tended to make surprise a lost cause.

The people in the stories minds

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