Blog Post(1): initial response
Sunday, June 27, 2010
After reading “the Giver”, I was surprised as the book was much more intriguing than I expected it to be. My original idea of “the Giver” is that it will be very predictable, especially because it has been discussed quite often in class now. Therefore I was dreading to read, but it really blew me out of my mind. I was surprised by the way the giver passed his memories to Jonas; I imagined it to be like an elder telling a story. I thought it is amazing to actually experience something that has happen so long ago, maybe painful but amazing.
I feel sorry for the people in the community, for the first time I felt the importance being able to make decisions, no matter how frustrating it may be, but I feel that it is definitely better than having no choice and freedom to experience different things. If there was sameness in the world, people will become very narrow-minded and there will be no room for expansion, as they reject anything that is not according to normal standards. Another thing that I feel is a pity is that the people in the community reject and refuse to understand love, warmth, and have no knowledge of colours and music, the beautiful things in life that we often take for granted. I cannot imagine living without colours or without listening to music to relax. I find this sad that they gave up things that are extremely valuable, at least to me.
I find the most cruel thing is ‘releasing’ the newborn twin and of Gabriel. I think that is the most horrifying factor of the community. They chose to release the twin because of rules that have been set and to release Gabriel just because he does not sleep soundly. Yet they find it a common thing to do, with no hesitance at all. Although they may not fully understand what they are doing, I cannot comprehend why the elders or earlier generations would do such appalling things to reach sameness when no one will ever actually be the same. Our thoughts behavior, preferences and such, will always differ, thus I cannot understand why anyone would want to create a community like this.
Hence, after reading “the Giver” I have learnt how to appreciate things that are so common in my life, yet non-existent the people’s lives. I learnt to stop looking for ways to push away decisions that some do not have.
--Mary HAD a little lamb--
2:49 AM
