Lois Lowry, the author of The Giver 記憶受領員 , received the Newbery Medal 美國紐伯瑞金牌獎 on 1994.Her books have been translated into Chinese and publsihed in Taiwan. She is also the author of many other popular books for young readers, including Number the Stars, The One Hundredth Thing , About Caroline , Switcharound , and US and Uncle Fraud etc.
The story takes place in an undetermined future, a utopian world where everything is under control. There is no pain, war, even fear, and everyone does his duty. The main character is a little boy named Jonas. Everyone at the age of twelve will be assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from the Giver. The Giver serves as a prophet because he alone holds the memories of the true pain and the pleasure of life. He can give people an appropriate answer for almost every question. Now it’s time for Jonas to discover the truth. He learns that there were once not only bright colors, pleasant music, but also terrible warfare. In order to make life better, people in this community ge t rid of many aspects of life only the parts that benefits the humanity remains. Compared to the past, Jonas’ world is rather monotonous, for the diversity of life has disappeared. The memories delivered by The Giver open his eyes and teach him what th e original world was. In fact, the original world in Jonas’ eyes is where we are living now. Anything in our world, whether good or bad, will happen to us. However, there are no choices at all in Jonas’ world. All evil is removed; only good can be k ept. For instance, sexual desire is viewed as evil so that people have an injection in order to constrain it. Some natural phenomena are also changed. The more Jonas understands the past, the less he can accept the present condition. The present life is smooth and steady, but there is no love in life. People act according to the rules without any personal feelings involved. For example, handicapped infants and old people will be eliminated because they do not do any good for society. Jonas wants to change his world and makes it more humane. He is the only one who possesses the entire past memories. The giver told him that only his running away from the community can he transfer those memories to other people. Nevertheless, he will lose the past me mories at the same time. With a view to recovering their memories and to letting the community return to the normal state. Jonas sacrifices himself. He is bound for an unknowing place. What will happen to him after leaving? Will the residents in the co mmunity change afterwards? Lowry does not offer a definite answer, and she leaves room for readers’ imagination. The Giver is originally written for children. Although it begs to the category of science fiction, Lowry does not focus on describing how amazing the advanced technology is, but to tell readers to cherish what they own, and to care more about the things around them. Besides, it raises a question for readers: will it be good for us to live in such a world where everything is under control? Some may say so because longing for stability is part of human nature. The story probes into man’s shortsightedne ss. Familiarity and safety do not necessarily bring happiness; rather, happiness is obtained when one has the opportunity to enjoy fine things in this world, to feel warm love and emotions. a
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May 2024
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