Why the Giver Should Not Be Banned
Giving The Giver Back to CMS Library According to the American Library Association (ALA), young adult novels are challenged with the best intentions. In most cases a parent will read a book that their child might be reading in class to find out if the book is hazardous to their child’s well-being. If the novel seems problematic, the parent then challenges the book. Even though the purpose of challenging a novel is to keep children from reading about issues that may not be seen as appropriate for their age group, censoring children from difficult subject matter is not always the solution. There is always controversy when difficult issues arise in adolescent geared novels. Even though there are many concerns with Lois Lowry’s The Giver, this book should not be banned from the Coopertown Middle Library. The Giver is about an eleven-year-old boy named Jonas is a light-eyed boy who lives in a Utopian society. Within his society, there is no suffering, no hunger, no war, no color, and no love. There is no uniqueness and everyone is, in essence, the same. No one leaves the community unless they are released, which normally only happens to elderly adults, sick infants, or those choosing to break the rules. When the children turn twelve, they are assigned professions. Jonas was skipped when it was his turn to receive a profession, and at the end of the ceremony he is selected to be The Receiver of Memory. He is the apprentice of The Giver, an elderly man that was the former receiver, which gives him memories of humanity. Jonas gets to experience things like color, emotion, landscapes, passion, all things that are not present in his community. Even though he gets to experience good things like sledding down a hill, he is also exposed to war and death. All of this new knowledge causes Jonas to feel a need to rebel. No one in his community has ever felt any of the things he has recently experienced, and this makes him wonder what else his community is keeping from
Cited: Kendall, Jennifer. “The Giver by Lois Lowry.” About.com. The New York Times Company. 2012. Web. 21 April 2012. Lord, Elyse. “The Giver.” Novels for Students. Detriot: Gale. Literature Resource Center. Web. 26 March 2012. Lowry, Lois. “Biography” Lois Lowry. Lois Lowry. 2011. Web. 26 March 2012. Lowry, Lois. The Giver. Boston. Bantam Books. 1993. Print