I arrive in the thankfully cool Humanities room; red faced and tired from my previous P.E class. Plopping down in a chair, I place my books and pencil case on the desk alongside my friend's. I've been anticipating the long awaited return of Literature Circles and am, to be honest, disappointed it's here. Although I do very much enjoy our new book 'The Giver', I absolutely despise having to work through response sheets. True, they aren't too difficult, but they do require a lot of deep thinking and effort; which I always provide. Being the over-achiever I am, I cannot afford to be passive with my work and simply miss an opportunity to receive an A+. I'm very much, as my teachers say, a stress-bot. I absolutely have to excel and do my best. It's just the way I am. But due to this ethos of mine, the response sheets I produce take me forever to complete at home, consuming my time. This is why I do not look forward to Literature Circles. On the other hand, I love the book we are reading! It's called, as I've already mentioned, The Giver. It is written by Lois Lowry, whom I believe has an extraordinary imagination. 'The Giver' revolves around a 12 year old boy named Jonas, and his community. In his society, there is no such thing as pain and suffering, or true happiness and love. The community is controlled and everyone is basically the same; in their thoughts, beliefs, values, and appearance. The book takes a twist when Jonas is informed that he will be the new Receiver of Memories. The Receiver of Memories is the only one who obtains the memories of those in the community. The Receiver will learn and see what pain and suffering the World really goes through, and what true love and happiness feels like. He will discover the wonders and sorrows of life, giving it a whole new meaning. I do realize this description of the book is very vague and brief but it will make more sense when I finally answer the question I should be getting to which is: How do you feel about the "standard practices" or "rituals" in the community?
So as you already know, Jonas's community is totally controlled. Everyone is the same and like-minded and there is no opportunity for free-thinking or space for individuality. In this community, they have several rituals and standard practices. Meaning, they have certain ceremonies, traditions, and customs throughout the community that everyone follows. They have many rules that they must strictly follow, to make sure their "perfect" society stays in tact. There are several rules that everyone follows in correlation to the family units. A family unit is basically what are known in their community, as families. "Two children-one male, one female-to each family unit. It was written very clearly in the rules." This quote from the book expresses one rule to do with the family unit. In every family, there can only be one male and one female in each family-no more, no less. And, as it states in the book, to receive a child, the parents must fill out an application form and wait for it to be approved. "We knew, of course, that we'd receive our female, because we'd made our application and been approved." In this community, the children are not genetically related to their parents. There are women known as Birthmothers in the society, whose jobs are to produce children. Those children are then given to couples in need of them. Parents are given their children through a ceremony known as The Naming. This is the first ceremony of the twelve and starts off the celebration. During this ceremony, children are given to their assigned parents and are presented with a name. In addition to all this, the parents didn't even choose each other for marriage. They don't marry out of love or choice; it is always arranged. "The Matching of Spouses was given such weighty consideration that sometimes an adult who applied to receive a spouse waited months or even years before a match was approved and announced." This means, adults apply for marriage, and the Committee of Elders take the time to find the perfect match for that person. The Elders take into consideration all factors, such as; disposition, energy levels, intelligence, and interests. I feel the standard practices and traditions of the family unit prove the community not to be that perfect. As the community may appear to be ideal, this is clouded with the facts of how families are created. We see that the community's rules and regulations, though helpful in keeping the society safe and secure, control what we believe should be unforced, special, and intimate; like family, love, and marriage.
Really, most feelings are to be kept under control. "That's all," she replied, returning the bottle to the cupboard. "But you mustn't forget. I'll remind you for the first few weeks, but then you must do it on your own. If you forget, the Stirrings will come back. The dreams of Stirrings will come back. Sometimes the dosage must be adjusted." In Jonas's society, around the age of twelve, the children go through, well, adolescence, and experience something called a Stirring. Stirrings are when a child develops sexual urges toward the opposite gender. It is more frequent amongst boys. The Stirrings begin with a dream in which they think of the opposite sex in that particular way. In Jonas's community, it is a "tradition" to tell their dreams to their family every morning. When the parents realize their child has had their first Stirring, they explain that they must control this feeling by making sure to take a specific pill every morning. I believe this practice is interdependent with those of the family unit. The Stirrings are aimed to be controlled because if they aren't, it will cause difficulty in The Matching of Spouses, as some may develop intimate relationships with others whom they aren't able to marry. This practice and rule ensures that The Matching of Spouses can go on without any distractions or problems, and that the community can remain intact. This is only one of the many feelings the law aims to control. The rules are especially targeted at one's feelings, because emotion plays a very big part in people's choices. The rules make sure that emotion don't get in the way of people's jobs and duties in the community, ensuring that it will stay secure and in tact. There are also many ceremonies and celebrations used to maintain the community.
"There were only two occasions of release which were not punishments. Release of the elderly, which was a time of celebration for a life well and fully lived; and the release of a newchild, which always brought a sense of what-could-we-have-done." In Jonas's community, there is something known as release. Release can either be something positive or negative; it depends on the situation. It is sometimes used as punishment, like when someone has broken a great rule several times; but it can also be used as celebration like, as you know, releasing the elderly. Usually, release is a good thing. However, nobody really knows what happens when you are released. All they know is you walk through a door and are never seen in the community again. In my opinion, release is the equivalent of death. I think when you walk through the door you are killed somehow. The ritual of release, I think, is only used to mask what should be feared in the community. In this instance, death is disguised with a celebratory release. In fact, a lot of ceremonies and celebrations in Jonas's community are either used to mask the sad truth; or to represent something. "The little girl nodded and looked down at herself, at the jacket with it's row of large buttons that designated her as a Seven. Fours, Fives, and Sixes all wore jackets that fastened down the back so that they would have to help each other dress and would learn interdependence." Every time a group of children progress to the next year of age, they have a ceremony to acknowledge this, and they receive something to express their year of age. For instance, when children become nine, they get their first bike, or when children become twelve, they are given their job assignment in which they will work for the rest of their lives. The quote is referring to a girl that is now seven and received her first jacket with buttons down the front. In her earlier years, she, and those in her age group, had buttons down the back to teach them interdependence. The buttons down the front represent how they have grown to learn this and have developed. I feel this ritual of receiving items to show your age and represent your growth, tells us how in Jonas's community, everything is seemingly done for a reason and has a purpose. Nothing is really ever done for no reason. There must be something significant about it before it is done. That's simply how this community works. In my opinion, the standard practices and rituals in Jonas's community, when deeply looked into, show us how imperfect their community really is. The traditions and customs prove that though the community seems to be a Utopian society, there is more to it than what it appears. I feel the standard practices and rituals aren't as meaningful and deep as they seem to be, and are there to just simply control the society to being "perfect". Some of these practices and rituals actually just mask and hide the community's flaws and it's reality. Which is, that their society is far from perfect.
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