The Dystopian Society in The Giver by Lois Lowry Essay Example

Every society has its flaws, but the society represented in “The Giver” is the epitome of a dystopia. “The Giver”, written by Lois Lowry is a story regarding the lives of citizens who are subconsciously stuck inside of a controlling community. A dystopia is a society that contains suffering, restrictions and intolerance. Throughout the story, there happens to be the recurring subject of sameness; almost every aspect of Jonas’ community is the same. The lack of privacy, the paucity of knowledge regarding Elsewhere, and the scarcity of books are all key components that contribute to the dystopian society that Jonas lives in.

In Jonas’ society, every house is the same. The doors attached to the homes do not contain locks, leaving no seclusion for any of the citizens, except the Giver. “She smiled, pushed a button, and he heard a click that unlocked the door to her left… no doors in the community were locked, ever” (92). Jonas had just figured out that people were capable of locking and unlocking doors. This proves that in Jonas’ society, nobody is given any privacy, even in their own homes.

All of the citizens in Jonas’ community are unaware of what occurs Elsewhere, and neither did Jonas until his first day of training. On his first day, Jonas discovered that there were previous generations and there are other communities besides his. “I don’t know what you mean when you say ‘the whole world’ or ‘generations before him’. I thought there was only us. I thought there was only now” (98). When Jonas says this, he had just been told by the Giver that other people existed and was astounded. In Jonas’ community, nobody knows what happens outside of their community.

Besides the Giver’s annex, every dwelling in Jonas’ community contains only three books: the Book of Rules, a dictionary, and a community volume. Jonas had only known of these three books in his community, but could not imagine the existence of thousands of them. Although, on his first day of training with the Giver, he learned that thousands of books, as a matter of fact, exist in his community (94). The leaders of his community only allowed three books to each citizen because they believed that if they allowed any more, the citizens would have too much knowledge and hold too much power. This models another example of a restricted community because the leaders fear losing their power over the people.

Overall, the community that Jonas is a part of may appear to be sheltered and uplifting, but is indeed controlling and insufferable. His community does not allow locked doors, which results in an invasion of privacy, they do not inform people about what happens outside of the community which is limiting their knowledge, and they do not allow citizens to possess certain books which limits both their knowledge and power. A dystopian society is the type of society that Jonas is a part of because it is deceitful, restricting and fabricating.