The Utopian Society in The Giver by Lois Lowry Essay Sample

Dictionary.com defines utopia as “given to impractical or unrealistic schemes of such perfection.” and defines dystopia as “a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding.” The Giver society is trying to be a utopian society, but is actually being dystopian. There are multiple differences between The Giver society and our society, such as what choices you have, memories and family. There are also similarities between the two societies, like both societies make mistakes, but The Giver society is trying to be perfect, whereas in our society we are trying to be unique.

First and foremost the choices we have in our society are different from the choices the people have in The Giver dystopian society. For example in our society you have the choice of going to a nursing home when you're older, however in The Giver society at a certain age you have to go to the house of the old. In our society you get to choose your job, whereas in The Giver society you are assigned your job.

Additionally, The Giver society definition of what a family is and our society’s definition of what a family is are highly contrasting and have a few similarities. Marriages in The Giver are assigned, you can decide if you get married but you can’t decide who you marry, whereas in our society you can choose who you marry. Not only that but also In The Giver you can apply for kids, but the kids aren’t biologically yours and you can only have 1 girl and 1 boy. In our society you can have as many kids as you want and you can have kids that are biologically yours or you can adopt. In both societies you can get married and have kids, you live with your family.

Memories in The Giver society and in our society are incredibly different. For instance in The Giver society only one person has memories. They took away memories from the community in The Giver because they thought the community couldn’t handle the pain and agony of the memories. In our society we all have our own memories.

The society in The Giver thinks their society is perfect, when in reality it has an abundance of flaws. Our society and The Giver society have differences and similarities, like in our society we have memories and we have more choices, but in The Giver society one person holds all the memories and you don’t choose your job, who you marry, or if you live in the house of the old. Learning about The Giver society causes us to realize how fortunate we are to have our uniqueness and not be perfect.