Jonas lives in the community where there are strict rules. Those rules prevent all the citizens from facing something dangerous. And if someone breaks them, he or she will be released to Elsewhere. Although Jonas enjoy life in such a community with his friend and family, suddenly, things change a lot after the Ceremony of December in which every twelve-year-old citizen is assigned their own job. While his friends get a normal job, he gets a special one, the next Receiver of Memory. The receiver has to inherit the memories of the whole world from the older previous Receiver in order to get wisdom and give advice to the committee of the community. He starts to receive memories, not only joyful ones but painful ones. As he receives the memories, he also gains a different perspective from other citizens’; he can tell what color is all about and access to true feelings that are strange to all the other members. At the same time, since he can not share his feelings with his friends or family, he begins to feel lonely and even become skeptical to both other people and the community itself. Besides, he gets frustrated because he cannot change the community for himself. At last he learns the secret of the release. Without being released from the community, those who have to be released are killed by lethal injection. Jonas is shocked at how the release is done and decides to leave the community with his family’s new child called Gabriel so that he can save him from the release.
What the most impressive theme is the balance between the freedom of choice and the security of the community. The community restricts so many choices people today would have. The citizens are not allowed to choose their own jobs and even to select their own mate. Instead of lack of choice, they live a secure life and do not have to experience pain as long as they follow the rules. On the other hand, Jonas acquires much wisdom and so gets many choices through the training of the Receiver of the Memories. However, just because he has the freedom of choice, it does not necessarily mean that he can make right judgment every time. This book makes me realize how difficult it is to choose only one from the freedom of choice and safety of the community.
Moreover, it seems to me that the theme I chose is like the battle between libertarianism and New liberalism. The community is the opposite of libertarianism and, in my opinion, is also a little bit different from New liberalism. It is based on a new concept about liberty in which much more emphases are placed on the group than on the individual. After reading the book, I found that it is true that it is not so good to put the individual first but thinking of the community as the most important is also dangerous. We should not choose either the individual or the community and think about how to connect two extreme sides.
I also reconfirmed the importance in freedom of choice.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this book.
I also read this book. The book, "The Giver" was interesting, and it made me think about a lot of things at the same time. I thought about the difficulty of the balance of the sameness and freedom of choice. I liked your opinion about that.
ReplyDeleteNice reaction, Shoji! Very well-written and insightful.
ReplyDeleteI like your exploration of the book in terms of political philosophies such as libertarianism and "new liberalism." I assume you mean the new liberalism also called social liberalism or modern liberalism that accepts a strong role of the state? How about in Japan? Where do you see the tension between freedom/risk and control/security in society?