Context
Bosnia
Lowry’s novel was crafted against the backdrop of events in Bosnia, particularly the horrific outcomes of “ethnic cleansing.” In the early 1990s, Serbian forces in Bosnia established concentration camps and sought to eradicate the Muslim population. Muslim women faced rape, and Muslim men were imprisoned and starved as part of a deliberate social and political strategy. These atrocities were exposed to the world through investigative journalism. Similarly, the community in Lowry’s novel is preoccupied with keeping outsiders away. There is only an exit from the community, not an entrance.
Euthanasia
While writing her novel, Lowry was likely aware of a prominent euthanasia case in 1990 involving Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Kevorkian once suggested rendering death row inmates unconscious to use their bodies for medical experiments, a proposal that led to his dismissal. Despite this, he continued to focus on euthanasia, publishing writings on the topic in European medical journals. In an issue of Medicine and Law, he proposed creating suicide clinics, arguing that planned death required well-staffed and well-organized medical facilities where terminally ill patients could choose to die under controlled and compassionate circumstances. In the late 1980s, he invented a suicide device designed to administer a lethal injection. In The Giver, the Releasing Room and its primitive method of conducting Release closely resemble Kevorkian’s suicide device.
Kevorkian appeared on the Donahue talk show in April 1990. A woman diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease watched the show and contacted him. An English professor, she found the prospect of losing her mental faculties unbearable. Both she and her husband were long-time members of the Hemlock Society, which supports doctor-assisted suicide. On June 4, 1990, using Kevorkian’s suicide machine, she ended her own life.
Although legal attempts to punish Kevorkian for this and subsequent actions failed, the moral backlash was intense. Many argued that condoning suicide allows society to neglect its duty to improve conditions for the elderly and chronically ill. However, the woman’s family and friends maintained that she was competent to make her decision and had every right to do so. They defended Kevorkian’s involvement in her death. This case, along with others associated with Kevorkian, has brought the right-to-die issue into the media spotlight. Lowry’s children’s novel may well be recommended reading for adults considering the broader implications of doctor-assisted suicide.
Branch Davidian Raid
In early 1993, the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, was raided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) following complaints from neighbors about hearing machine-gun fire. Additionally, a United Parcel Service employee reported delivering two cases containing hand grenades and black gunpowder. The Branch Davidians were a breakaway faction of the Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists, itself a splinter group of the Seventh-Day Adventists.
David Koresh joined the group in 1984 and quickly began maneuvering to take control. Under his leadership, the religious sect evolved into a full-fledged cult. He imposed a strict regimen on the group but exempted himself from these rules. After an initial failed raid by the ATF, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) surrounded the compound, hoping the cult members would surrender willingly. Weeks of negotiations ensued before the FBI requested Attorney General Janet Reno's authorization for another raid.
The raid began at 12:05 PM. Smoke was soon seen billowing from the compound. Fire trucks were called but didn't arrive for thirty minutes, by which point most of the building had already collapsed. Eighty-six people died in the fire, including seventeen children and Koresh himself. Only nine individuals survived.
Koresh exemplified individuals who cast a mesmerizing influence and gain absolute control over a sect. The community depicted in Lowry’s novel, however, is a significantly larger group and should not be labeled as a cult (a term Lowry herself avoids in the novel), just as the Anabaptists or the Amish are not considered cults. Therefore, while the events of the Branch Davidian raid were contemporaneous with the book’s publication, they are not particularly relevant to the novel’s themes.
Expert Q&A
The influence of past famine and war on the community's structure in The Giver
The influence of past famine and war on the community's structure in The Giver is significant. The Giver explains to Jonas that centuries ago, overpopulation led to severe hunger and subsequent warfare. To prevent such crises, the community now strictly regulates its population, allowing only fifty births per year. This control maintains a stable society with adequate food supplies and no war.
Social Sensitivity
The Giver tackles several significant social issues, addressing some sensitive topics. Like many dystopian novels, it criticizes the unquestioning obedience to societal rules and norms. The protagonist's sole solution to the ethical dilemmas he faces is to flee. The novel illustrates how language can be manipulated to make people accept atrocities and argues against the problems that arise from trying to eliminate individual differences. Consequently, the community has abolished the freedom to make choices. Creating a society where no one experiences pain ultimately proves destructive and diminishes the value of individuality.
To make Jonas feel the need to leave the community, Lowry must depict his horror at how his society passively accepts murder. Therefore, Jonas witnesses his father cheerfully following orders to kill a baby. Another potentially contentious aspect of the society is the eradication of physical love—community members take pills to suppress all sexual desire.
The novel's poignant conclusion, where Jonas and the infant Gabriel escape the community, does not offer a clear resolution to the problems Jonas faces. Similar to the protagonist in Robert Cormier’s I Am the Cheese (1977), who continues to struggle even though his death seems inevitable, Jonas and Gabriel may not survive their journey to safety despite their efforts. The ending is deliberately ambiguous, leaving readers to wonder whether the Christmas lights Jonas sees are real or merely memories he has received from The Giver.
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