In The Giver, what does "precision of language" mean?

In the book, "precision of language" means using the correct words to convey the exact thought the speaker intends to communicate. In other words, by using precise language, the speaker can communicate the actual thought and not something that is close to the thought. The narrator even notes that:

the reason for precision of language was to ensure that unintentional lies were never uttered.

In the society of The Giver where everything is planned, precise language is expected from all citizens to avoid unintentional mistakes or accidents in speech. In fact, mistakes in general are not tolerated, including sloppy speech. The author provides a good example when Jonas says something that is not precise.

One day in school, Jonas exaggerates. Just before the class lunch break, he says that he is "starving.” Immediately, he is taken aside and chided for this statement or “lie.” He is told that since he was not actually starving, but merely “hungry,” he was speaking a lie. Even though the lie was unintentional, it is still not acceptable.

Viewing this rule through the lens of our more tolerant society, the reaction to Jonas' statement appears to be too harsh. It seems clear that most people would understand that Jonas was not really starving. His use of the word was intended to convey that he was very hungry and was anxious for the lunch break so that he could eat. However, in Jonas’ dystopian planned society, there is no allowance for exaggeration or what the society deems imprecise speech.

In The Giver, what does "precision of language" mean?

In Lois Lowry’s The Giver, precision of language is an important concept to the members of the community. The community adheres to the ideal of precision of language which leaves the meaning of many words, such as those that describe emotions, vague and devoid of meaning. Each night, Jonas’ family unit participates in a “telling of feelings” ritual despite the fact that they gave up their feelings. This can be seen in chapter one when Lily describes her anger at another child who did not understand the rituals at Daycare.

"I felt very angry this afternoon," Lily announced. "My Childcare group was at the play area, and we had a visiting group of Sevens, and they didn't obey the rules at all. One of them – a male; I don't know his name – kept going right to the front of the line for the slide, even though the rest of us were all waiting. I felt so angry at him. I made my hand into a fist, like this." She held up a clenched fist and the rest of the family smiled at her small defiant gesture.

Jonas realizes that precision of language did not allow for a meaning for the word anger. Words such as love, anger, and happiness are too vague, therefore devoid of meaning in this society. Jonas’ father is the “Nurturer” to young children but he both cares for them and kills them.

The idea of precision of language is supposed to prevent anyone from telling lies. Jonas realizes that this is a form of control because the whole community is actually a lie and a way to create a “non-human” society. The people function according to a set of rituals that are based on precision of language that is devoid of meaning for words that describe emotion, including the notion of love. A society that defines love could be considered dangerous.

In The Giver, what does "precision of language" mean?

The community in The Giver placed great value upon precision in communication - choosing words that conveyed easily understood and measured meanings. In the community's drive to achieve Sameness, it became vital that everyone understood precisely and exactly what was meant by everything that was said by someone else.

This is why Jonas's parents reacted as they did when Jonas asked if they loved him.

There was an awkward silence for a moment. Then Father gave a little chuckle. “Jonas. You, of all people. Precision of language, please!”

"Love" is an emotion. It is a word that can mean many different things to different people. This made it completely unacceptable for use in the community that could not deal with variety or difference.

Why is precision of language important in Jonas's society?

Language "precision," as it is called, is another tool used by the society of The Giver to control the community and keep them content and safe by desensitizing them.

In his essay "Politics and the English Language," George Orwell writes,

Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes....(http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit/)

In this passage and further in the essay, Orwell writes of the power of language. Certainly, language is is a tool for powerful governments; indeed, it is a type of thought control. Continuing some of Orwell's ideas from this essay, he writes, "If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought." This is the very concept behind the invention of Newspeak in Orwell's 1984.

Similarly, in the society of The Giver, language is used to control and corrupt thought. In order to control any intense emotion, which could cause negative results, the society has people discuss their feelings, but only with "precision"; that is, they are restricted to approved words that can be used in the community. Many of them are mere euphemisms, words which are rather innocuous and will neither stir deep emotion in the speaker nor excite it in the listener. By requiring people to use these euphemisms, the thoughts and emotions of the citizenry can better be controlled, as well as modified.

In Chapter 1, for instance, as he rides his bicycle home, Jonas worries over his word choice for the evening ritual in which the members of his family share their feelings about the events of the day. Later, after one of Jonas's family expresses feelings, the others commiserate and offer their words of comfort or support. But, these words really are all too sanguine to be genuine or comforting. In fact, Jonas finds that he must "sift through his complicated emotions" to find the soft words demanded by his society. When he does this, he is left unsatisfied. For instance, as Jonas nears home, he contemplates the upcoming Ceremony of Twelve in which he will receive his Assignment for his life:

...he realized that frightened was the wrong word to capture his feelings about the momentous ceremony.....It was too strong an adjective.

Even though he is eager, excited, and rather nervous about the ceremony, Jonas knows that he must not express all these feelings. So, instead, he decides upon the more euphemistic adjective apprehensive and uses it to describe his feelings about the forthcoming December ceremony. His father merely tells him, "I'm glad that you told us of your feelings."

This sedated conversation of the family keeps a certain calmness in the home, but it also makes for a desensitized and empty life. Nevertheless, this desensitized life is desired by the community because it is safer for the members of the society as they are less likely to disobey the rules or conflict with one another or the authorities than if they expressed powerfully their emotions.

The society of Lowry's novel is created by those who want to eliminate all the conflicts, pain, and griefs to the safe keeping of one person, who alone bares the burdens of these human agonies and emotions. While this one person, who is called the Giver, carries memories and bears the burden of pain and deep emotion, the others opt for sameness over individuality and safety over freedom. And, language is one tool used to maintain this structure.

From The Giver, can you provide an example of Jonas's concern for precision of language?

In Jonas's world, finding the best word to explain one's feelings is an important task. It is so important that the topic is one that is discussed within the first few pages of the book's beginning. "Jonas was careful about language. Not like his friend, Asher, who talked too fast and mixed things up, scrambling words and phrases until they were barely recognizable and often very funny" (3). This textual evidence supports the fact that it is important to Jonas, but as one continues reading, precision of word choice is important to the whole society as well. Jonas's friend Asher is taught by his teacher that there certainly is a difference between the word "distraught" and the word "distracted" (4). In order to express the appropriate feelings, great emphasis is placed on correct word choice in school and at home.

For example, every family unit is required to share their feelings about the day each evening. Jonas works through different words in his mind to determine which one is correct about how he feels about the ceremony coming up in December. He considers the word "eager" but eventually decides that "apprehensive" is a better word. By going through this process of choosing words carefully, Jonas shows that he pays attention to detail, but also pays attention to his feelings. This paves the way for one of the many attributes needed for him to become the Receiver later.

Was the precision of language in The Giver truly precise?

There is no exact answer to this. Yes, it is in many ways precise, and in others ways it is not. Here is why.

The community members strive to choose exactly the right words, and we see this from the very beginning of the story when Jonas is trying to describe his feelings about his upcoming ceremony of twelve. He finally settles on "apprehensive" after going through several other less precise words. In this sense, Jonas IS being very precise. He is giving careful thought not only to his wording, but to his feelings. He considers several other options before settling on "apprehensive," and so one could say that this is one example of being precise.

On the other hand, the community members do not have a wide range of life experiences, and so their word precision actually ends up being limited because of that. One good example of this is the word "release." This word is used to represent what happens to someone at the end of his or her life, yet most people in the community do not actually know what happens at "release"because the community does not talk about death, a natural part of life. Where are these people released to? The general public does not know the answer. Later, Jonas finds out that "release," is a euphemism for "lethal injection" and that they are really dying. One could easily argue here that because the community members do not talk about death or understand what "release" is, their use of the word is imprecise because they do not actually know the meaning. This is counter to so much of the rest of their vocabulary where they know exactly what the word means and are careful to choose the right word.

How does the precision of language influence Jonas' rules in The Giver?

In The Giver by Lois Lowry, "precision of language" is required and strictly enforced in Jonas's community. The community regulates precise language in order to eliminate misunderstandings or room for interpretation. Jonas's community prizes pragmatism and absolutely equality. "Precise language" reinforces their pragmatic, uniform approach to live. Imprecise or emotional language could highlight differences or matters of opinion, which the community is strongly against.

For Jonas, this makes processing his new experiences much more difficult. As the Receiver, his experiences are meant to be felt rather than clinically described. Feelings, however, require ambiguity in their very nature. Love, hatred, longing, and friendship are all very imprecise concepts. While Jonas explores all of these and more during his Receiver trainings, he cannot describe them while maintaining the expectation of precise language.

This makes it more difficult for Jonas to relate to others as he develops throughout the novel. At one point, Jonas says that he loves his family. Rather than returning his affections, his family chides his use of imprecise language. According to the community, he should have used a term like "I enjoy you," as "I love you," is far too ambiguous. This directly prohibits Jonas from truly expressing himself, which leads to his growing dissatisfaction with the community.