1. Citizens lack individuality and have restricted rights in Jonas's community. The Committee of Elders regulates virtually every aspect of society and makes significant decisions regarding a person's marriage, family, and occupation. Citizens in Jonas's society have no individual rights and cannot make independent decisions. Their entire lives are subjected to the needs and wishes of the Committee of Elders.

2. Citizens are subjected to corporal punishment and risk being "released" after three transgressions. Jonas recalls witnessing his friend Asher being physically punished as a child for mispronouncing a word multiple times, and the pilot at the beginning of the novel is murdered by the State for accidentally flying the plane over the community. Underdeveloped or unhealthy infants and the elderly are also euthanized in Jonas's dystopian society.

3. Sameness creates a dystopian society that lacks color, music, and the spontaneity of life. Climate change has dramatically altered the natural environment, and citizens do not have opportunities to fully experience life as it was originally intended. Barriers, rules, and regulations have also stripped each citizen of their independence, and they are prohibited from leaving the community without special permission.

Dystopia refers to "an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives."

The Giver is set in a fictional location, a community that has no variation in weather or climate and has completely decentralized functions such as food preparations and distribution.

Climate Control. Snow made growing food difficult, limited the agricultural periods. And unpredictable weather made transportation almost impossible at times. It wasn't a practical thing, so it became obsolete when we went to Sameness.

Relationships between people are completely controlled by the Committee of Elders, the individuals who make all decisions for everyone in the community.

Like the Matching of Spouses and the Naming and Placement of newchildren, the Assignments were scrupulously thought through by the Committee of Elders.

Assignments demonstrate another dehumanizing characteristic of the community in which the story is set. Persons are not allowed to choose their occupation for themselves; the Committee of Elders determines everyone's assignment, which is announced at the Ceremony of Twelve and is not open to alteration or change.

The imposed structure of the family unit - one mother, one father, one boy child, one girl child - is another example of the way in which the society dehumanized the lives of its citizens.