Student Question
What effects do the pills have on the citizens in The Giver?
Quick answer:
The pills in The Giver suppress hormonal urges, or "Stirrings," to maintain societal control and eliminate strong emotions. They curb the libido, essentially acting as chemical castration, and are taken from puberty until old age. By stifling these natural feelings, the Community aims to ensure peace and contentment, sacrificing individuality and emotional depth, which Jonas eventually rejects by choosing to stop taking the pills.
The pill given to those who have reached puberty and over reduce hormonal urges, or "Stirrings" as they are called.
In Chapter Five the morning ritual of telling dreams begins with Lily.
Usually Jonas does not have a dream to recount, but this time he relates a
dream he has had that has taken place in the House of the Old where he was with
Fiona and he wanted her to bathe with him in one of the tubs. Jonas mentions
how strong "the wanting" was. He also recalls how pleasurable it was to
consider Fiona with the new feelings.
After his sister departs for school, Jonas's mother detains him in order to
explain that his "wanting" was an indication that the Stirrings have begun in
him. And, it is then that Jonas recalls hearing the Speaker mention that
Stirrings must be reported so that treatment could begin.
Before Jonas...
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leaves for school, his mother has him take the appropriate pill that curbs these Stirrings. As he rounds a corner on his bicycle, Jonas's memory of the enjoyment in the Stirrings begins to fade, even as he briefly tries to recall the pleasurable feelings.
In the effort to attain a perfect society, anything that might arouse strong feelings has been eliminated. The people do not see color, they must not use emotional words; they adhere to Sameness in order to avoid conflicts. Individuality is sacrificed to conformity. In the long history of mankind, the strongest feelings in anyone have been those generated by hormones; for this reason, the Community strictly controls these Stirrings in order to maintain peace and contentment. But, it is Stirrings, more than any other quality in people, that truly makes them human, bringing them all the emotions that compose their very souls.
In The Giver, what effect did the pills have on Jonas and others?
The pills stifled the libido (sex drive), so actually they were a form of chemical castration! In a world of sameness, there was no place for opposites of anything, including the sexes and intense emotional feelings. Jonas's mother explained to him that adolescents and adults took them until they went to the House of the Old. At this point, pills were no longer necessary, nor were family ties either, for that matter!
Jonas later has a "memory" imparted to him of a Christmas scene and wonders why the Community ever did away with the feeling of belonging in a family - with children, parents and grandparents. With an gnawing emptiness in his heart, he asks his father if he loves him, to which he replies that he "enjoys" him very much. Jonas then feels the "loss" of something he has never really known.
It is interesting that the first intentional act of rebellion "against the system" Jonas ever committed was when he decided not to take the pills. In a way, this is a crisis moment in that after having made this choice, for Jonas there is no turning back.