Remembering the Past: The Role of Memory in Lois Lowry's The Giver (Essay Sample)

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The Giver

Language:

English

Topic:

Memory in The Giver

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Pages: 3 Words: 765

Introduction

In the dystopian world of Lois Lowry's acclaimed novel The Giver, memory serves a pivotal yet perilous purpose. Through Jonas' training as the Receiver of Memory, The Giver exposes how individual and collective memory shapes identity, history, emotions, and an ethical society. As Jonas gains access to genuine memories from the past, the façade of his community’s harmony cracks, illuminating the vital role human memory plays in morality, relationships, and human experience. This essay will analyze the concept of memory presented in The Giver and its implications for our understanding of recollection, nostalgia, and the dangers of forced forgetfulness. By examining literary elements and scholarly interpretations, the essay argues that Lowry uses memory as a metaphor for individuality and that suppressing memory and history breeds conformity and ethical issues in the novel's fictional community.

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A Society Built on Forgetting

In The Giver, 12-year-old Jonas is selected to train as the Receiver of Memory for his seemingly idyllic community. This anonymous society has chosen to eliminate all pain, conflict, and individuality by erasing the memories of the past. The Elders assign Jonas the demanding role of storing society’s memories of history, emotions, and experiences, which are withheld from others to maintain sameness. Jonas struggles under the weight of genuine memories, from joyful to sorrowful. As he realizes the tremendous sacrifice his community made to live in emotional deadness, Jonas undertakes a heartbreaking journey to return freedom, wisdom, memories, and emotions to his loved ones. Lowry’s novel has been critically praised for its messages about conformity, feeling, ethics, and dangerous utopianism.

Memory and Individual Identity

The first key function of memory presented in The Giver is its development of individual identity, perspective, and meaning. Jonas discovers this as he receives memories from the past, describing how “The memories gave him the horizons of different lives and different centuries” (Lowry 98). As Jonas experiences memories of pain, love, and bravery, he develops a sense of self separate from his conformist society; philosopher John Locke argued memory provides “continuity of identity” over time (Wheeler 1). The Elders, however, see independent identity as disruptive to their communal utopia and so intentionally erase individual and historical memory. As critic James F. Depew argues, Jonas’s accumulated memories “allow him to achieve a state of self-actualization” unavailable within his controlled community (Gordon 202). Lowry suggests suppressing memories leads to a loss of self-awareness and complex humanity.

Memory, Emotion, and Ethics

In addition to identity, Lowry also depicts memory as essential to emotional health, wisdom, and ethical decision-making. When Jonas receives memories of joy and love, he reflects that “without the memories it seemed as if there was no color or substance to anything” (Lowry 98). As philosopher J. Garcia notes, memory of past experiences provides meaning and guides us to make prudent, moral choices (Gordon 205). By contrast, Jonas’ community’s lack of memories means its citizens experience no grief from murdering infants or elderly as part of systematic population control. Lowry implies that the cost of eliminating pain is also losing the capacity for empathy. While the community believes it has achieved an ethical utopia, its emotionless conformityResults in unethical acts, warning readers about the dangers of an idealistic but memory-less society.

The Illusion of Peace Through Forgetting

Some argue Lowry depicts removing negative memories as advantageous in achieving a peaceful, stable society. Euphemistically referred to as “being released”, the community’s euthanization of problem citizens does avoid conflict and differences. However, Lowry portrays this forced forgetfulness as both impossible and unethical. We see the pain of memories always returns when Jonas’ father remembers feelings of loss. And building stability by “releasing” dissidents creates a façade unable to cover deeper societal wounds. Lowry implies that seeking solace in forgetting tragedies, while attractive in the short-term, ignores problems instead of morally and meaningfully grappling with the past.

Conclusion

In The Giver, Lowry uses memory as a metaphor for the human experiences that create our individual identities. She cautions that in pursuit of an ‘ideal’ community, we may be tempted to relinquish our memories and selves to conformity. But the novel powerfully argues that the cost would be losing our humanity. While painful at times, our memories make us ethical, feeling, fallible, wise human beings. Lowry's work contributes an important philosophical perspective: that memories connect us to each other and the past in ways necessary for an authentic, ethical, and purposeful life. The Giver compels us to remember.

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Paper details

Category:

The Giver

Language:

English

Topic:

Memory in The Giver

Download
Pages: 3 Words: 765

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