The Giver, a young adult novel written by Lois Lowry in 993, is set in what appears at first to be a utopian society with immaculate and faultless systems. Although as the story progresses, more and more of the societys imperfections are revealed, posing the question to both readers and the protagonists of the book, is the community a utopia after all? The novel follows the life of a 2-year old boy called Jonas and his struggles in his so-called perfect community. Jonas, during his Ceremony of Twelve, is selected to be the next Receiver of Memory, the person who receives and stores memories from times before sameness, a governing ideology practiced by the community. The general concept behind sameness was to prevent any kind of deviation from socially acceptable norms. Sameness was used not only to control social values but also to control other factors like weather and color. Due to the
implementation of sameness, the community and its environment were completely devoid of color, climate, terrain, or conflicts such as war. In the community, the role of Receiver of Memory was significantly honored, but as the Chief Elder mentioned during the selection ceremony, the role would bring Jonas sizable amounts of pain, pain that he had never experienced before, pain that the rest of the community simply could not comprehend, which is why the Chief Elder explained, they were convinced Jonas possessed all the qualities required to be the next Receiver of Memory. During his time as Receiver of Memory, Jonas is introduced to concepts such as color, emotion, pain, and war. Jonas is given memories of love and warmth but is also exposed to the horrific struggles of war, poverty, and hunger. As Jonas receives more and more memories, he wishes he could live in a world free of sameness.