Freedom and Choice
Time and again in human history numerous wars have been fought and lives have been lost due to struggles for freedom and choice. People have sacrificed their lives for the freedom of expression, speech, freedom to live, among other basic rights. Freedom has worked for society and at times has worked against it. Too much freedom can destroy a community by giving the people a sense that they have the right to break even the most needed and fundamental rules and thus would cause disruption to the law and order of everyday life. If there is no freedom in a society, then the people are deprived of creativity, change, individuality, expression, and the ability to advance in life based collective opinion of the general people. Freedom has to be balanced wisely.
Freedom is such a strong word in our current society. Freedom is a strong force to deal with. It is supported by its allies and therefore is not something to be reckoned with. The argument of freedom is a prominent theme in The Giver by Lois Lowry. The Giver revolves around Jonas and his community, whose wings of freedom have been clipped. Whether the people's lack of freedom contribute in the success of their community or their failure, is a tough question. When thinking of this so many observations have to be considered. The Committee destroyed a huge part of the lives of the people of Jonas's community. They had to control emotion, memory that can trigger emotion, opinion, weather, color, and choice, in order to ensure that the community had no freedom at all. And when Jonas is given memories of weather, color, choice, feelings, and opinions, he develops an idea of freedom and he questions why no one else has this choice and freedom. Throughout chapters 16-18, we have been given a moment to ponder on the subject of freedom and multiple quotes have influenced our thoughts on this matter. Multiple times in these chapters the author emphasizes the fact that freedom is an issue in Jonas's community. Since freedom and choice are such vast subjects, it takes a steady exploration to truly explain this concept through writing. There are various quotes in the book that express the importance of freedom and choice.
"Gabriel's breathing was even and deep. Jonas liked having him there, though he felt guilty about the secret. Each night he gave memories to Gabriel: memories of boat rides and picnics in the sun; memories of soft rainfall against windowpanes; memories of dancing bare-footed on a damp lawn.
'Gabe?'
The new child stirred slightly in his sleep, Jonas looked over at him.
'There could be love,' Jonas whispered.
(Page 128 and 129 of The Giver by Lois Lowry)
The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away."
Now that Jonas has experienced memories of freedom and choice, he is starting to apply expressions of freedom to his life and does not take his pill as an act defiance of the rules. Jonas begins to wonder why his community lacks of the freedom he yearns. Why can't everyone have emotion, color, and weather that can influence their choices? Why can't they make decisions based on their previous experiences and their feelings?
The Committee took away freedom and choice, in order to create a safe and orderly community. But was it really worth the losses? The people of the community were deprived of so much when they transitioned into Sameness. What is life without freedom? Is it worth living, if you cannot decide how you want to live? Does life have meaning without the ability to make choices on your own? Without choice it is not your life that you are living, it is someone else's. If the life we are living is not our own then what is the point of living it? If you take choices away, what are you left with? A life with no aim, but to fulfill other people's decisions. Freedom is can be a gift that shapes a person's personality and thoughts.
When you read the quote displayed from the story, you can see that Jonas's community does not have love, which the Committee demolished. Withdrawing love is taking away one of the most important emotion in our lives. Love is so connected with freedom and choice, that extracting love was also abolishing a huge part of freedom. We have the choice to pick who to love and who to hate and the freedom to love whoever we want. Love affects our choices builds relationship and makes a community . It puzzles Jonas why people cannot have love, which leads us to believe it is so because love can encourage freedom.
The quote from the story also expressed Jonas's new understanding of freedom. Now that he has been in contact with memories, emotion, color, and weather, he has a knowledge of what freedom is. Through the memories, like the one of the war he witnessed, he is able to find out more about the people who lived before him, when Sameness was not incorporated. Jonas has seen how people can make choices and have the freedom to express them. This leads Jonas to make his own choice of not taking the pill, which goes against everything he has been taught, and this showcases the true greatness of freedom. It had the power to change Jonas's mind, even though Jonas has lived in an environment that does not support freedom.
" 'There are so many good memories,' The Giver reminded Jonas. And it was true. By now Jonas had experienced countless bits of happiness, things he had never known of before.
He had seen a birthday party, with one child singled out and celebrated on his day, so that now he understood the joy of being an individual, special and unique and proud."
(Page 121 of The Giver by Lois Lowry)
Jonas is exploring how being an individual can be a joy. To be an individual requires difference, which Jonas's community does not include in their systematic way of life. Individuality also involves freedom, for you need the freedom, in order to be able to express your individuality. Making choices helps in the growth our identity and makes us who we are and how unique and different each individual is. Without freedom we cannot make choices and without choices, how can our identities advance? How can we learn from our mistakes and thus become better people? How can you prompt talents and advancements in life, if you are being held back by the obliteration of freedom? People cannot express their identity if there is lack of freedom. By deducting freedom the Committee discouraged individuality and without individuality in Jonas's community there is a stunt in the improvement of the society. A great thinker, Albert Camus, once said, "Freedom is nothing else, but a chance to be better."
As Jonas progresses through his training as Receiver, he learns more and more about how freedom and choice can affect daily life and contribute in the enhancement of the society. As I read through the book I am able to compare and contrast my world to Jonas's and often I find evident differences. One of those being the magnitude of freedom. The Giver provides us the opportunity to explore the words freedom, rights, emotion, and choice. This book gives us a way to appreciate what our world has that Jonas's does not and also examine the good characteristics of Jonas's community that we do not have. The Giver by Lois Lowry is a moral guide of positive and negative enforcement of freedom in community. In our world today freedom is desired and this is seen through unrest caused by people craving for their rights across the globe in countries like Egypt and Libya. Freedom is a treasure that we should all cherish, because we are lucky enough to be presented with the right for freedom.
"Liberty is the right to choose, freedom is the result of that choice." Unknown Source
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