ShmoopTube

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The Giver, a la Shmoop. In Lois Lowry’s “The Giver,” people

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live in ‘sameness’ so they don’t have to feel pain.

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Twelve-year-old Jonas finds out he’s to receive the memories of his Community in order

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to learn from their past. Having access to these memories allows Jonas

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to feel love for the first time. Great for Jonas… but what about us? Are

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we hiding our feelings? Are we avoiding pain? Is expressing our emotions becoming less important…

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… than keeping our sanity? How often do we just go for a stroll to think

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deeply about our lives? But then most of us don’t care to be alone

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– we’d rather be hanging out with our friends…

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…doing the same things they’re doing…

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…buying the same clothes… watching the same shows…listening to the same music…

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…avoiding the tough questions and the hard realities of the world we live in.

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In “The Giver,” the Community avoids emotions so they can avoid pain and grief.

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Let’s talk about our community’s emotions for a sec.

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You know - that tingling sensation you get in the pit of your stomach on a first kiss.

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Although it might actually be butterflies living in your stomach. Better get yourself

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checked out. Life certainly has its ups and downs…the

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kind the Collective tried to avoid feeling. In our world, some might argue that feeling

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these ups and downs can be too extreme. The Community in “The Giver” gave up their

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ability to remember their pain. Is the same happening to us in the real world?

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Are we willingly creating our own kind of community ‘sameness’?

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Are we relying too heavily on meds? Are we asking to be prescribed out of experiencing…

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…the peaks… …and valleys…

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…of life’s journey ahead? Will we soon be like the Collective?

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Willing to forget our past to make the present less painful?

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Or will we ‘remember,’ like Jonas, and allow ourselves to live through the challenges,

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glories and disappointments that life brings our way?

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Shmoop Amongst Yourselves.

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