Hello again(: ok so a few daysback we had a discussion in school about some of the features of Jonas's society. I felt it was very impactful on me so i decided to pen down some thoughts about it :)
One feature of Jonas's society is that it is very pre-planned. Everything from their careers to their spouses are chosen for them. People do not have a say in what they want to do,or what they want to grow up to be. They have very rigid rules which they have to follow and even if they appeal for it to be changed, the elders take a long time to think about it and rarely does a change of rules even occur. Another point is that everyone gets the same thing at the same age, like everyone gets bicycles when they are 9 and jackets with buttons in the front when they are 8. Everyone celebrates their birthday on the same day too! As a result there is no individuality shown.I feel that this a huge contrary to our present world because in our world we are recognized for creativity and our special talents, that is what differenciates us(:
Another feature of this society is that there is dilution of relationships too. Babies are born through birthmothers and children are assigned to parents! People do not feel deep emotions too.People will never love anyone truly and will never be loved truly by anyone! This makes Jonas's world seem like a very artificial place and people seem like robots because i feel that what differenciates a living thing from a non-living thing is the ability to have a sense to feel deep emotions and reveal affections. If man becomes so mechanical then we are headed for a generation of robotism.
However one thing i like a lot of Jonas's society is that they are very polite! These days if we bump into someone noone really bothers to say sorry however in his society there is a standard apology phrase for everything. Whether the people in his society say it from the bottom of their hearts or say it because they have to obey the rules is a different matter(: and also people must say that they accept one's apology. Whether or not they really forgive is also a different matter but as there is dilution of emotions it might be easy for people to forgive and forget easily =)
This is all i have for now, so think about a world like this...........
Hello! I agree that the people in The Giver would never feel any emotions anymore ever since the society decided to obtain sameness. Families would never truly love one another as they have been placed together by the committee of elders and there is no natural bonding between the family members. Each family member cares for each other because they have to and not because they want to.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I feel that everyone should be polite and apologize not because it is required of them but because they are truly sorry for their misdeeds. If the people say sorry because it is a rule, then it defeats the purpose of apologizing in the first place. If the people do not know what wrong they did, they cannot learn from their mistakes. I think we must apologize because we feel really sorry and we understand our wrongdoings and want to correct them.:)
Hi Sushma :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the people in Jonas's society are very polite! Like whta you said, nowadays, a lot of people are not as polite as the people of Jonas's society. For example, there was this time when someone caused me to trip down, he did not even apologise :(
Even though the politeness that they show may be because it was a rule or due to the dilution of feelings, they are polite as well. I mentioned in my post that if we all learned to be a little more polite, then the world would be a better place...
I like this characteristic about the people too!!
Hi Sushma(:
ReplyDeleteAfter having read your post on how emotions are being lost in Jonas' society and well I completely agree with that point of view. That a dilution of relationships occurs where there will never be true love in his society.
However, I did have some opinions on the idea of politeness in Jonas' society. I agree with it to some extent that people these days are indeed becoming ruder. Although, I feel having a standard apology for everything is not the way to solve such a problem. We should not force people to give or accept apologies because it is infringes on the individual's freedom of choice. But rather what we can do is try to build what is called an organic culture of politeness. It means that we can always try to encourage people to be more polite to apologize when they have committed a mistake and not force them to do it. Admittedly, this means that not everyone is going to apologize however we should learn to accept these and move on with life! We should not let it affect us so greatly because we have to accept each other for what they are! Furthermore, I am sure that a heartfelt apology would be better than one which was said out of necessity!
Additionally, if we were to place such great emphasis on minor things, we would end up living in a world like Jonas’ where there is so much unhappiness and displeasure. Therefore I would rather live in a world of imperfections and learn to appreciate it!(:
Annette!
Hi Sushma!
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said.
There is no freedom Jonas’s society where people are assigned spouses. People cannot make their own choices. Also, Jonas’s society has very strict rules to adhere to. Sometimes, people of the community commit minor transgressions. Jonas’s community is one that is very rigid where not much change takes place. I agree that there is no individuality. Children of the same age receive the type of objects. This shows that community focus a lot on standardising things and values “sameness”. Like what Sushma mentioned, Jonas’s community is opposite of our current world we appreciated and recognised unique talents (differences).
I totally agree with Sushma that people in Jonas’s society are like robots. The people in his community take pills to stop Stirrings (emotions and feelings). As a result, people do not have emotions and affections anymore. They pictured exactly like robots which do not have feelings. Being humans, they are supposed to have feelings but pills are taken to stop natural occurrences.
I do agree that there is a huge contrast between people in Jonas’s community and the people in the present day. People in Jonas’s community are polite, going through the standard apology phrase while people of the current times are impolite. They do not even say sorry when they accidentally knock into you.