The story in The Giver by Lois Lowry takes place in a community that is not normal. People cannot see color, it is an offense for somebody to touch others, and the community assigns people jobs and children. This unnamed community shown through Jonas’ eye, the main character in this novel, is a perfect society. There is no war, crime, and hunger. Most readers might take it for granted that the community in The Giver differs from the real society. However, there are several affinities between the society in present day and that in this fiction: estrangement of elderly people, suffering of surrogate mothers, and wanting of euthanasia.
The first similarity is that elderly people are left out of the society. In the novel, the elderly cannot have a family. They live in the House of the Old because they are separated from the society. All the people are getting older and weaker without exception, so it is hard for them to live without family. Nonetheless, the society isolates the elderly. “The Old were sitting quietly, some visiting and talking with one another, others doing handwork and simple crafts. A few were asleep” (p. 28). Likewise, in the modern society, elderly people are lonely. Some avoid taking care of their parents suffering from disease like Alzheimer. The elderly are apt to be easily depressed, and this depression can be triggered by the deaths of their spouses, relatives, and friends or by financial worries. Therefore, old people need constant care and their family’s affection. However, due to hectic lifestyle of current society, many elderly people live alone or in care center without their family.
Another similarity can be found in th…
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…relief, even if the amount required compromises respiration and leads to death? Most health care providers say no, because the goals in each are different. In the first situation, the goal is death; in the second, the goal is relief from suffering (Salladay, p. 1).
The Giver provides a chance that readers can compare the real world with the society described in this book through some words, such as release, Birthmothers, and so on. Therefore, readers could be able to see what is happening right now in the real society in which they live by reading her fiction. The author, Lowry, might build the real world in this fiction by her unique point of view.
Work Cited
Salladay, S.A. (2000, November). Is it euthanasia? Nursing [online], 8 paragraphs.
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Freudian Analysis of Woman on the Edge of Time
Freudian Analysis of Woman on the Edge of Time
One can use the psychoanalytical approach to successfully decipher some of the complexities in Marge Piercy’s novel, “A woman on the Edge of Time”. The psychoanalytical approach stems from Freud and his belief that “… Most of our actions are motivated by psychological forces over which we have very limited control”(127 handbook). The two aspects of Freud’s approach that relate to this story are the Oedipus complex and the struggle between the id, ego, and superego.
The Oedipus complex of according to Freud is turned upside down in this novel, because there is no father, yet there are three mothers. The Oedipus complex believes that as a child grows up, he starts out loving both parents equally. As the child grows older he starts to lust after his mother. He then finds that his father is in the way of his goal, and so he decides to try and get rid of the father. In this story, however, there is no father.
“Father?” Luciente raised her wrist, but Connie stopped her.
“Dad. Papa. You know. Male parent.”
“Ah? No, not Bee or Jackrabbit. Comothers are seldom sweet friends if we can manage. So the child will not get caught in love misunderstandings.”(68 novel)
The child can’t feel any rivalry because he has three mothers to satisfy his desires, and no father to compete with. The child obviously has very little to be upset about. This change in the balance of power, and the obvious love that a child gets from the three mothers also opens up a new realm to the people that are born to this age. The children feel more attuned to what they wa…
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…int of changing the language so that it isn’t sexist. The differences between the two sexes are so minimal that people can get along.
The novel takes Freud’s ideas on how the human conscious works and tries to change the world so that there is less conflict. The idea of creating humans that are less sexually dimorphic could definitely be beneficial to humans. The idea of having three mothers and no father is also an interesting idea that could prove helpful. The only concern that I have is that with everyone being so similar, won’t our individuality be challenged so that we feel the same as every one else. Individuality is a characteristic that humans pride themselves on. If it is taken away, then people wouldn’t feel as good about themselves, and most people would lose their drive to do anything constructive or inventive.