The Giver, Blogpost ✎

How do you feel about the "standard practices" and "rituals" in the community?

The rituals in this community are extremely different to the rituals we practice. Almost everything in their way of living is different to the way we live ours. The way the choose their family, job, even their death date.

I find it very interesting when it comes to how they get their families. They way the are chosen for them is very different to they way we choose ours. First of all when finding a spouse they have to apply for one to the committee, then the elders take years to examine the individuals, and try to find couples that balance each other out, for example Jonas’ parents balance each other out with his mothers great intelligence and his fathers calm nature. Second part to getting a family that is different from our society is when the “family unit” receives a child. Again, the family unit has to apply for another member, then in December in the annual ceremony the families that applied for a child, are given one with the name already chosen.

Secondly, I come to the selecting job part of the community. I think this difference in the society is particularly interesting because it plays a big role in all the individuals lives. I find it very surprising that one of the biggest decisions in their lives are made for them, there future career. This decision happens like so, the elders are constantly watching every child from birth, they pay particular attention to there interests and skills to find out what job would suit them the most. Again this is also very different to our community.

Lastly I want to talk about the difference between our types of deaths, and their “release” dates. There are three different occasions in which you could be released, or “put to sleep”. The first is when you are already very old and your time has come, to say goodbye, this is when being released is celebrated, the second is when your are a new born and there might be some sort of problem you may be released, in this occasion the release is always sad. Finally the last occasion where you could be released is when you have broken a serious rule in the community, this is always frowned upon.

Now, again as I said all these “rituals” are very different to the way we do things in our world. And you might think this is all wrong, that their way of living shouldn’t be so controlled, that maybe they should be able to make their own choices, especially about their own futures, and I agree, but the thing is, they don’t know any better. They have never experienced anything different, they don’t know what’s good or bad, all they have is there controlled way of living.