The Giver: Should This Book Still Be Read in School

 The Giver, one of the books that caught attention in the last few years, is under the spotlight. More and more books are subject to being banned from schools because they talk about topics that are sensitive nowadays. To Kill a Mockingbird and The Giver are just some of these books, as the world has become more politically correct. Indeed, they are controversial books as they point to some painful topics and issues that are still very present in our societies. So, should this book still be read in school? 

It is a book that gained a lot of attention, especially as it won numerous awards for being a dystopian novel everyone should read. Lois Lowry is an incredible author who has written lots of books that are still read by students in school. But what about books similar to the giver? What about this precise book? 

Brief About the Book 

The Giver is such an interesting book and a perfect one for children who just start questioning life and discovering their emotions. At first, it seems to be a utopian novel, but soon you will discover it is a utopian one. There is a world that is void of emotions, memories, climate, and terrain. People were just programmed to live without feeling anything. They have all been converted to Sameness, to be the same without feeling any pain or emotion. When Jonas, the main character, turns twelve, he is assigned an essential task. He becomes the Receiver of Memory, meaning he gets to remember and feel everything that was behind his time. 

At first, it is challenging to make sense of everything, and slowly, through a lot of tasks, he starts to decipher emotions and understand the difference between good and bad ones. The Giver book is rather controversial. Many schools are thinking about banning it. What are some of the reasons for this? In The Giver essays examples by the book the most frequently cited reasons to challenge The Giver have been “Violence” and claims that the book is not suited for children. You can find many of The Giver essays and samples that explore this topic more in-depth. You can also find a free research paper and many essays samples that point to the exact reasons why this book is considered inappropriate for middle school children.

Positive and Negative Aspects of The Giver 

Just like any controversial book, The Giver has both positive and negative aspects. One of the positive aspects is that the author manages to catch the attention of the reader from the beginning as it portrays a colorless and emotionless world. It really makes you wonder how a world like this would look, without pain, where people are all the same. But the moral is that people should never stop fighting for what they believe in. The nicest message Lowry conveys is that people think that pain is evil and should be avoided at all costs. But when the world is devoid of this pain, of all the emotions, of all the love or desire, it loses its meaning. It loses its sense. 

However, the book might have some negative aspects, especially for middle schoolers. It can sometimes be too vague or ambiguous and not suited for them, as they are just beginning to grasp what life is. The story is nice and it comes with food for thought not only for children but for adults too. However, it does not come with a finite answer, with an ending you can understand. It lets you make your own answers, find everything you need to find, to decipher the ending. The message is that you have power over your decisions but you do not know the consequences of them. Yet, it is crucial to have the freedom to make your own decisions. 

Final Thoughts 

The giver book info might be too heavy for children and this is one of the reasons schools are thinking of banning it. They see it as a violent book, especially for children who are just beginning to decipher emotions and make sense of their world. However, just like any other controversial book, it has both positive and negative aspects. But it comes with food for thought for both children and adults and the giver activities in middle school can be really nice for those who are just starting to question life.

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