The Giver (Chapters 10-14)
In Jonas's community, every person and his or her experience are precisely the same. The climate is controlled, and competition has been eliminated in favor of a community in which everyone works only for the common good. What advantages might "Sameness" yield for contemporary communities? Is the loss of diversity worthwhile?
The advantages of living in a society of sameness would be that there would be less stress. Ideally there would be no poverty, no unemployment, no upper, middle, or lower class. Everyone would have health-care, a home, enough to eat, and the same education. There would be no competition, no struggle for jobs, and no personal choices. Everything would be decided for each and every individual within the Utopian society. There would be no prejudice because everyone looks the same as well.
ReplyDeleteThe drawbacks of Sameness are seen through Jonas’s eyes when he becomes the receiver and begins to see things more truthfully, through the memories he receives. All relationships are superficial. Parents are expected to minimize differences between their children, and the rules of society dictate every reaction, feeling and response allowed to them. The Community is very boring; there is no difference, no diversity among anyone. Beauty doesn't exist. There is not much progress or anything special either because someone would not be able to excel in a certain area because their jobs and experiences are chosen for them. The Community is a flat, neutral world where no one is ever sad, but no one is every happy either, and they don't realize what the alternatives really are.
ReplyDeleteThere are many advantages about "Sameness." One of them is that with "Sameness", people would not make bad decisions. In our communities today, decisions are made that cause many people to suffer. For example, some people have too many children and cannot afford to feed them. Some people also waist a lot of time and energy in choosing the wrong carrier in college. "Sameness" also lessens violence. In school, there might not be any bullies because everyone would look the same. Citizens would not die because of natural disasters with "Sameness." In New Orleans, there was a big hurricane that made thousands of people homeless. With "Sameness", Hurricane Katrina would never have happened. I do not think that the loss of diversity is worth it for several reason. The first reason is that our city would be very boring if everyone looked the same. There would not be any unique looks about anyone. It would be hard to see someone if you were looking for them. I would not like to live in a world with no diversity.
ReplyDeleteTe advantages of "Sameness" in a society is that there will be no povery and unfairness. Everybody is equal and nobody will be jealous. With jealousy, burgalry and murder could occur at most. Because everyone is the same, there will be no problems about fairness and jealousy. No one would be teased because everyone has almost the exact same life as well.
ReplyDeleteBut, what about the loss of diversity?
ReplyDeleteThe loss of diversity in this community has many disadvantages too. Freedom would not show up in this community. You will not be able to do what ever you want to do in this community. Your inner thoughts and feelings would be restricted in this society because you have to act the same as everyone else. Clearly, this community would be dull and boring because you do not have rights to do what you want to do.
ReplyDeleteThe advantages of "Sameness" in a society is that there would be no poverty or jealousy. Without jealousy there would be no fighting or stealing from other people. There would be no starvation because competition is eliminated so nobody has to compete for food and go hungry. No one would ever be cold or really hot because the climate is controlled. And there would be no bullying r mockery because everyone would be the same.
ReplyDeleteLike number 6 said, there would be always enough to eat, everyone would have healthcare, and a home. In addition, there would be no conflicts and everyone would get along peacefully.
ReplyDeleteSameness has its disadvantages to. As much as sameness prevents hunger or conflicts, you would have no freedom to have choices because everything is always the same. Your life will be boring from not being able to do everything different. The climate would probably stay the same to just as number 4 said.
ReplyDeleteThe advantages Sameness has is that there is no discrimination. Everyone is the same, and no one can insult or judge anyone by the color of their skin, like people have done in the past. The loss of diversity; however, is not worthwhile. You just cannot be your own person. There is no difference between everyone's personalities in the Community; it is not good; however, it is not bad at the same time.
ReplyDeleteSameness yields many advantages to the community. If everyone and everything is the same, then there will be no competition or wanting. There would be no greed in the Community. Nobody would be discriminated because of the way they dress, look, or what grades they get. As the book explains, the Community’s climate is controlled. This provides bountiful harvests year round and enough food for everyone all the time. There will also be no natural disasters, as it is once said. Jonas receives a dream in which somebody is sledding. The Giver tells him that snow caused a decrease in crops and caused devastating floods. Because the Elders controlled it and made the weather clear year round, the people have not experienced hunger or natural disasters. Sameness is a bad thing, because there is no diversity. You never get to experience the uniqueness of other cultures, and you never get to try anything new. Your life never has any interesting events in it- everything is expected. In one of the memories he receives, Jonas sees someone sledding, and he wonders why he never got to do that. The Giver explains that it is because of Sameness.
ReplyDelete6, I really liked your description of sameness- especially the phrase, "The Community is a flat, neutral world where no one is ever sad, but no one is every happy either, and they don't realize what the alternatives really are." I thought this was really descriptive and I completely agree with it. It conveys the message in a very meaningful way.
ReplyDeleteThe advantages of Sameness in a community is that there is no bullying or harassing. Everyone would be the same looking which gives no need for making fun of each other. The mood in the community would be the same everywhere. No one would be really happy or sad because there are no colors. The weather would be the same also reflecting on the mood people have. There would be nothing different subtracting competition from the community. This would give jobs and education. The loss of diversity would not be worthwhile because life would be boring. You couldn't do anything different. You can't have mixed emotions.
ReplyDeleteThere are many advantages about "Sameness." With Sameness, there would be no jealousy because everyone would look the same. Also there would be less violence since everyone dresses the same. Sameness would also cause less people to make the wrong choice. For example, with Sameness, everyone would have the same amount of kids so they could have enough money to feed them. Also there would be no poverty with Sameness. Everyone would have a job that pays the same amount of money. I do not think the loss of diversity is worthwhile. Everyone would look and act the same. There would be nothing unique about the world. Also with no diversity, we would not be able to learn as much about other people.
ReplyDeleteThe advantages to "Sameness" is that if everyone looks the same. If everyone normally looks the same their will be no gangs. Also, you cannot disclude anyone for looking different. Also it can be good because you would always have a job just like everyone else. Like number 22 said, natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina wouldn't occur. No one would have suffered.
ReplyDeleteBut, what about the lack of diversity, #16?
ReplyDeleteThe advantages of saneness would be that there would be no racism because everything, including skin, is the same color ( shades of grey ). There would also be no tesing because of clothes, hairstyle, or family, because all people
ReplyDelete( of a certain age )are exactly the same. As several people have commented, there would be no natural disasters, droughts, or floods.
#14, I like your descriptions of "nothing unique" and "no diversity".
ReplyDeleteBut you also talked a lot about money. I don't think the people who live in the community get any money for working.
Sameness is also bad because there would be no diversity, free choice, or feelings. Sameness might stop racism and sexism, it also stops many good things, such as style and personality. Everyone is like a robot: exactly the same. No one gets to choose what they want to do; they can't choose their job, spouse, clothes, haircut, family, or anything else. Only the Council of Elders can decide anything. While the Community was meant to be an utopia, it became an oligarchy, where a few people have all the power. While there is no anger, there is also no love or happiness.
ReplyDeleteSameness is taking away everything that lets humans progress. Other people say there are no gangs, natural disasters, hate, anger, sickness, poverty, and every bad thing in the world like in Pandora's box. It will fix short term problems, but then humans don't progress. In the long term, humans are hurt. Progress ceases, and human kind's purpose is erased. There is nothing new. Uniqueness disappears. Human nature is no longer existent with Sameness. In fact, members of the Community are not really human anymore.
ReplyDeleteThere are many good things that "Sameness" brings to us. Such as not having homeless people or people who can't supply food, everyone would be the same. "Sameness" would help humans by taking away hurting and all the bad things like jealousy. Having "Sameness" would be nice because it will take all of the hard work out. However, it would make life boring. Life is only fun with risks and differences. The more unique you are, probably the better. Everyone should be themselves and only have some "Sameness" because it makes life much less boring and dull. Everyone should express themselves as who they are.
ReplyDeleteThe advantages for Sameness in modern communities are that you can walk by people easily without being insulted because everyone would speak the same, dress the same, and behave the same. So if they would insult you, they are making fun of themselves. Also there would not be any jealousy because of how similar we are. Without jealously murdering is less likely to occur. The loss of diversity is not worthwhile because uniquenessmakes up everyone.Different personalities and different looks. Life would be dull without diverity.
ReplyDeleteSameness is taking away the joy in peoples life.The best part in a persons life is to make decisions.Yes someone might say well what if you make the wrong choice.If you make the wrong choice then that would be your fault.If you weren't able to make a choice everybody's life would be dull.The advantages of sameness is that no one would be able to insult you .Then you wouldn't always have to worry about what you are wearing what the way you are shaped and the color of your skin.
ReplyDeleteSome advantages of Sameness would be that there would be no greed for anything, since everthing each person starts with is the same, envy for other people's things, since everybody has the same thing, people cannot want other things, no prejudice, since everybody would have the same skin color and clothing, or poverty. Climate is also carefully controlled to help the crops grow as much, and as quickly as possible, so there would be no starvation. And as long Sameness continues, people would not get into fights or wars. Though there are many advantages to Sameness, the los of diversity is not worth it because every single person would not be able to make a single important choice in life, like a spouse, job, clothes, or other things. Sameness contributes in many ways, but the loss of diversity is not worth it.
ReplyDeleteThe advantages of sameness are that when things are the same you have less things to worry about. Like getting nice clothing, making sure your hair looks nice, wearing clothing that fitts the weather. If things were the some life would be much easier and less stressful, also it would help our world becuase that means that we would not have to fight for things like discriminaton. All in all being equal or the same has many advanteges
ReplyDeleteBut, what about the lack of diversity, #20?
ReplyDeleteOne disadvantage of having sameness is life would be boring. For example with sameness you wouldne be able to express youself which is what life is about, being yourself. Since the weather is the same all the time, you would not be able to experience really warm or cold weather, or things like snow. If everything is the same then no one will have that one special thing that makes them diffrent.
ReplyDeleteThe advantages of living in a society of Sameness would be that there is no poverty and jobs for everyone. Everyone would have an education. There would be no challenges or struggling. Everyone would live healthily. No one would be discriminated, since everyone looks so similar. Because of Climate Control, there would be no disasters like floods and hurricanes. The loss of diversity is not worthwhile. We wouldn't get to learn the new cultures like we get to now. California is a very diverse place. Because of this, I get to learn so many new things about different cultures. With Sameness, we wouldn't learn much about different cultures, since everyone is too similar. Now, I get to learn about different rituals and traditions, but I don't think I would be able to do that in the Community. The Community is a boring place. There aren't any challenges or any struggling. Most of all, I feel that people are too worried about following the rules to have any fun. For example, Jonas is always worried that he doesn't use precise language. If everything is the same, there will be no special things about each person. Everyone would be too similar.
ReplyDeleteThere are many advantages of having "Sameness". "Sameness" would take away discrimination in the world because everyone would look the same. Everyone would have the same things and no one would be jealous. Everyone's lives would be the same. Climate control would make natural disasters disappear, and there would be no problems with having too much water or having a drought. Climate control would help farmers not have trouble having to grow crops. With "Sameness", hunger would not be a problem anymore. Unlike our communities today, "Sameness" would provide homes for everyone, and no one would be living on the streets asking for money. Pain would be a thing of the past. For example, Jonas never knew about pain until he received the memory of sunburn and breaking a leg. "Sameness" would improve the world; however, it is not worthwhile losing diversity. Life is not the same without individuality. The loss of diversity would make life boring. People would not get much experience, and everyone would be doing the same thing. Feelings would matter less. People would get less experience, and they would not be able to try out new things. People would not be able to feel the snowy, cold winters and the warm, humid summers. There would be no such thing as unique because everyone looks the same, dresses similarly, and acts the same way. People would not know what they don't know because of "Sameness". The loss of diversity would mean the loss of the true meaning of life.
ReplyDeleteThe advantages of Sameness are that everything is equal, Since everything is equal, people cannot judge others by what they have, wear, look like, etc. Everything would be done for you. You would have enough food, enough water, enough clothes, and a home. You would never have any trouble getting a job. However, the loss of diversity is not worth it. No one can make choices of their own and no one can really experience life to the fullest. If the weather is all the same, no one can really know what snow, and rain, and sunshine is. Also, like number 20 said, no one would have something that makes them special and different.
ReplyDeleteThe advantages of "Sameness" in a society is that the people would not want other people's things. They would not steal or do anything bad. Some murders are caused by jealousy. They think that it is unfair and do the wrong things. There would not be any bullying because there won't be any bullies. Everyone would be treated the same so they would not fight. “Sameness” is helpful because some people are treated unfairly. When they are, they tend to get really mad and start a fight or argument. Some people can make others feel bad if there isn’t “sameness”. Like in school, some students pick on others for being different. This can make many people feel extremely bad. This can cause a fight between the two sides.
ReplyDeleteThe advantages of "Sameness" in a small society like Jonas' is that people would not lack of what others might have. There would not be stealing or threatening others to give up thier possesions. Therefore, nobody can feel scared knowing that anbody will jump out of nowhere and steal everything that is valuable that is in their pockets.
ReplyDeleteThe advantage of "Sameness" in the Commuinty is that nobody can envy you, that means there will be no stealing or someone hating you. Everyone would mostly like you, and won't feel left out.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the disadvantages of "Sameness"?
ReplyDeleteThough "sameness" is also a bad thing, everyday, everybody can be bored of the same old life. Without differnce, then our life and ourselves has no use of living then. You won't feel special.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there are some positive aspects in "Sameness", there are even negative aspects as well, despite the fact that there is no violence, living in the Community is like eating tofu the rest of your life. It's tasty, but it doesn't quite satisfy you at all. Without expression or color, everything is bland and tasteless. Nobody in the world that I know cannot live like that! You won't have any pure expressions or any type of feeling. Itr's like that there is no spirit in any body. Just a life-less and hollow shell that could have changed the world.
ReplyDeleteEven though sameness can be good, it can also be bad. I good ways, sameness will make every problem caused by difference like racial harassment. In bad ways, there is no point of doing better job than others who do the same job. When you can make difference, you will try to do better job, which will make the working place more advanced. Loss of diversity is not worth while because of the reason. Plus, it will be more fun and challenging to have difference.
ReplyDeleteThe advantages of contemporary communties are that no other pain will spread to the poeple in the comminuities if it spread to one community, it would spread to another, then another, and so on until the world is filled with pain again. Without sameness is no pain for the communties in the world, no one will starve, no one will be killed, and etc. This loss of diversity is not worthwhile. The people in all communities will never be able to experience the good memories of life, they will never be able to make choices, they will never be able to experience freedom.
ReplyDeleteThe positive affects of "Sameness" makes a community have a very low chance of injustice or wrongdoings, and everyone works together for one or more goals without any quarreling. Though, the people of that kind of community would have no choices for themselves. That is the disadvantage of the lack of diversity, no freedom, not even a memory of good living.
ReplyDeleteThere are advantages and disadvantages for Sameness, one example is for everyone, no one would be in poverty, and no one would be malnourished. Difference could be made without Sameness, and no would be equal. Without these reluctant aspects, Jonas’s and many others community could be hurting with misbehavior, have thievery, and simulate injustice. Disadvantages of Sameness are the identical behavior of other people, no one would be different, every one would nearly have the same aspects of each other and their community would be dull.
ReplyDelete