Theme of Serenity in The Giver By Lois Lowry

In The Giver, Lois Lowry focuses on the theme of sereneness and how it affects the main characters’ community. It especially becomes apparent a few chapters in when the main character Jonas gets selected as Receiver of Memories. Snow can be a bit of an inconvenience, but because of sameness Jonas or people in his community don’t have to worry about it! In chapter 11, page 3 of the giver it says “’ Climate control. Snow made growing food difficult, limited the agricultural periods. And the unpredictable weather made transportation almost impossible at times. It wasn’t a practical thing so it became obsolete when we went to sameness.’” As a result of the community taking away weather, people who rely on transportation to get to their job don’t have to worry about not being able to make it because of the weather. It also means that crops will be easier to grow, and there won't be any shortages of food which could cause the community distress. Sameness makes it easier for people to just live. In chapter 16 page 4, it says “’ Well,’ he said finally, grasping for an explanation, ‘They had fire right there in that room. There was a fire burning in the fireplace. And there were candles on a table’” Jonas being so caught off guard about the fire implies that no fire is allowed in his community. Assuming not having fire was an effect of sameness. Sameness prevented the risk of fire. No houses could burn down, no one could die in a fire whether it was a house or forest, and most of all the risk of causing distress to the community was taken out of the picture when sameness took place. In addition to those pros of sameness, everyone has a place because of it. In chapter 2 page 4, it says “’ The elders know Asher,’ his mother said. ‘They’ll find exactly the right assignment for him.” Asher never really had any main interests, and Jonas was worried the Elders wouldn’t find an assignment for him. But they did. And Asher was happy with his assignment. This shows that because of sameness, everyone has a place and everyone will be treated equally. Even though someone might not exactly “fit in” at the moment there will always be an opportunity for them to join the community and have a place like everyone else. No matter what, everyone provides for the community, everyone has a husband or wife, everyone has a family unit and everyone is treated with equality. Sameness provides a spot for everyone and anyone who might need it. There's no distress or hurt in the community when everyone is provided the same things. All in all, Sameness can provide many good things to a society and overall make a society more enjoyable and serene to live in.