The Giver: Main issues

Main issues of "The Giver" is that no one was able to think, feel, grow, and develop as an individual. The community was so controlled that everyone was assigned a job, and a mission in life. Socialization was only done in a positive manner. Schooling was narrowly defined. The selective process, of who lives and who dies, was evil, yet unknowingly to the community. The selective process pertained to the newborns and the elderly. The whole community pretty much acted like programmed videogame characters. The community knew little beyond its borders. Living was simplified and disconnected from the world like the Amish.

The Giver: Euthanasia

There are reasons why society don't make doctors countdown to death of their patients. It's unmoral, and it's like putting a gun to your head and counting down to zero. In fact the author purposely put that in there, because she knows this is how the death sentence is carried out for murderers (aka the lethal injection death sentence)! The elderly in the book aren't murderers (except for Jona's father who kills babies) so they shouldn't die this way.

The Giver: Tradegies

It gives me chills when I think of brain death, because it's a human reaction. After death happens my conscious/subconscious is obviously in a infinite state of nothingness. It comes without warning and you're dead before you know something happened, because death is something completely at random. Pain is worst then death, yet counting down to death is worst then pain, but war is the exception. You don't die for your country; you let the other son of a gun die for his country. I prefer the natural random way myself [as a civilian].

As far as tradegies go, I have a many post-Apocalyptic videogames which pretend to be after nuclear fallout or demon fallout. I haven't experience a significant tragedy in reality, but have many examples in videogames. The movies are less important, but I've seen most of the the major end-of-the-earth ones.

Pre-Apocalyptic videogames I own :

1.Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion
2.Final Fantasy VII for Playstation
3.Half-life for PC
4.Shoot em ups like Ikauga for Gamecube, Gradius V, Silpheed The Lost Planet for PS2
5.Odin Sphere for PS2
6.Phantasy Star 2 for Sega Genesis
7.Phantasy Star 3 for Sega Genesis
8.Phantasy Star 4 for Sega Genesis
9.Xenosaga Episode 1 for Ps2
10.Xenosaga Episode 2 for Ps2
11.Xenosaga Episode 3 for Ps2

Apocalyptic videogames I own :

1.Battlefield 2142 for PC
2.Command & Conquer 3 for PC
3.Dead Rising
4.Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction for PC
5.Diablo for PC
6.Diseagea 2 for PS2
7.Diseagea Hour of Darkness for PS2
8.Gears of War for Xbox 360
9.Half-life 2 for PC
10.Phantom Dust for PS2
11.Resident Evil 0 for Gamecube
12.Resident Evil for Gamecube
13.Resident Evil 2 for Dreamcast
14.Resident Evil 3 for Dreamcast
15.Resident Evil 4 for Gamecube
16.Resident Evil Code Veronica for Dreamcast
17.Shin Megami Tensei – Digital Devil Saga 2 for Playstation 2
18.Shin Megami Tensei – Digital Devil Saga for Playstation 2
19.Shin Megami Tensei – Nocturine for Playstation 2
20.Warcraft 3 for PC
21.World of Warcraft for PC
22.Xenogears for Playstation
23. Stella Deus for PS2

Pre-Apocalyptic movies I've seen :

Dr. Strangelove
Armageddon

Post-Apocalyptic movies I've seen :

28 Days Later
A Boy and his Dog
Children of Men
Final Fantasy the Spirits Within
Independence Day
Mad Max
On the Beach
War of the Worlds

The Giver: Ceremonies

I graduated from conformation at Redeemer Lutheran Church. I was also baptized at a Lutheran church. Today, my religious beliefs are bare minimal. In elementary school, every classmate worked on their project to science fair held in the Gym. I never was awarded the blue ribbon, because my ribbon was white. I didn't try hard enough. Our family celebrates Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween and Xmas, but those are national holidays as well as Christian holidays. Of those four holidays, we don't go to church for any of them. It is difficult to describe how ceremonies are different in each culture, because Atheists like to adopt Christmas, Thanksgiving and Halloween for unique characteristics respectfully. Everybody gets cake and presents for their birthdays. Every elementary student is involved in school ceremonies including graduation, science fair; a small percentage who play in band are a part of homecoming twice [one for football and the other for basketball] and Christmas band concerts. In elementary school, A-honor role students ceremonies went on special field trip. Other school ceremonies are Christmas band concert, and homecoming football game held at night. The Jewish are known to have 24 more holidays than Christians holidays. Muslims have a lot more ceremonies than Christians and Lutherans. The Super Bowl a national ceremony in that 150,000,000 viewers watch the game on TV and eat junk food. Also since NASCAR is the 2nd hottest spectator sport, 1/3 of US households watch the Daytona 500 Sunday and eat junk food and watch cars go around in circles counterclockwise as the announcer names the places and gives history.

The Giver - Sameness

If we were all the same there would be no wars unless there was a resistance of anti-sameness citizens. Everybody would watch the same sports, go to selected vacations by the giver, and have stupid ceremonies where the parents say the newchild's name 30 times when their first baby dies by falling into river. I wouldn't be proud of my accomplishments, because job pay would be the same as most people in my occupation. There would be no military superpower like USA. There would be no 33 people died at Virginia Tech because of a Chinese physco's shooting-spree. There would be no Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Fusion or fission bombs would be unlikely. What is wrong with The Giver is every time Jonas stares up in the sky and see a military fighter jet...People think there may war in the past or present. These citizens take every jet seriously. Everybody would play the same non-violent videogames, and the only R movies would be comedy, action and drama. No crime-drama, war-flick, horror, porn-flicks or anime in case of Giver's world. All the Marvel Comics in stock are the 1950-1960s cloned versions where everything is pro-superhero. Bad guy always looses. None of the cars would have chrome and all the pickups would be generic w/o luxury. A world-wide plague would be very unlikely.