The Giver Review

Lois Lowry's profoundly prophetic novel, The Giver, tells of a bland future society. In this world, Jonas, a young boy, is selected to become the new Receiver of Memory at the annual Ceremony, where children of the age twelve are assigned to occupations.

Although I have read this book twice before, I always find new, deeper meanings.

This time around, the harsh, controlling society stood out in my thoughts. The people in this novel had basically no freedoms.

From birth, citizens learned what was "polite" and "rude" and made formal apologies for any comments or deeds that caused discomfort or brought attention to differences. They dressed the same and lived in the same houses. Food was delivered at set times. All children born in a year officially aged at an annual Ceremony.

The Elders choose occupations for each individual. Couples had to apply for children, up to one boy and one girl per "family unit".

In this strange world, only the Giver and Jonas, the new Receiver, truly have feelings. Jonas suffers under the weight of all the memories of the history of the world. This is the society's solution to keep from repeating history.

However, Jonas and the Giver realize that their peers are missing out on so much. Their plan to release the memories back to the masses goes defunct when Jonas makes the life or death decision to save a small baby from the inhumane procedure of Release.

Ms. Lowry's book truly showed that a true "Utopia" is can only be reached outside the society's "perfect" boundaries.

Animal Farm Review

George Orwell's Animal Farm, billed as a fairy tale, is anything but. In fact, it is an allegory of the Russian Revolution.

Pigs represent Stalin, Trotsky and Lenin. Horses and sheep are the proletariat. There are even dogs to portray Stalin's secret police.

In this tale of rebellion, betrayal, and irony, the animals overthrow their human master in hopes of establishing a land of freedom. However, greed and the lure of power get in the way, leading to a dictatorship more miserable than the animals could have imagined.

Orwell tells it like it is is this novel, not painting a picture of a harmonious utopia, but rather showing the true discontent of the public when authority gets out of hand.

This book sheds a different light on the Russian Revolution and provides a grim warning for all democratic societies. I enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone with an interest in protecting their freedom.

Some of you may have heard of the poem by William Carlos Williams entitled The Red Wheelbarrow. It goes:

So much depends
upon

A red wheel
barrow

glazed with
water

beside the white
chickens

After reading and discussing this poem (notice how the words of each stanza appear in the shape of a wheelbarrow), we wrote our own poem in the same style. Here's mine:


So much depends upon
a tattered sheet of music

yellowed and torn
covered in penciled squiggles

sitting on the stand.