Nina
Jacklin
Mr.
Gowans
Language
Arts 12
December
12, 2012
A
Perfect Society with No Individuality
To live in a society of equal people, we would have to give up the one
thing that makes us all different: Individuality. Jonas from the book The
Giver, By Lois Lowry is given the responsibility of The Receiver, at first he
doesn’t think much of it but that is until he begins to realize things that
just don’t seem right. Jonas knows there is a different way to live a way that
he feels is better and he is ready to do whatever it takes to find that place,
even if it means losing his life. In comparison Equality 7-2521 from the book
Anthem, By Ayn Rand, lives in a Society
built upon government control, no individuality your thoughts don’t matter, yet
to them it’s the perfect society or perhaps it is the perfect way towards
destruction.
What was once just a normal game of catch
for Jonas and Asher had somehow changed for Jonas, something he didn’t quite
know how to explain happened. “ … Following the path of the apple through the
air with his eyes, that the piece of fruit had- well, this was the part that he
couldn’t adequately understand- the apple had changed.” (Lowry 24) Jonas knows that he can’t see color, so when
he saw that there was something wrong with the apple he just couldn’t explain
it. When you don’t know something because you were never taught it growing up
it is very difficult to explain it and even try and make a word for it.
Something very similar to that instance had happened again to Jonas. “But when
he looked out across the crowd, the sea of faces, the thing happened again the
thing that had happened with the apple. They changed.” (Lowry 62) Jonas is
starting to realize that something isn’t right about what he is seeing,
something that he can’t explain. Jonas is hoping that being chosen as the new
Receiver that somehow it will explain what he is seeing. “I know it’s not
important, what you where. It doesn’t matter. But-““It’s the choosing that’s
important, isn’t it?” Jonas is finally
beginning to realize that his society has taken away choice something that makes
people different, something that gives people the opportunity to decide on how
they want to live their lives. Jonas knows now that he can’t keep going on with
the way they live; he knows that he can’t just act as though he knows nothing,
he has one choice and that is to find a society where he will now fit into.
Imagine living in a society
where government controls your entire life well that’s how Equality 7-2521. All
he wanted in life was to prove he had just as good thoughts of his own, not
rely on everything that the council thinks. “Do not choose in your minds the
work you would like to do when you leave the Home of the students. You shall do
that which the council of Vocations shall prescribe for you.” (Rand, 22) Your
thoughts and what you want for your life does not matter, the Council is in
charge of the rest of your life to even think for one second of what you want
to do would be breaking the law. One brilliant minded young man finally
realizes he will prove to them that he knows where he should be, what he wants
to do in his life and not what they want him to be. “How dared you think that
your mind held greater wisdom than the minds of your brothers?” Equality 7-2521
had finally showed them something greater than they could imagine! Yet they
make him feel like he has done something wrong, because they know what can
happen if there society knew there was more than what they have, that would
take away their control and cause the people to begin to want to know more. To
be so confident in what you know you are capable of doing takes a lot of self
esteem, and when you live in a society where that is not acceptable, sometimes
taking risks to become free is the only choice he will have.
To try and make everyone
equal and your society perfect would be just asking to cause huge problems in
the future. A society may have its own difficulties and there will be times
when you wish people were perfect but reading these books has changed my point
of view in the world we live in today. Jonas knew there was something wrong
with the way that his society was being controlled, it may have took him 12
years but he finally knew that there was something that needed to change. Jonas
was brave and knew that the society he lived in was not for him anymore and he
got away from the controlled community. For Equality 7-2521 he wanted to show
the higher council a newer technology something that could change the way they
lived, yet that’s not what they wanted they wanted pure control and even the
slightest change would take away their power and they were not about to let
that happen. Equality 7-2521 left and found a place where he could live and be
himself where he was in control of his life and not someone else.
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