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Thursday, August 21, 2014
The Giver and Brave New World
Is it just me or does anyone else see the huge similarities between The Giver and Brave New World? If you don't really remember the book, here's a link to the summary. Anyway, the main connection between the two books is that The Giver and Brave New World both feature societies that are very focused on trying to make the perfect society. They didn't want there to be jealousy or bitterness so they sacrificed individual freedom for the greater good of the society. Also, no person can choose their fate in any one of the books. In The Giver, everyone is assigned a job when they reach a certain age. In Brave New World, everyone is assigned a caste from birth (actually long before birth). What I also found interesting was that the societies in both books administer drugs that keep the population under control. One society uses injections and the other society uses "soma." Both societies are not allowed to read most books because the government does not want people to start thinking. Unorthodox behavior in either society calls for an exile. I found these connections very interesting because I went to go see The Giver a few days ago and I couldn't help but think of Brave New World. Do you think Lowis Lowry was thinking of Brave New World when she wrote The Giver?
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In some aspects, yeah the two books kinda do have similarities. For example they both have government that controls the masses and they are created in a thought of a perfect utopian society. As well, people are made to do things like give birth or do a certain jobs. Yet we all know that these societies fail and they show us the pros and cons of the a utopian society.
ReplyDeleteBoth these books do have similarities for example both were utopian societies but had restricted the citizens to certain ideas. When I watched the Giver today, by the way it was pretty good even though I missed like half of it, it did remind me of the Brave New World. Maybe Lowry and Huxley shared some ideas.
ReplyDeleteI also made the connection along with other books such as "A Clock Work Orange" and "Fahrenheit 451". I do believe BNW was an influence on Lowry and her decision to include how technology could one day be used against humanity if used incorrectly, in her book.
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