"Freedom and choices are yet to be discovered, but only the power of fear holds them back from unraveling the truth."

In Lit. Circles 4, it was all about pain, emotion, friendship, and knowledge. What our goal for this blogpost, is to write about how chapters 16-18 and the quote below in The Giver, relate to the theme of freedom and choices.

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" Gabriel's breathing was even and deep. Jonas liked having him there, though he felt guilty about the secret. Each night he gave memories to Gabriel: memories of boat rides and picnics in the sun; memories of soft rainfall against windowpanes; memories of dancing bare-footed on a damp lawn.

"Gabe?"

The new child stirred slightly in his sleep, Jonas looked over at him.

"There could be love" Jonas whispered.

The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away"

(PAGE 128-129~ The Giver By Lois Lowry)

After I had thought thoroughly about the pill, I think I know what it does. Like it says on page 129 of the book: " 'There could be love' Jonas whispered.". He takes the pills, because he likes Fiona, I'm guessing a lot, and the pills stop him from really falling in love with her. Jonas wanted to love, so it was his choice to throw it away. When he threw away his pill he had the feeling that it is preventing him from falling in love, and in the real world, Jonas would love Fiona by now. Love, is the very reason that brings people together, but it is also love that tears brothers and sisters apart. No, I don't mean DNA-related, I mean as if everyone in the world were brothers and sisters. As if they were family.

Love is the very reason war is created, but in the end, people forget why. All the bloodshed, and the loss. The hunger and the deaths of who they care about. Nothing like that matters in war. Power and greed, murder the essence of the innocent tries of love and peace. War is where even the purest person, can loose sight about who or what they are fighting for. I don't understand why, anymore. Is there a reason besides from love? Not everyone creates war for love, or do they? Could it be that they enjoy war? Those crazy people in the past, Adolf Hitler, for one. He was power-hungry, greedy for destruction, and, he even wrote a book about it. This is what happens, when freedom gets released into the world. Chaos.

"Gradually, when nothing happened, nothing changed, the children looked at each other nervously, and went away. He heard the sounds as they righted their bicycles and began to ride down the path that led from the field.

Only Asher and Fiona remained.

'What's wrong, Jonas? It was only a game,' Fiona said.

'You ruined it,' Asher said in an irritated voice.

'Don't play it anymore,' Jonas pleaded.

'I'm the one training for Assistant Recreational Director,' Asher pointed out angrily. 'Games aren't your area of expertness.'

'Expertise,' Jonas corrected him automatically.

'Whatever. You can't say what we play, even if you are going to be the new Receiver.' Asher looked warily at him. 'I apologize for not paying you the respect you deserve,' he mumbled."

(PAGE 134~ The Giver By Lois Lowry)

You see? Sometimes freedom isn't too "swell". Sometimes, it creates happiness. Sometimes, like I have mentioned before, it creates destruction. You loose your friends, because of who you are, and what you know. To me, the definition of freedom is to follow what YOU believe in, not anyone else. To make your own path towards the future, not letting destiny or fate control you. It is what you make your life to be. The problem with my definition, is that in real life, not all that is possible. I mean, there is war, and not much peace. The people who are trying to create peace, are the ones who are following the harmful people that threaten the outside world. Well, you must admit that they are a little bit crazy. Like what's happening in Libya. NATO, and the rest of the world, is trying to end Qaddafi's rule and plot to taking over Libya, and maybe the world... Yes, that does sound very much like a mad scientist to me, but it might be true, you never know.

I do realize that the above quotes and paragraphs have been about freedom, so I, will carry onto choices. On pages 126-127, the question about love pops up.

" 'Father? Mother?' Jonas asked tentatively after the evening meal. 'I have a question I want to ask you.'

'What is it Jonas?' his father asked.

He made himself say the words, though he felt flushed with embarrassment. He had rehearsed them in his mind all the way home from the Annex.

'Do you love me?'

There was an awkward silence for a moment. Then Father gave a little chuckle.' Jonas. You, of all people. Precision of language, please!'

'What do you mean?' Jonas asked. Amusement was not at all what he had anticipated.

'Your father means that you used a very generalized word, so meaningless that it's become almost obsolete,' his mother explained carefully.

Jonas stared at them. Meaningless? He had never before felt anything as meaningful at the memory.

'And of course our community can't smooth function smoothly if people don't use precise language. You could ask, 'Do you enjoy me?' The answer is 'Yes,' ' his mother said.

'Or,' his father suggested, ' 'Do you take pride in my accomplishments?' And the answer is wholeheartedly 'Yes.' '

'Do you understand why it's inappropriate to use a

word like "love"?' Mother asked.

Jonas nodded. 'Yes, thank you, I do,' he replied slowly.

It was his first lie to his parents."

(PAGES 126-127~ The Giver By Lois Lowry)

Jonas chose. Well, thats a first. Jonas chose to do that, Jonas chose to the this. Wow. By reading the book, I think, that is one of the most ridiculous sentences referring to anything related to The Giver. But, Jonas did choose to ask his parents about love, and if there really was love in the community. I know that he didn't really know what to expect, like myself in many situations, but he really didn't assume the reply would be amusement. Another thing Jonas chose, was to lie to his parents. In the real world, lying would get you into trouble, and it would too, in Jonas' world. But in Jonas' case, he is allowed to lie, as it says in his instructions to be the Receiver, so now, his parents don't know if he is telling the truth, or speaking a lie. That's what Jonas chose.

Graphic Sources: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_NNTbeoaZ0Nc/TH5oKok6QhI/AAAAAAAAAAU/YNe_AoUP8ng/s200/_wsb_184x161_the%2Bgiver22.jpg

Who did I comment on?

Hey Mrs. Narsiman,

The person I chose within my group for commenting on their blog was Zara :). She chose me as well, so uhh... yea.... here's the link to Zara's absolutely fabulous blog :D

- http://sparky-zara.blogspot.com/

It's pretty darn amazing, if you didn't know already ;)

Bye :)

-Radhi XD

The Giver #2 - Utopia :)

Okay, so this time in Humanities, we're have just finished our 2nd Lit Circle. For this blogpost, we had a chance to choose one of these questions: 1. When Jonas learns all about colors, he claims "it isn't fair that nothing has color". Why does he say this? 2. Why does Jonas find the instruction about lying so disturbing? 3. Why does The Giver say that making choices would be frightening for people? Out of those, I would either choose question 1 OR question 2. It was a tough decision, but in the very end, with some help from friends and a 2 minute debate with myself, I finally chose question 2: Why does Jonas find the instruction about lying so disturbing?

Well, the truth is, that for Lit. Circle 2, our reading instructions were pages 26-64, but the instructions for Jonas were on page 68 of the book. For some strange reason, I found the fact slightly amusing.... But that's beside the point. To me, lying is not a very great thing to do. What I mean, is lying will never get you out of anything. See, if you tell a lie, like for example a rumor about someone else, or something supposedly like that, that person may find out, and never speak to you ever again. Or, if you borrowed some money from someone, but you truly aren't supposed to borrow any money, the lies keep on building on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on until, you tell the truth.

From my experiences, lying has gotten me in L-O-A-D-S of trouble. Once (and this was recently), I forgot my end-of-trimester report card on the bus, and only had realized when the bus was pulling away. My friend, well, she just called me an idiot. And I truly felt like I was. What I thought was that I would get in a lot of trouble for not being responsible-- but hey, I forget things. Everyone has to. So I just came up with the "I left it in my locker" excuse, and my mom and sister believed me. So, I had no school the day after, but my elder sister did, because she's in High School. So, knowing we were sisters, the bus monitor gave the report card to her. I guess I didn't think that through well. It's not like me, so I'm guessing I was just panicking.

I have been writing about examples about how lying had got me into trouble, but I haven't talked much on Jonas's situation. So in the book, lying was against the law. A rule never to be broken, or you simply had to be released. That rule, is basically the only rational rule to me, for I wouldn't want to get my bike at the age of nine, I just think that it would be really, really late. I mean, I learned how to ride when I was four. Four years old. All the other rules, like button-down jackets, or jackets with pockets, all symbolize growing up. Well, growing up in the community. It's just the rule I respect: No lying whatsoever.

Jonas, avoiding to lie all his life, just suddenly has been ordered to lie? I don't think that it's very natural for anyone, weather it's a community citizen, or someone here in the present; to change their ways. It's hard, and takes time. And now, Jonas had to hide things from everyone, his parents, his sister, his friends, and even the Elders he has laid his trust with. Sort of. Is it possible to do that? If I were Jonas, then I would be scared if I would make a mistake, or maybe slip something out. I just would try my best, and I'm hoping that's what Jonas wants to do too.

Graphic Sources:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4rvjBnWbm-VNVv56EP02D9YeGKbbm-wywCzCB7M91QrqSPTb55aWv0kxIIfS4c7r7J1gGHMBfLxOLy3xcBBVB1R0NBget6pco9UZ06U7XP5XHsRIC1wYxnFezAzzTXTmfXyRw10CYuw/s320/TheGiver.gif

The Giver #1 :)

This time in Humanities, we are doing Lit Circles again! So, there are two books, The Giver By Lois Lowry, and The White Mountains: The Tripods by John Christopher. I am reading The Giver, and so far, it is a very, very good book. I do suggest you read it, if you haven't already. Well, enough of this stalling, let me get to the point. For this blogpost, we are supposed to pick a question out of three: 1. Would you want your future to be decided by others ? Why or Why not? 2. How do you feel about the "standard practices" and "rituals" in the community? 3. Why is interdependence fostered in the community? Out of these, the most appealing to me would be: 1. Would you want your future to be decided by others ? Why or Why not? I guess I chose this because when I have this, I have a story to tell.

1. Would you want your future to be decided by others ? Why or Why not?

No. Not at all. I mean, who in the right mind would want that? Maybe people who are insecure. Lonely. Shy. But, no, not me. I would say that life is a place for choices. Your choices. But in another way, your choice may be to have other people make your decisions, so you wouldn't have to be thinking all night long about weather to say yes or no to a job offer, or buy a new phone. Well, I'm more of a.... I'm more of a quick thinker at times. Well, if its life or death, or about my future, I would make a plan. And if my plan falls a part, then, there plenty of time to make a new one, rather than sitting at home and thinking how much my life sucks. It doesn't take that much time.

One reason I would NOT like to have someone choosing my future is that, I already have a plan. And a back up plan. And a plan C. Like I have said before, I make plans instead of worrying about what will happen. That doesn't help at all. My plan A: Go to a GREAT university and become an infamous lawyer. Plan B: Become a famous singer. Plan C: Become a writer. There. If someone messed up my life, then they would have a lot of trouble coming to them later. This is a fair warning to anyone who is reading this. You mess up my life, you pay. I would never, ever, ever not have a plan for at least something big in my life. Well, any moment of your life, something could happen to change you entire life. Just. One. Little. Moment.

Another reason why I would NOT like to have someone choosing my own future is that I like to make my own decisions, and that I sometimes would like to be something people wouldn't expect me to be. I mean, if someone told me that I have to be a surgeon, I would never say "Yeah, okay. I'll be a surgeon!" The truth is, I hate the sight of a lot of blood, and any thing that's inside someone else's body. It's not very nice, in my opinion. I just can't accept the fact that I won't be able to run my own life, that someone else is controlling it. Another thing is ordering me around. That never helps. I mean, if it's something I'm not good at, like Four Square, I would let my friend (who is VERY good at it) tell me what I should do. But, if it's something like writing an essay on the Greek goddess Athena, I would probably lead.

Like I keep on saying, I hate people choosing my decisions, ordering me around, and running my life. I really don't know how someone would be able to cope with that. As you know, I wouldn't. If Jonas and his Utopian-Community was real, I first-second go there and probably show them what it is like here, in the 21 century. Well, these were the reasons why I wouldn't want anyone messing with my future. I guess if it's fate or destiny, or something superstitious like that, I would let it pass, because I can't mess with it, obviously, and I don't believe in coincidences, so it's meant to be.

Well this is why I would hate having someone decide my future. I hope you enjoyed and learned a little more about me!

Graphic Sources:

http://i.treehugger.com/images/2007-3-7/books-th-kk-007.jpg