Online Class Session for October 29, 2009

The book "The Giver" was very popular in the middle school at which I taught. The kids loved it.

The book was actually used for whole class instruction. Even if the kids were working in smaller groups, they were all experiencing the same novel. However, there were some students who asked to borrow the novel even after we read the book so they could read it again.

Well, we did use the book for whole class instruction, though the class was sometimes split up in small groups while reading the novel. I remember a student or two wanted to borrow the book after it was finished to re-read it because they enjoyed it so much.

I have actually never heard of the giver before this class. I still truly have little idea of what it's even about.

How do you feel about the rules that are followed in this community? Are they good or bad for society? Why?

I think that the rules are intended to be good for the people. The rules of sameness keep them safe. For all they know they're perfectly happy. However; since they never experienced an exciting life they probably don't realize just how unhappy they really are.

These rules benefit society in the way that they don't need to remember war and such. However; they cause negative impacts on society because without memories and free thinking no one can create new ideas and create progress.

This is Monica Lenzi (signed in on Mandi's name because I can't log in). I agree with Bliss in that the rules re intended to be good for the people. However, I think they would be bad for society because nobody has a choice in what they want to do for the rest of their lives. I know I wouldn't want to be told what I had to do as a career. I think that the rules are an interesting idea, although I think they are too rigid and would never last in the present day and age. It's almost like the people are robots and just have to do what they're told, instead of having free-will and being to choose what they want to do and make their own decisions.

I agree with Bliss, I think the rules are intended to make the people good and keep them safe. However, I think they hurt people more than they help. Initially, it seems like these people live in a perfect little world where their is no competition and everyone is equal. However;, because the people are unable to feel and think for themselves.They are unable to make any decisions about their own lives. They live in a world of black and white. They all think that they are happy people, but they know no other feeling.
When Jonas has a "stirring" he is forced to talk about it and if forced to take a pill the rest of his life so it doesn't happen again. I think that overall the rules are bad because it takes away the peoples right to feel and live life the way they want.

This is Monica.

Why do you think that the Assignments are determined by the elders? How does this ceremony benefit the individual person? How does it benefit the community as a whole?

I think the Assignments are determined by the elders because they are wiser and more experienced. The ceremony benefits the individual person in letting them know what they are good and and their strong points in life. It is encouraging to the individual because it addresses their positive characteristics. It benefits the community as a whole because it assigns the individual to their role in the community, and allows the previous holders of positions to "be released".

This is Monica again.

Now that you know the role of The Giver and The Receiver, can you imagine how it would feel to not know the memories that are being transmitted? Is it good or bad to withhold painful memories? Why? Why are the memories kept by only one person at a time? How do you think Jonas will respond to the responsibility of being the Receiver of Memory?

I can imagine that it would feel very overwhelming to know the memories that are being transmitted. The (old) Receiver compares the feeling to "a sled slowing down as it has to push against ore and more accumulated snow". I think that is bad to withhold painful memories; it is never good to repress sad memories, because eventually they will catch up with you and will be harder to deal with the longer you withhold them. The memories are only kept by one person at a time because they rest of the community is not allowed to feel pain or remember painful memories. I think Jonas will respond to the responsibility of being the Receiver of Memory with mixed emotions because it is a great honor, but it also isolates him from his friends and family.

Why do you think that the Assignments are determined by the elders? How does this ceremony benefit the individual person? How does it benefit the community as a whole?

I think the assignments are determined by the others because they have lived through their individual role and know who would be best qualified to fill it. The ceremony benefits the individual by finally letting them know what they will be doing for the rest of their lives. They also know their place in society and feel more a part of it. It benefits the community by keeping order. They all must keep to the same strict way, therefore if they know the new roles they will be able to go about life as usual.

Now that you know the role of The Giver and The Receiver, can you imagine how it would feel to not know the memories that are being transmitted? Is it good or bad to withhold painful memories? Why? Why are the memories kept by only one person at a time? How do you think Jonas will respond to the responsibility of being the Receiver of Memory?

I think it is good to withhold some very painful memories from people who can't handle it, but I think for the most part sharing memories is a good thing. It lets people experience different emotions and learn how to deal with them in the best way. I think Jonas will have a tough time with this but I think he will end up a better person in the end because of it.

Discussion Question 1. How do you feel about the rules that are followed in this community? Are they good or bad for society? Why?

Well, I think this book is sort of weird so far. I don't really like the rules but since that is what this community is used to then I suppose they are good. It would be really odd for us to have these rules in our community.

Now that you know the role of The Giver and The Receiver, can you imagine how it would feel to not know the memories that are being transmitted? Is it good or bad to withhold painful memories? Why? Why are the memories kept by only one person at a time? How do you think Jonas will respond to the responsibility of being the Receiver of Memory?

I agree with Monica that it is not healthy to repress memories since they will eventually resurface. I feel like bad things happen to people so that they can learn from them, and if a person does not remember painful memories I do not think that they would grow as a person or become an emotionally stable person. I could not imagine what it would be like to now know what memories are being transmitted, because one would have to be ready at any moment to possibly feel terrible things. I think that the memories are kept by only one person at a time so that they "bare the weight of the world," so to speak and feel the pain so others do not have to. I believe that Jonas will respond well be to being a Receiver, but I feel like he will be (understandably) very overwhelmed initially.

I definitley agree with Bliss about how the rules are intended to be good.I feel like they think this is how everyone lives and this makes them feel safe and happy with their community. Also, I think they don't know what else is really out there so I think if they would see that, they would not want to be in this community. They would want to be released.
In a way the rules might be good for society because they don't have to deal with fighting and the bad things that come with living. But I do feel that its bad for society too because they don't learn the real meaning of what life is all about. That it can be fun at times but at other times be a struggle. They will never understand what other people go through and the real needs to stay alive.

Discussion Question 2. Why do you think that the Assignments are determined by the elders? How does this ceremony benefit the individual person? How does it benefit the community as a whole?

The Assignments are determined by the elders because they would be the wisest of the community and they would have the best knowledge of who would be right for each assignment.
The ceremony is important to the elevens because they will find out what they will do with the rest of their lives. The community will be able to learn of the new assignments and help to welcome the elevens into their next phase of life.

Discussion #2
I think the assignments are determined by the elders because they seem more wiser and have been doing this for a long time now.
The ceremony benefits the individual person by them getting observed and finding out what they are good at and need to be trained in. This determines what they will do the rest of there lived until they become old.
It benefits the community because these people that are getting assigned care about these people because its like their family they are watching, they have to be there for them. Also, they have to follow the rules and keep strict order to see whose getting released and who is taking over.

Discussion Question 3. Now that you know the role of The Giver and The Receiver, can you imagine how it would feel to not know the memories that are being transmitted? Is it good or bad to withhold painful memories? Why? Why are the memories kept by only one person at a time? How do you think Jonas will respond to the responsibility of being the Receiver of Memory?

It would be strange to not know any memories but then all at once receive them all. It would most definitely be overwhelming. I think it is bad to withhold painful memories because you need to learn from them. I think Jonas will be overwhelmed because this is all coming at him so fast.

How do you feel about the rules that are followed in this community? Are they good or bad for society? Why?

I agree with the other comments. I feel that the rules are meant to be good for the community. The sameness allows them to all feel as if they fit in, but at the same time, I feel that the rules would be bad for our society. Being different and standing out is important for each individual to feel at one point or another in their life. Having a quality that others don't is what makes us human. By following the rules of the community, they are missing out on these opportunities.

Discussion #3
I couldnt even imagine having to know all those memories because there so many to know. It would be alot of information to learn and understand to be a good Receiver.
I think it is bad to withhold painful memories because after so long they catch up to you and they need to be talked about.
The memories are only kept by one person because Jonas is the only one that has the honor of the receiver to handle and learn these memories.
I think Jonas will take his responsiblity very seriously and catch on quickly as he meets with the giver each time. I think it will be very hard for him but he will see all the pain and goodness of what he will learn.

Discussion Question 1. How do you feel about the rules that are followed in this community? Are they good or bad for society? Why?

I also agree with the other comments. I feel that they have the rules because that is what they think is best for the community. They also have never known any other way so they do not realize what they are missing out on. I think the rules would be bad for our society because our society is used to being unique individuals and we know what it is like without the rules so I do not think the rules would go over well in our society.

Discussion #1
How do you feel about the rules that are followed in this community? Are they good or bad for society? Why?

I agree with most of the other comments about this. I understand the idea behind the strictness of the rules. It keeps their community safe and organized, however, I think that it is too monitored. Being different is what makes people who they are and if everyone is told what to do and how to act then that does not leave much room for people to be different to identify who they are individually. On the other hand, if the people in this communitiy do not know any different then that keeps them happy and allows this to happen.

For Question 1: The rules are similar to the book Brave New World. The people of the town will not know what true happiness is because of restrictions to keep them safe and practically uniform. My feelings about this community are mainly the same feelings I had after reading Brave New World because if they left the town I feel they would be much more happy like the people were when they left London and realize how unhappy they are in the town. I think it makes for a good society until someone finds out about different societies and rules.

Question 2: I think the assignments are made by the elders because they know what is needed and expected because they experienced everything that happened and when mistakes happened they wouldn't want them to happen again. Also "respect your elders"????? The ceremonies are important because it is when people find out their strengths and weaknesses. They find out what they can be and how they can benefit the community. It benefits they community because they know who the best is to do a job and gives the town more order if everyone does not have a choice of what they can do.

Discussion Question 2. Why do you think that the Assignments are determined by the elders? How does this ceremony benefit the individual person? How does it benefit the community as a whole?
I think the assignments are determined by the elders because they are the people with the most knowledge in the community. They have been around the longest so they would be the ones with the best idea of what job each person would be suited for.
The ceremony benefits the individual person because it marks changes in their life. Each year something changes and the children get to do something new. The ceremony for the elevens is especially important because they will find out what their assignment is.
It benefits the community as a whole because it is two days that they get to spend together and they seem to all be very close and supportive of each other so they would be glad to get to see each child's rule and new change.

Discussion question 1:
I think the rules that are followed by the community can be good and bad. It can be good because they allow for everyone in the community to be respected. Also people are not committing crimes or getting in trouble, so having the rules allows the community to have that structure needed. It can also be bad for the community because it doesn’t allow everyone to have that freedom that we have in our society.

Discussion Question 1. How do you feel about the rules that are followed in this community? Are they good or bad for society? Why?

In agreement with the previous comments, I think that it is a mix of good and bad. It is good to have these sameness/organizational strategies for choosing people's roles by age and talent. It involves the entire community which eliminates discrimination and makes everyone feel like a critical part of the community. However, being different is what makes us human. People can't live their lives by agenda and truly be happy. I think that there should be milestones in everyone's lives, but they should be met when it fits the person.

Question 3: Knowing all the memories would be confusing because people can have similar memories of something but have different feelings about them. And the receiver could have a completely different feeling on someone else's memories. I think it is a bad idea to withhold bad memories because you should learn from them and sometimes need help with them. Again I compared this to Brave New World because the pain is not supposed to be felt by people and that is why memories are only kept by one. I don't agree with it because it is easier to learn with help from others. I think Jonas will have a hard time adapting to his job of receiver because it is such a large job but he will probably adjust to it quickly. So far I had many relations between this book and Brave New World. Has anyone else read Brave New World and do they feel the same way?

Discussion Question 3. Now that you know the role of The Giver and The Receiver, can you imagine how it would feel to not know the memories that are being transmitted? Is it good or bad to withhold painful memories? Why? Why are the memories kept by only one person at a time? How do you think Jonas will respond to the responsibility of being the Receiver of Memory?

I can not imagine not knowing the memories that are being transmitted. It would be weird if you were a child and never had the opportunity to experience sunshine or snow.
I think it is bad to withold painful memories. People learn from their mistakes but if they do not have the memory they can not learn from what they have done.
I think Jonas will be overwhelmed with the responsibility of being the Receiver of Memory because he is the only one with the responsibility. I also think he will enjoy it because he will get to experience things very few other people in the community have.

Question 1:

How do you feel about the rules that are followed in this community? Are they good or bad for society? Why?

Overall, I agree with most of the other comments. The rules have their advantages and disadvantages. I realize that the strictness of the community is to keep order, organization, and safety to the people of the community. However, I don't think it allows people to be who they want to be and if everyone acted and thought the same I think that would be a pretty boring world. Also, everything in this community is told to them and they are just expected to follow it, as a result, that doesn't allow people to have their own opinions or make their own decisions, which I don't really think is fair.

Discussion Question 2. Why do you think that the Assignments are determined by the elders? How does this ceremony benefit the individual person? How does it benefit the community as a whole?

The Assignments are determined by the elders, because they are noted as the wisest people in the community through age and experience. The ceremony benefits the individual by pointing out the strongest aspects of the person's character and ability. This coincides with the benefits of the community as a whole, by giving everyone a proper job and bringing order and control to the society.

Question 2:
Why do you think that the Assignments are determined by the elders? How does this ceremony benefit the individual person? How does it benefit the community as a whole?

I think that the Assignments are determined by the elders because they have been around the longest, therefore, that makes them the wisest and most experienced. As a result, they are expected to know the best thing for the community to keep it functioning properly.
The ceremony benefits each individual person because it evaluates each one and identifies which role, or title the person would be best suited for to engage in the rest of their lives.
It benefits the community as a whole because every person within the community has a title and they are expected to fulfill that title. If they don't, they could possibly be released from the community.

Discussion question 2:
I think the Assignments are determined by the elders because they are the ones with the most knowledge. Also they are the ones that have been there the longest and know which assignment fit each person the best.
The ceremony benefits the individual person because it’s a change in the person’s life. It’s most important for the elevens because they are getting assigned what their assignments will be in society.
It benefits the community as a whole because the community gets to see what their assignments will be in society. It also allows for the community to come together and spend time together as a whole.

Question 3: Now that you know the role of The Giver and The Receiver, can you imagine how it would feel to not know the memories that are being transmitted? Is it good or bad to withhold painful memories? Why? Why are the memories kept by only one person at a time? How do you think Jonas will respond to the responsibility of being the Receiver of Memory?

I can not imagine how it would feel to not know the memories that are being transmitted. I think that either way, good or bad, memories are memories and they are important. In my opinion it is bad to withhold painful memories because to me, they can be used as learning experiences and often times can make people stronger and happier.
The memories are only kept by one person because it is a high expectation of someone, therefore, they have to be able to deal with it.
I think that Jonas will be honored with the responsibility, however, it is a very challenging and mentally absorbing task so he may have some difficulties getting through it.

Discussion Question 3. Now that you know the role of The Giver and The Receiver, can you imagine how it would feel to not know the memories that are being transmitted? Is it good or bad to withhold painful memories? Why? Why are the memories kept by only one person at a time? How do you think Jonas will respond to the responsibility of being the Receiver of Memory?

Witholding painful memories has many negative psychological effects. In agreement with Josh's comment, I think that people should learn from these painful memories and may also need to seek help. The memories are kept by only one person to rid the community of pain, regret, and other emotions. I think that Jonas is probably overwhelmed with his Assignment, but he will adapt easily with the help of the Giver.

Discussion question 3:
I cannot imagine how it would feel to not know the memories that are being transmitted. I would think that it would feel overwhelming to have all this memories but not know what they are. I think that it is bad to withhold painful memories because then people wouldn’t learn from those memories. I think that the memories are kept by only one person at a time because some of the memories are too painful for people to handle. I think that Jonas will get stressed with being the Receiver of Memory because it’s a lot of responsibility for such a young person to handle.

Discussion Question 1: Aspects of this society include, but are not limited to children being born to mothers who never see them, people being assigned jobs based on their skills, citizens being forced to marry people they don't want to, basically characteristics that infer a controlled environment. Even though it may seem that these things benefit citizens, they do not. Lets take into consideration the novel, 1984. In this book, the citizens are being controlled by telescreens. People were expected to follow all customs of society. They could not show expression, individuality, or sexual interest. Furthermore, O'brien, a powerful member in society was able to alter historical records, which made people forget about the past. Although this society is different from the one presented in The Giver, the same concept still remains, control and structure. People in The Giver are being subjected to costumes that affect a persons psychological development. When a mother doesn't see her child, the child will have an insecure attachment, which can lead to problems with development. When people are forced to marry others, they will have no real sense of what defines love. Therefore, they will not be able to express themselves effectivly, or hold a mutual relationship with others. Additionally, when people are given jobs based on what society thinks their "skills" are, they have no chance to explore and grow to realize their full potential. The point of my whole response is to prove that these customs greatly affect the citizens. Having these customs in place will affect citizens psychologically. Therefore, the should NOT be in place.

Discussion Question 2: The elders determine the assignments in society becuase as in any society, they have wisdom and knowledge to pass down to future generations. Since they are older, they are thought to have more control and power over the people. This could be beneficial to society becuase citizens could gain knowledge from people who have been around longer then they have. On the contrary, it could also be detrimental. Becuase older people don't know what it is like to live in "current society" they may give advice and assignments based on customs they practiced when they were young. This would give current citizens a false sense of reality.

Discussion Question 3: I agree with Monica's comment. It is never good to repress feeling. When you repress your feeling, it will be harder for you to release them, and when you do it will big a huge mess. I think that Jonas will be anxious, yet excited aboutt his new job. It is a great honor to be a reciever, but it also has its problems, which may create problems for Jonas in the future.

Discussion Question 1. How do you feel about the rules that are followed in this community? Are they good or bad for society? Why?

Personally, I feel the rules were intended to do good for the society. However, it is doing nothing but closing their minds to an open and free world. A world that allows people to make decisions for themselves rather than being how to act, feel or think. The people of this society are being completely controlled. It's like they're in a trance they cannot snap out of. Humans are humans we make mistakes. We do our best to learn from those mistakes and not repeat them. People in this society are not even given the chance to make mistakes and to learn from them. So my question is... what is the purpose of the people in this society then? Are they truly "living"? I understand the purpose of the rules enforced but I do not see the purpose of the people. Society is taking the role of machines; operated to do certain specific things, nothing more, nothing less. No opinions given back to the enforcers, no standing up for what the people of the society believe in, no feedback, nothing. The people just follow the orders, like there is no way of overcoming them. Like it is impossible.

Question 2:
Why do you think that the Assignments are determined by the elders? How does this ceremony benefit the individual person? How does it benefit the community as a whole?

Agreeing with everyone's overall statement on this question, the elders determine everyone's Assignments because they know the ways of this world better than anyone else in it. They know the in's and out's and have seen, heard and experienced more than anyone else has. They would know best what type of person fits best with the given Assignment thus improves society as a whole and keeps it running as well and as organized as possible.

The individual ceremony benefits that specific person in that they are given the task others feel confident they will succeed at better than anyone else. Each person makes up this society of people and the assigned task each person recieves is not only affecting themselves but the rest of the population as well. It's a domino effect.

Discussion Question 3. Now that you know the role of The Giver and The Receiver, can you imagine how it would feel to not know the memories that are being transmitted? Is it good or bad to withhold painful memories? Why? Why are the memories kept by only one person at a time? How do you think Jonas will respond to the responsibility of being the Receiver of Memory?

I agree with James, repressing your feelings is only causing more problems for later on down the road. Emotions will build and the outcome will be way worse than dealing with the emotions as they come. I also believe the memories are only known and kept to one person to keep from other members of society from suffering those emotions. I think Jonas is very nervous with his new Assignment but is going to be a very successful Reciever and will learn lots from The Giver.