The Giver: Unraveling Color's Journey in the Community (Page 134)

The "Giver" by Lois Lowry, a thought-provoking dystopian novel, leaves readers curious about the fate of color in its society. The story, set in a seemingly utopian community, raises questions about the implications of suppressing emotional depth and sensory experiences, including color.

The novel, first published in 1993, follows 12-year-old Jonas as he embarks on a journey to understand the true nature of his community, which has eliminated pain and suffering by also abolishing joy, love, and the full range of human emotions. Jonas's role as the Receiver of Memory, the one person in the community who holds all the past memories, including those of color, leads to an exploration of the significance of color in human experience.

Loss of Color in the Community

In the early pages of the novel, we learn that the community hasensory deprivation as a form of control. Color is one of the sensory experiences that have been taken away, and Jonas learns this in his training as the Receiver. The community is described as having a palette limited to shades of gray and white, a stark contrast to the vibrancy of the world before the "Great Loss" (Lowry, Chapter 6, page 40).

This loss of color is metaphorical for the loss of vibrancy and depth in the community's emotional landscape. The community seeks to maintain safety and order at the cost of eliminating the full spectrum of human experience, a theme highlighted in the sentence, "Color, to the best of my knowledge, existed only in two places: in the peculiar eye of the spirit-walker, when he had gone to the House of the Old, and in the late movie, the one called 'The Giver,' which the Chief Elder had requested and received from Elsewhere" (Lowry, Chapter 12, page 82).

Jonas's Discovery of Color

As Jonas begins to receive the memories from the Giver, he starts to experience colors for the first time. The Giver describes to Jonas, "Watermelon. Red. Isn't there even a word for it?" (Lowry, Chapter 14, page 101). This exchange illustrates the community's inability to comprehend and name colors, reflecting their lack of sensorial and emotional understanding.

The scene with the colored square in Chapter 16 (page 116) is particularly striking. The Giver shares with Jonas a memory of a child playing with a box of colored squares. Jonas's description of the squares—"Blue. And yellow. And pink. And oh, Giver... red. And orange. And... and... white. And black!"— highlights the profound impact of color on Jonas, marking his first conscious encounter with these sensory experiences.

Color's Role in Memory and Emotion

In the Giver's transmission of memories, colors are often intertwined with emotional experiences. For example, the memory of a storm, which Jonas receives in Chapter 19 (page 141), is described as black and gray, reflecting the fear and turmoil it caused. This connection between color and emotion suggests that the community's suppression of color may also be a form of emotional repression.

Jonas's growing attachment to the memory of his sled, inextricably linked to the color red, further underscores the emotional significance of color. After the sled is taken from him, Jonas feels "a strange sensation in his stomach. A twist. A queasy, nasty feeling" (Lowry, Chapter 23, page 166), showing the emotional distress caused by the loss of a sensory experience tied to color.

The Return of Color

As Jonas risks everything to save Gabriel, the infant with the potential to receive memories, and to release the community's buried emotions, he also initiates a potential return of color. The novel ends with Gabriel crying, reflecting the start of the emotional and sensory awakening for the community (Lowry, Chapter 25, page 185).

While the novel leaves the community's ultimate fate open to interpretation, the release of emotions and memories suggests a potential reinstatement of the full range of sensory experiences, including color. The final pages hint at a new era for the community, one that may involve the acceptance of a broader spectrum of human experience, including color.

Ultimately, "The Giver" encourages readers to question the value of emotional depth and sensory richness, as exemplified by the experience of color. By illustrating the community's impoverished emotional landscape and the profound impact of color on Jonas, the novel suggests that the full range of human experience, including the vibrancy of color, is essential to life's richness and meaning.