What is True Free Will?

 What is True Free Will?

Max R.

The Giver opens following a twelve year old boy called Jonas. The story begins by revealing that Jonas has been having anxiety about the Ceremony of Twelve, which is when the twelves’ assignments are selected. We are later revealed that the society Jonas lives in is uniform, with people being referred to by the number of their age up to twelve and a strict set of rules that require adherence. When asked how he was feeling by his selected parents during a regular ritual, Jonas reveals that he isn’t sure about what job he will be selected for within the community, but is swiftly reassured that he will find his assignment enjoyable. However, he still continues to harbor doubts even after consulting with friends and family as seen in the quote “Though he had been reassured by the talk with his parents, he hadn’t the slightest idea what Assignment the Elders would be selecting for his future, or how he might feel about it when the day came”(Lowry 24) . It is also revealed that he has noticed some irregularities in his environment, such as an apple transforming into something closer to an anomaly than an apple for a second.  However, his visions are soon suppressed by the rules of his society, and he is forced to halt his investigation. Shortly after, during another dream sharing ritual, Jonas reveals that he had a erotic dream. His family unit listens intently, as Jonas rarely dreams, and soon diagnoses him with having “the stirrings”. He is then instructed to take a pill to stop them. 

Soon, the Ceremony of Twelve arrives. Jonas get up early along with his family unit to get good seats at the event. However, as soon as the event starts, Jonas starts to drift into boredom with the exception of when his sister is promoted to a Eight. Soon, it’s his turn as he waits patiently to be summoned and awarded his assignment. The Ceremony of Twelve starts as Jonas makes his way into a line organized by numerical order. Suddenly, he is skipped in the procession, and a powerful fear grips him as he begins to panic. “A mistake. She made a mistake. But Jonas knew, even as he had thought, that she hadn’t. The Chief Elder made no mistakes. Not at the Ceremony of Twelve” (Lowry 72). As the last numbers are assigned, his name gets called up from the podium as he notices an eccentric elder, the highest in the hierarchy of his society. He soon realizes that he never saw him before, but is then assigned the position of "Receiver". Along with his assignment, he is given a packet and instructed to read it at home privately. Jonas is too stunned to even think about the packet, and only decides to open it just before going to bed. Once open, it reveals rules that he must follow, particularly that he is allowed to lie and prohibited from talking about his training, which disregards the basic fundamentals that Jonas has been taught since birth. He was also told that training will begin the next day.

The next day, Jonas bikes over to his training area, an annex of a building serving the old of the community. When he arrives, he finds the same eccentric elder that he saw just yesterday, and is directed to sit down. The Giver explains to Jonas that his position of “The Giver” is to hold memories and advise the council using them. The Giver then recounts how the assignment has taken a toll on him as seen in the quote, “‘It's like going downhill through deep snow on a sled’ he said, finally. ’At first, it’s exhilarating: the speed; the sharp, clear air; but then the snow accumulates, builds up on the runners, and you slow, you have to push hard to keep going,’” (Lowry 98) . The Giver, realizing that Jonas is unfamiliar with every aspect of his metaphor, decides to transmit the memory. His training continues as Jonas is given more and more memories, some painful and some delightful. As the days pass, Jonas realizes that the world he lives in is devoid of any choice, uniqueness, color and emotions. Most importantly, the emotion called love, which Jonas learns from the memories passed down to him. One morning, just before Jonas leaves for his training, a special holiday is declared. Hearing this, Jonas goes outside to play with some friends but finds them playing a war game. Overwhelmed, Jonas begs them to stop, but they refuse. Reflecting on this, Jonas decides that he can’t live in a world nor society in which he lives now, a place where no one could understand him; he must run away.

After reading this book, my perspective on free will has changed. The Giver instills a thought provoking narrative, one in which Jonas is forced to decide for himself what joy and freedom truly is. The book forces the reader to reflect on what it means to have free will and whether a life without it in exchange for security is better than a life with it. The conversations in the book reflect Jonas’s development as he goes from a “happy” individual to questioning the system. One example of this is when Jonas starts to question taking a pill to prevent “the stirings”, and boycotts the pill as a result. Afterwards, he starts his greater boycott of the system which he was taught to love. Jonas chose to feel emotions over not feeling them at all. He chose to see colors rather than seeing only black and white. He chose to run away rather than to spend the rest of his life in a one dimensioned, consistent world with no uniqueness. Overall, this book made me wonder which one I would prefer, a world without a choice but security, or a world without security but choice. 

Works Cited

Lowry, Lois. The Giver. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 1993