Imagine living in a world where nothing changed and everyone was the same. In Lois Lowry’s novel, The Giver, the society is all the same. For example the people of the society do not fight and there is no war. Sameness is slowly working its way into our society. It is used as uniforms in some schools, even secluding yourself to a specific friend group because everyone has the same interests could be considered as Sameness. I believe Sameness is a major advantage due to no one suffering, but living where a society is completely the same would not be an interesting life to live. The Giver portrays how sameness in a society could have advantages and disadvantages.
Sameness has many different aspects of how it could be an advantage. The most important advantage is that the idea of war is abolished. Everyone would agree with each other leading to no argument to cause war (Sofirex, “The Giver: Analyze the Advantages and Disadvantages of Sameness in Jonas's Community”). Back in the day the classes of citizens were very strict, well if you have a society that’s all the same there would be no classes. The terrain in the book is completely flat; sameness eliminated valleys, hills, or curves in the road that way transportation will not be slowed down (Gray, “Sameness in The Giver.”). The people suffering under poverty would be saved and the upper class people will not just have anything they want through their money. In today’s world we are really suffering with unemployment. If our community was all the same there would no longer be anyone getting laid off and everyone would have a decent job. Many people suffer under the stress and anxiety they go through on a daily basis. Sameness would take care of that by taking away the stress and anxiety by taking away daily choices and decisions made since everything will be decided for you. Climate control was used as an advantage in the book since unpredictable weather caused problems. In the book the community looked for an answer, instead of the having objects damaged by the snow, storms, and floods. Limited agricultural periods were caused by snow, and transportation is made almost impossible due to unpredictable weather. Since the society went to sameness, they no longer have to deal with the damages from weather (Gray, “Sameness in The Giver.”). Due to the weather always the same that eliminates sunburns, floods, and natural disasters. The Giver mentions to Jonas how there use to be different races, “... There was a time, actually -- you'll see this in the memories later -- when flesh was many different colors. That was before we went to Sameness. Today flesh is all the same…” (Lowry, 94). Now that the society went to Sameness, the citizens do not have to worry about racial segregation.
Sameness may seem like an advantage, but it contains many disadvantages as well. Life decisions are what shapes you to who you are. If you were told who to marry, how many children to have, where to live, and what job to have really isn’t living is it? In a world of sameness, everything stays the same and does not change. In The Giver, the story is told through a black and white image, that is until Jonas discovers colors. The receiver and the giver have a hard time connecting with the rest of the community due to being able to see what others cannot. “He found that he was often angry, now: irrationally angry at his groupmates, that they were satisfied with their lives which had none of the vibrance his own was taking on (Lowry, 99).” Jonas starts to get frustrated over the fact that no one else cares about being all the same.
For example, when Jonas first saw the apple change, he was unaware that he was perceiving the color red. This results in a distinct alteration in the Sameness of the community.
“Seeing beyond” is the giver and receiver’s role in the novel. In the community, all citizens obtain darker eyes, besides the giver and Jonas, they both have pale eyes. The moment when Jonas witnessed the apple changing, he was worried and unsure of what was going on. This results in a distinct alteration in the Sameness of the community. The Giver portrays how a society that possesses Sameness contains both advantages and disadvantages. Lowry leaves the reader on a cliffhanger at the end of the novel, by having Jonas running away from his society. Jonas is suffering now that he was chosen as the receiver, but it is irritating him now that he is different and has a different colorful perspective on the world. Rather than his friends that still live in the black and white dreary world, yet it does not bother them.