Project on Lois Lowry’s “The Giver “
Choose one of the following topics and write a project on it.
Your project should research the topic using the Internet, books, magazines,
newspapers.
* All your source material should be included in a BIBLIOGRAPHY at the end of
your work .Any quotations should be marked clearly, showing what is in your own
words, and what is taken from your sources. (You may use a different font ,or a
different colour).
*Your work should be presented in a plastic folder with a cover page and
picture.
* ALL topics should be related to the story of the Giver, WITH QUOTATIONS
TO SHOW THE CONNECTION.
Topics
1.
Family relationships
In what way are the family relationships in Jonas’ community different to your
own? What is different about the way he sees family?
(Give specific examples from the book).
What is the value of family in your opinion? Can a young person learn from an
older family member? How are the old and the very young treated in Jonas/
society in comparison with our world? Give at least 2 examples of other kinds of
family unit in different parts of the world.
2.Personal Freedom and Choice
In what way does Jonas’ society limit personal freedom? Why do you think they
do this, and is there any advantage in it? How do you see personal freedom in our
society ?(Give specific examples)What kind of crimes and punishments are
there in Jonas’ world in comparison to our world? What punishments exist in our
world? Do you think there should be different kinds of punishments in our world
,and if so what should they be? You should give examples of different societies
in the world such as Afghanistan, China, Iran etc.
3.
Utopia
Jonas’ society is supposed to be an ideal or perfect community. There is no
crime, hunger, poverty ,suffering, inequality. There have been other examples in
history of people trying to create a perfect society.
Either a. Research another community (Amish, Hassidim, Shakers) and see how
they created an alternative society
Or b. Create your own utopian society: Include the following elements:
1. Give your world/land a name and location.
2. 2. Create a belief or value system that the community must follow.
3.Create a system of punishment,and explain how it works.
4.Describe your technology.
5.. Write a short comparison of your world to Jonas’ world.
6.. Create a Pledge of Allegiance or a National Anthem.
4.Diversity and Sameness
The Giver pictures a community in which every person and his or her experience
is precisely the same. The climate is controlled, and competition has been
eliminated in favor of a community in which everyone works only for the common
good. What advantages might "sameness" have for a community? Is this loss of
diversity worthwhile? Explain.
5 .Memory and History
Would it be better if we could forget all the bad things that have happened in
our lives? Would society be better with no memories of the past? What is the
role of memory /history in our society? Give specific examples. ( For example,
World War II , Holocaust, Vietnam, Yom Kippur War etc) Relate these to events
in The Giver where there is no memory of the past.
6 .Genetic Engineering
In Jonas’ world babies are made to be as similar as possible. They mostly have
the same eye and hair colour , and are supposed to develop at the same rate.
Soon the first human clone will be born in the real world , but there are many
people who are not in favour of such “interfering with nature”. Find out about
the pros and cons of cloning/genetic engineering and give your own opinion of it.
**MATERIAL DOWNLOADED FROM THE INTERNET WITH NO EDITING
WILL EARN A ZERO!!
REFLECTION
At the end of your project write a short conclusion or reflection explaining what
you learnt from your work, if you think it was helpful, what you would prefer to
do differently etc.