The Giver
VS
Truman Show
When you read or see something or someone you will eventually latter become conscious of some similarities and at the same time some differences. In your mind you will even involuntarily compare the previous information you had with the latest obtained. There are a many possibilities of comparing and contrast different things and different situations. The easiest information to compare is when you have situations or materials that have similar aspects. The two situations hereby being compared are the book “The Giver” and the “Truman Show”. The topics being compared include emotions, the quest for freedom and the plot which they are involved.
Emotions:
The emotions and feelings felt by Jonas and Truman are very similar but meanwhile very different. Truman and Jonas both tend to share their emotions of with the people of the community they belong to merely by interacting with the community in according with their feelings, but at the same time they tend to share their emotions only with their best friends in which they can trust. On Truman case the community controls his fears, desires and relationships by deceiving him. On Jonas case the community does not want to be confronted with memories and emotions and therefore exploit Jonas and his predecessors as a receptacle of those same emotions and memories they want to suppress.
Likewise there are striking differences in the way Jonas and Truman express those emotions. Jonas is only allowed to share his emotions with the Giver and he is only able to do so after passing the Twelve Ceremony and be named the Receiver and entrusted with his first memories and emotions. On the other hand Truman was born with the opportunity of sharing his emotions with everyone he wanted to but did not have an idea that the whole community was deceiving him.
Quest for Freedom:
In their quest for freedom both Jonas and Truman receive clues that make them start questioning the communities’ perspective. Truman and Jonas both keep demanding additional information about their community and are always surprised by the reluctance of the community to provide the answers. That same reluctance to provide answers make tem question even more the accuracy of the information being provided and they start to search for answers for themselves. As they question the information being provided by the community several clues eventually appear that make them even uneasy regarding their life style and the people that compose their society.
For Jonas the clues provided were the change of the color in the apple and the change of the color in the crowd. Those small differences made him understand that he is different from the others and that the uniformity preached by the society is nothing more than an illusion. Nevertheless the most important clues about his community are giving to him by the Giver when he starts sharing the community memories with Jonas. And are those memories and the understanding of the numbness and remorseless actions of his fellow men that send him in a desperate flight for freedom.
On the other hand as Truman tries to obtain the truth but he is always blocked by the High Tech Equipment that monitors him 24 hours a day as well as by the other residents of his community that obstruct his movements into areas where he should not be allowed. Some of the clues that down on Truman are the sprinkler that falls on him prior to the rain as well as the fall of the light bulbs. Those clues contributed for awareness of the situation he is in and made him start searching for his freedom but that freedom could only be achieved if he could “trick” the camera operators so he could sneak out from the community.
Plot:
The plots are very well organized both in the movie as well as in the book. The plot of both stories is so similar that sometimes it even looks like it was the same person who wrote the plots.
Both of the characters were early adopted and they accepted the life that was imposed on them by the community. Initially none of them really questioned any of the information provided by the community.
The main difference is that in Jonas case the whole community is not aware of what is happening to them and the decisions that re being taken by the Elders. Truman by the opposite is the only person in his community that is not aware of what is happening.
In both cases the outcome is very similar and crucial since the communities were taking away the free will of both Jonas and Truman. In the same way, both of the personages feel they have the right to leave the community and to take whatever actions that will allow them to accomplish their goal. Nevertheless, there are also differences like some of the emotions demonstrated and the ways in which the plots affect both characters.
In conclusion the book and the film made me question if there was any type of community like those mentioned above in the world today. It made me wonder to which extreme people accept regulations imposed over them without questioning the legitimacy of those same rules.
