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{{infobox Book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books --> |
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The '''U.S. Electoral College''' is a specific form of an [[electoral college]] and is the method by which the [[President of the United States|President]] and [[Vice President of the United States]] are chosen. The Electoral College was established by [[Article Two of the United States Constitution|Article Two]], Section One of the [[United States Constitution|U.S. Constitution]], and meets every four years with electors from each [[U.S. state|state]]. The [[Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution|23rd Amendment]] to the Constitution has allowed electors from the [[District of Columbia]] to cast votes for the election of the president. The electoral process was modified in [[1804]] with the ratification of [[Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Amendment XII]]. |
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| name = The Giver |
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| orig title = |
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| translator = |
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| image = [[Image:lowry the giver cover.jpg|200px|Cover of a 1994 hardback edition, showing Newbery Medal]] |
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| image_caption = 1994 hardback edition, with [[Newbery Medal]] |
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| author = [[Lois Lowry]] |
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| cover_artist = Cliff Nielsen |
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| country = [[United States]] |
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| language = [[English language|English]] |
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| series = ''Giver'' trilogy |
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| genre = [[Soft science fiction]] |
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| publisher = [[Bantam Books]] |
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| release_date = 1993 |
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| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover|Hardback]] & [[Paperback]]) |
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| pages = 180 p. (paperback edition) |
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| isbn = ISBN 0553571338 (paperback edition) |
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| preceded_by = |
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| followed_by = [[Gathering Blue]] |
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}} |
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:''This article is about the novel by Lois Lowry. For other uses of the term, see [[The Giver (disambiguation)]]. |
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'''''The Giver''''' is a [[soft science fiction]] [[novel]] written by [[Lois Lowry]] and published on [[April 16]] [[1993]]. It is set in a future society which is at first presented as a [[utopia]] and gradually appears more and more [[dystopia|dystopic]]. The novel follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth year of his life. Jonas's society has eliminated pain and strife by converting to "Sameness", a move which has also eradicated [[emotion]]al depth from their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of "Receiver of Memory," the person who stores all the memories of the time before Sameness, in case they are ever needed. As Jonas receives the memories from his predecessor—the Giver—he discovers how shallow his community's life has become. |
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To see the current polls state-by-state and how the electoral college stands in [[2004]], follow the daily updates at [http://www.electoral-vote.com electoral-vote.com]. |
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A film, called ''[[The Giver(film)|The Giver]],'' is currently in pre-production and is based on the book. The film is slated for a 2007 release date. |
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==How it works== |
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===Indirect election=== |
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[[Image:1800 electoral tally.jpg|thumb|300px|Tally of electoral votes for the [[U.S. presidential election|1800 Presidential election]], dated February 11, 1801.]] |
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Voting for President of the [[United States]] is an indirect [[election]]. [[U.S. presidential election|Presidential elections]] take place on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November in years evenly divisible by four. Although ballots typically list the names of the Presidential candidates, voters within the 50 states and the [[District of Columbia]] (which is considered a state when voting for President, according to [[Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution|Amendment XXIII]] of the [[United States Constitution|Constitution]]) actually choose [[elector]]s when they vote for President. These electors in turn cast the official votes for President. Federal law says that each state's electors meet in their state capitals on the Monday following the second Wednesday of December. There, they cast their electoral votes for President and Vice President. |
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Despite controversy and criticism that the book's subject material is inappropriate for young children, ''The Giver'' won the 1994 [[Newbery Medal]] and has sold more than 3.5 million copies. In the [[Education in the United States|United States]], it is a part of many [[middle school]] reading lists, but it is also on many banned book lists (see [[#Controversy|Controversy]]). The novel forms a loose trilogy with ''[[Gathering Blue]]'' (2000) and ''[[Messenger (novel)|Messenger]]'' (2004), two other books set in the same future era. |
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Once voting is complete, a record of the votes is sent to the [[Vice President of the United States|President of the Senate]], who, in the presence of both houses of Congress on the following [[January 6]], opens them up and tallies the votes. The person with the most electoral votes for President, provided that it is an [[absolute majority]], is to be sworn in as the new President on the following [[January 20]] (or 21st if the 20th is a Sunday), and the person with the most electoral votes for Vice President (which must also be an absolute majority) becomes Vice President on the same date. If no person wins a majority of electoral votes for President, the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] then votes to decide who shall become the next President from among the top three candidates. In so voting, the representatives of each state cast a single block vote. Similarly, if no absolute majority is achieved by a Vice Presidential candidate, the [[United States Senate|Senate]] chooses from among the top two candidates. In the Senate, however, each Senator casts a single vote; voting is not based on states. |
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== |
==Plot summary== |
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{{spoiler}} |
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The number of electors assigned to each state is equal to the number of [[United States Senate|Senators]] (always two) and [[United States House of Representatives|Representatives]] that the state has in [[United States Congress|Congress]], but no Senator or Representative may serve as an elector. The District of Columbia is treated as a state, but can in no event choose more electors than the least populous state (presently 3; however even without this clause D.C.'s current population would have to double to give it more than 3 electors). There are currently 538 electoral votes available in each presidential election (100 Senators + 435 Representatives + 3 electors from the District of Columbia). Candidates must receive a majority of 270 electoral votes to become President and Vice President. |
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At first glance, the novel's setting seems to be a [[utopia]], where all possible steps are taken to eliminate pain and anguish. Two-way speakers monitor every household for rule infractions. The people are almost always compliant; families share their [[dream]]s and feelings on a daily basis to defuse emotional buildup. This society remains harmonious by matching up husbands and wives based on personality compatibility. |
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As time progresses in the novel, however, it becomes clear that the society has lost contact with the ideas of [[family]] and [[love]] (at least in the "more complete" sense at which Lowry hints). Children are born to designated "birthmothers" and then distributed, one boy and one girl per family, in order to achieve balance in the population. After family units have served the purpose of raising the children in a stable environment, they cease to exist, the parents going to a communal housing facility for childless adults, and the children becoming involved in their work and starting monogenerational families of their own. The community maintains this process using pills which suppress emotion, mainly [[romantic love]] and [[human sexuality]]. |
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[[Image:1824 electoral tally.jpg|thumb|300px|Tally of electoral votes in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1824|1824 Presidential election]], showing the number of votes received by the four candidates: [[Andrew Jackson]], [[John Quincy Adams]], [[William H. Crawford]], and [[Henry Clay]], dated February 9, 1825.]] |
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All the land near the community and around the other, similar towns clustered about the nearby river has been flattened to aid [[agriculture]] and [[transportation]]. [[Climate control]] is used so the [[weather]] remains constant. |
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The process for selecting electors varies throughout the United States. Generally, the political parties nominate electors at their state party conventions or by a vote of the party's central committee in each State. Electors are often selected to recognize their service and dedication to their political party. They may be state elected officials, party leaders, or persons who have a personal or political affiliation with the Presidential candidate. |
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The community is run by a Council of Elders that assigns each 12-year-old the job he or she will perform for the rest of his or her life. People are bound by an extensive set of rules touching every aspect of life, which if violated require a simple but somewhat ceremonious apology. In some cases, violating the rules is "winked at": older siblings invariably teach their younger brothers and sisters how to ride a [[bicycle]] before the children are officially permitted to learn the skill. If a member of the community has committed serious infractions twice before, he or she may be punished by "release," which can be seen as this future world's equivalent to [[death]] (although being sentenced for release isn't defined as actually dying in the community). |
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In all but two states, the party that wins the most popular votes becomes that state's electors, essentially a winner-take-all. The two exceptions are the states of [[Maine]] and [[Nebraska]], where two of the electors are chosen by the popular vote statewide, and the rest are determined by the popular vote within each Congressional district. For example: Maine has two congressional districts. Of the votes in District 1, Jones gets 20 and Smith gets 15. In District 2, Jones gets 3 and Smith gets 32. In this situation, Smith would receive three of Maine's electoral votes (two for receiving a plurality plus an elector for winning District 2), with Jones getting the fourth (for winning District 1). This method has been used in Maine since 1972 and Nebraska since 1996, though neither has ever split its electoral votes. |
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The "Ceremony of Release" recurs throughout the novel, becoming more ominous as more details are revealed. Early in the story, we learn that the procedure is generally considered a shameful fate, particularly if the one released is a functioning member of society. On the other hand, Release of the elderly is an occasion of joyful celebration, and release of an infant is regarded as unavoidable to preserve balance. Later, we learn the specific criteria for which infants-under the care of assigned Nurturers before they are assigned to families-are selected for Release. In particular, if a Birthmother produces identical twins, a Nurturer weighs them and usually Releases the smaller. |
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The electors in each state vote on separate ballots for President and [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]], at least one of whom must not be an inhabitant of that state. This restriction is in place to prevent electors from voting solely for the "[[favorite son]]s" from their home state. To avoid this, political parties make sure to nominate presidential and vice presidential candidates from two different states. In the [[U.S. presidential election, 2000|2000 election]], [[Richard Cheney]] (who has residences in Texas, Wyoming, and Virginia) changed his voter registration from Texas to Wyoming so that he could be on the same ticket as [[George W. Bush]], who lives in Texas. |
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The people of Jonas' community believe that those released are sent "elsewhere," probably to another community. As the novel nears its climax, the protagonist discovers that release is actually [[euthanasia]]. The scene which makes this revelation has drawn criticism from some adults who would rather not see children exposed to such descriptions. |
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In practice, the voters choose slates of electors pledged to candidates for president and vice president; in most states, the names of the electors do not appear on the ballot. Legally, the electors are free to cast their votes for anyone they choose; in practice, electors almost never vote for a candidate they are not pledged to (as they are chosen by the political parties specifically for voting for that candidate). When this does happen, it is most often a case of the elector voting the pledged candidate for Vice-President as President and vice-versa, usually as a protest. For example, this happened in [[U.S. presidential election, 1988|1988]] when an elector pledged to [[Michael Dukakis]] voted for [[Lloyd Bentsen]] to protest the Electoral College system. In [[U.S. presidential election, 2000|2000]] an elector from the District of Columbia cast a blank ballot to protest the District's lack of a voting representative in Congress. The last time an elector voted for the candidates of a different party was [[U.S. presidential election, 1972|1972]] when [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] elector [[Roger MacBride]] voted for [[United States Libertarian Party|Libertarian]] candidates [[John Hospers]] and [[Theodora Nathan]]. This was the first electoral vote cast for a woman. Several states, but not all, have laws stating that if an elector becomes a "'''faithless'''" '''elector''' and does not vote for the candidate to which he is pledged he can be replaced or even punished, but the constitutionality of such laws is debated and has never been tested. |
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The book is told in the [[Third person limited omniscient|third-person limited]]. The [[protagonist]], Jonas, is followed as he awaits the Ceremony of Twelve. Jonas lives in what a standard family unit with his mother (a [[judge]]) and father (a "nurturer"). He is selected to be "Receiver of Memory," because of his unusual "capacity to see beyond," which is the ability to do something unusual, such as [[colorblindness|see color]] or hear [[music]]. He trains for the position of Receiver by receiving memories from the aged incumbent (known to the community as "the Receiver," and to Jonas as "the Giver") who is burdened by the emotional weight of the memories. These memories are images from the world before Sameness, "back and back and back"—things that no one else in Jonas's world remembers. |
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==History== |
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Scholars continue to debate the reasons for adoption of the Electoral College. Some believe it was created to protect small states. Others believe that the [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]] intended to create a system of indirect election whereby the electors would come to a carefully considered decision and then the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] would again make a careful consideration of the names presented. Others still believe the system of electing the President was given little thought beyond a desire to have [[George Washington]] as the first President. Still others hold that it was devised as a compromise between the election of a President by popular vote and by the Congress, although initially the electors were selected by the state legislatures and it was not until later that states started holding a popular poll for the Presidential elections to determine how they would cast their votes. |
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Through ''The Giver'', Jonas receives memories of things eliminated in Jonas's world: [[violence]], [[sadness]], and [[loss]], as well as true [[love]], [[beauty]], [[joy]], [[adventure]], and [[family]]. Eventually, these revelations prompt Jonas to seek to change the community and return emotion to the world. |
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The electoral college may have been implemented to negotiate compromises in cases of a very badly split vote where each state was pushing its own native son. The [[U.S. presidential primary]] and the emergence of a [[two-party system]] has largely rendered this historical. Others have noted that the Electoral College enabled the Founding Fathers to deftly incorporate the [[Connecticut Compromise]] and [[Three-fifths compromise]] into the system of choosing the President and Vice President, thereby sparing the convention further acrimony over the issue of state representation. |
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The ending is ambiguous, and Jonas' future and even survival are left unresolved. See [[#Ambiguity|Classroom Use]] for further discussion. |
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Regardless of why the system was chosen, the term "electoral college" is not used in the [[United States Constitution|U.S. Constitution]], and it wasn't until the early [[1800s]] that it came into general usage as the unofficial designation for the group of citizens selected to cast votes for President and Vice President. It was first written into Federal law in [[1845]], and today the term appears in 3 U.S.C. section 4, in the section heading and in the text as "college of electors." |
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==Characters in "The Giver"== |
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Section 1, Article II of the Constitution says, "Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector." It then goes on to describe how the electors vote for President. |
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* '''Jonas''' – the protagonist, an Eleven year-old when the novel opens, who is selected to become Receiver of Memory at his Ceremony of Twelve. |
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* '''The Giver''' – the incumbent Receiver of Memory, who stores human experiences from the time before Sameness. The Community's Elders rely upon his "wisdom" in the event of emergencies; because no one wants the pain that comes with keeping the necessary memories, this "honor" is restricted to one individual. |
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* '''Jonas's Mother''' – an intelligent, practical woman who serves her Community as a judge. |
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* '''Jonas's Father''' – a caring man, something of the ideal father figure, who works as a nurturer for Children in their first year of life. Later, Jonas learns that his father is, sometimes, responsible for the Release of defective children. |
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* '''Lily''' – Jonas's talkative, enthusiastic and outgoing younger sister. |
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* '''Asher''' – Jonas's closest friend, a cheerful and easygoing boy who is assigned the position of Assistant Director of Recreation. |
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* '''Fiona''' – Female friend and coeval of both Jonas and Asher. Her red hair represents a failure of genetic engineering, as the Giver notes. "We never completely mastered Sameness [...] Hair like Fiona's must drive them crazy." She works as a Caretaker for the Old. Despite her kind demeanor, she is adept at Releasing the elderly without emotion. She also is the one whom Jonas dreams about in his "stirrings". She is also referred to as his 'favorite female'. |
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* '''Gabriel''' – an infant from the Nurturing Center whom Jonas's father takes home for extra care. Slow in development and highly emotional, Gabriel is at risk of Release. |
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* '''Rosemary''' – the Elders' previous selection to be the new Receiver of Memory, when Jonas was a Two. Her training failed, in a way which impacted the entire Community: defeated by the memories of loss and hurt which the Giver was forced to transfer, she asked for Release. Once she was "Elsewhere", the memories given her had no place to go, so they floated freely. The Giver reveals that Rosemary was his daughter. |
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* '''Caleb''' – A child who drowned in the river near the town. Because of release, death is not known(old people are released at a certain age), so this shocks the community. They chant his name all day until it fades from their memories. |
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==Major themes== |
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Originally, each elector voted for two persons. The person receiving the greatest number of votes (provided that such a number was a majority of electors) would be President, while the individual who was in second place became Vice President. If no-one received a majority of votes, then the House of Representatives would choose between the five highest vote-getters, with each state getting one vote. In such a case, the person who received the highest number of votes but was not chosen President would become Vice President. If there was ever a tie for second, then the Senate would choose the Vice President. |
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[[Color]] represents diversity and a depth of feeling beyond that which the majority of society enjoys. In ''The Giver,'' however, objects do not "gain" color through intense emotional experiences on the part of their observers; rather, Jonas learns to see the colors which objects intrinsically possess. Apparently, the transition to Sameness involved removing color vision from the people, although the Giver implies that genetic engineers also attempted (without total success) to remove the variability in the human population (even [[eye color|light eyes]] and [[red hair]] are rarities). |
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A motif of nudity recurs in several places. During his volunteer hours (a time when children aged eight to twelve explore their community and prepare for an eventual career), Jonas assists in the House of the Old, where the most aged members of the Community reside. Lowry describes how Jonas bathes an old woman, Larissa; he enjoys the trusting, carefree nature of the experience, which reminds him of his father caring for an infant. Jonas muses about how his Community has strict rules against nakedness in almost all circumstances. He personally finds them a nuisance—such as the admonition to keep oneself entirely covered while changing for athletic games—and does not understand why the Community would institute such precautions. Later, the tenderness of the bathing scene gains a sexual edge, when Jonas dreams about cajoling a female friend, the red-haired Fiona, to remove her clothes and climb into a tub so that he can bathe her. Jonas recounts this dream at his family's breakfast dream-telling, and his parents recognize it as an early sign of what they call "the stirrings" ([[puberty]]). A daily pill makes the stirrings go away. |
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The original plan, however, did not forsee the development of political parties. In 1796, for instance, the Federalist [[John Adams]] came in first, and the Democrat-Republican [[Thomas Jefferson]] came second. Thus, the President and Vice President were from different parties. An even greater problem occurred in 1800, when Democrat-Republicans Jefferson and [[Aaron Burr]] tied the vote. It was intended that Jefferson was the Presidential contender, while Burr was the Vice Presidential one. However, electors did not differentiate between the two, nor could they under the system of the time, and most electors cast one vote for each. The election was then thrown into the House of Representatives, which was controlled by the Democrat-Republicans' opponents, the Federalists. The House had to vote thirty-five times before [[Alexander Hamilton]] declared his support for Thomas Jefferson, who won on the thirty-sixth ballot. Burr became Vice President, but he bore a grudge against Hamilton, whom he later killed in a duel. |
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Music plays a role in ''The Giver,'' despite its presence being very subdued. Just as it is possible to read well into the novel without realizing that its characters do not [[color vision|see color]] — often until the Giver mentions that a thing called "color" once existed — it is also easy to miss the fact that the community has no music. One of the few clues is when Larissa describes a Ceremony of Release for an old man who was leaving the Community. "We chanted the anthem," she says, a phrasing which implies an absence of melody. Later, when the Giver is instructing Jonas, we learn that as a boy, the Giver had a faculty much like Jonas's ability to "see beyond". In the Giver's case, it was ''hearing'' beyond: he began to hear "something truly remarkable, which is called ''music''". (This sense is more mystical than Jonas's, in that we can understand how objects have color which people are unable to see, but we cannot identify a natural source of music—unless the Giver discovered he could hear musical patterns in everyday sound, as [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] reputedly did.) |
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To address the problems of the 1800 election, the Twelfth Amendment was passed. It made some minor and major changes to the Constitution. Firstly, electors would no longer cast two ballots for President. Rather, they would cast one vote for President and a separate vote for Vice President. The individual receiving a majority of votes in a particular election would be elected. If no-one received a majority in the Presidential election, then the House of Representatives would choose between the top three, again voting by state. Similarly, the Senate chooses between the top two in the case of the Vice President. |
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{{endspoiler}} |
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It should be noted that under the provisions of the U.S. Constitution, there is no requirement for a state to poll its voters. The state legislature can in theory appoint the electors as it likes, and until [[1860]], [[South Carolina]] did just this. Furthermore in [[1788]], the concept of "democracy" was widely seen as analogous to mob-rule, while the idea of political parties was equally frowned upon, and so the idea of a directly elected head of state would have been anathema to many. The [[Federalist Papers]] suggest that it was expected that most Presidents would be selected by the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]], and the order of the articles of Constitution, in which [[United States Congress|Congress]] is established in Article I and the presidency in Article II, supports this view. |
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== Origins == |
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[[Image:Lowry-giver-1999-paperback.jpg|thumbnail|right|Cover of 1999 paperback edition]] |
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The United States is one of very few liberal democracies to use an indirect method of selecting its chief executive (the [[United Kingdom]] being the other notable example). The Electoral College process is somewhat controversial with strong arguments from both its supporters and detractors. Supporters note that the system has lasted for over two hundred years and protects rural communities and smaller states from the interests of urban centers and large states. Detractors, on the other hand, believe that such a conspiracy of large population states against small population states is an 18th century anxiety and feel that the college is an antiquated system that silences a large minority of votes in every state and is therefore undemocratic. |
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According to her [[Newbery Medal]] acceptance speech <ref>[http://www.loislowry.com/pdf/Newbery_Award.pdf Newbery Medal acceptance speech], June 1994.</ref>, the stream of ideas which became ''The Giver'' originated when Lois Lowry lived in Japan, at the age of eleven. Her family dwelled in an American enclave, "Washington Heights", near the [[Shibuya]] district of [[Tokyo]]. Dissatisfied with the American elementary school, the tiny library full of American books—with the entire transplanted United States lifestyle—one day the young Lowry sneaked out the back gate into Shibuya. She found the experience rewarding enough to repeat: |
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<blockquote> |
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===Supporters of the college=== |
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''"Again and again—countless times without my parents' knowledge—I ride my bicycle out the back gate of the fence that surrounds our comfortable, familiar, safe American community. I ride down a hill because I am curious and I enter, riding down that hill, an unfamiliar, slightly uncomfortable, perhaps even unsafe ... though I never feel it to be ... area of Tokyo that throbs with life."'' |
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Supporters of the college claim that it acts as a method of amplifying the voting power of an individual voter from a specific state in a [[U.S. presidential election]]. Without the Electoral College, with the vote based on majority rule, it would be possible to win a strict majority of votes located in a few geographically restricted areas of the country. |
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</blockquote> |
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Many years later, Lowry still recalled the smells and sounds of Shibuya, remembering most of all the blue-uniformed schoolchildren, "the strangers who are my own age". Among the tumult of life in that district, she noticed the widespread noise of wooden sticks being banged together, of young men shouting and waving banners—acts which turned out to be [[Communism|Communist]] demonstrations <ref>"[http://www.loislowry.com/pdf/Village_Childhood.pdf The Village of Childhood]", August 1997.</ref>. |
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The fear is without the college, one could campaign and win in only the 10 largest cities in the union [[disenfranchising]] (for one example) the sparsely populated mountain region of the [[United States]]. This is illustrated by the fact that the combined total population of the 10 largest cities in the nation is (from the 1995 Statistical Abstract of the United States) almost 21.9 million. The entire population of the mountain region of the United States (et al.) is 15.2 million. This effect is magnified when the analysis is broadened to the 10 largest metropolitan areas, not just the size of the largest cities proper. This would allow a candidate to focus resources, time, and political capital in winning the greatest numbers of voters in the cities. It is felt that this pressure would apply to all parties, and lead to voters in the sparsely populated West being completely ignored. |
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Looking back at this experience, Lowry relates that it was an example of what every child must do eventually: leave the safety of his or her village. Because Shibuya was such a different place, divided so sharply from Washington Heights, her journey was only a touch more dramatic than most. ([[Caldecott Medal]] winner [[Allen Say]] was one of the Shibuya schoolchildren. He and Lowry met at the 1994 Newbery ceremony and discovered each other's identities when Lowry autographed a copy of ''The Giver'' in [[Japanese language|Japanese]]. After briefly discussing the time Lowry spent in Japan, Say exclaimed, "''Were you the girl on the green bike?''" <ref name="lowry-richmond">"[http://www.loislowry.com/pdf/Richmond_Speech.pdf How Everything Turns Away]", [[University of Richmond]] "Quest" Series, March 2005.</ref>.) |
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The man pictured on the book's original cover is Carl Nelson, a painter who lived alone on an island off the coast of [[Maine]]. Lowry visited him in 1979, sent there to research a magazine story. His vivid and detailed sense of color impressed her greatly. Years later, she heard that he went blind. Pondering the matter, sadly and whimsically, she began to imagine if he could have magically given her the ability to see the way he had. These experiences, and others like them, percolated and gradually formed the background for a story. |
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An illustrative example where the interests of a metropolitan area directly conflict with those of a state or region exists between the city of [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]] (metropolitan population well over 15 million) and the state of [[Colorado]] (population 4.3 million) over the issue of river water use. |
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Lowry describes creating the pain-free world of Jonas's Community in her Newbery speech: |
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A direct election would focus candidates resources on large cities such as Los Angeles. The debate would naturally center on local issues that directly affected Los Angeles citizens. Los Angeles derives a great deal of its water from the [[Colorado River (U.S.)|Colorado River]], originating in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The amount of water reserved for California has an impact on Colorado significantly and directly, and its use results in much contention. Supporters of the college feel that competing interests such as these are best served by compelling candidates to campaign in smaller states and address their issues. If a direct election was instituted, Colorado's voters would receive less attention, as a candidate would have to campaign over the entire state (the 8th largest in area) for considerably fewer potential votes than the geographically far smaller Los Angeles metropolitan area. |
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<blockquote> |
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Thus, the intent of the college is to favor a candidate whose appeal is more broadly distributed on a geographical basis across the nation (see the 2000 election, below). This may lead to the rare circumstance of giving the election to a candidate who did not win a majority, or even a plurality, of the popular vote. This is seen as preferable to giving the election to one who is favored by a majority of voters but whose support is concentrated in a minority of regions or only by voters in large states. |
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''"I tried to make Jonas's world seem familiar, comfortable, and safe, and I tried to seduce the reader. I seduced myself along the way. It did feel good, that world. I got rid of all the things I fear and dislike; all the violence, poverty, prejudice and injustice, and I even threw in good manners as a way of life because I liked the idea of it.</br>One child has pointed out, in a letter, that the people in Jonas's world didn't even have to do dishes.</br>It was very, very tempting to leave it at that."''<ref>from Lowry's "Newbery Award" acceptance speech</ref> |
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</blockquote> |
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==Literary significance and criticism== |
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An additional reason in favor of the Electoral College is that by having fifty-one separate elections, corruption in any single state is limited to the electoral votes of that state. Corruption is most likely to occur in a state in which there is not strong two party competition. If strong party machines in one party states could add phantom votes to a national total in close elections, the temptation to do so would be irresistible. Also, in the event of an extremely close election, as in [[2000]], having the Electoral College makes doing a recount much easier, since it may only be necessary to recount in a single state, rather than the entire nation. |
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=== Reviews and awards === |
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The critical reception of Lowry's work has been remarkably polarized. On the one hand, one finds critics like Anita Silvey, whose ''100 Best Books for Children'' calls ''The Giver'' one of the 1990s' greatest children's novels—and also one of the greatest young-adult [[science fiction]] novels of all time. <ref>[http://www.anitasilvey.com Anita Silvey], ''100 Best Books for Children'' (Houghton Mifflin, 2004). ISBN 0618278893.</ref> A review in the ''[[Christian Science Monitor]]'' claims, "Lowry's powerful book, simply and directly written, offers an inspiring defense of freedom. Both adventurous and skillfully plotted, this book is recommended for young readers 8 and up." <ref>"A Monitor's Guide to Children's Bestsellers", ''Christian Science Monitor'' [[24 September]] [[1998]] p. B12.</ref> This sort of praise has likely helped the book sell 3.5 million copies in its first decade, as well as making it a part of many schools' reading programs. <ref name="post-gazette">[http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/20040218lowry0218fnp3.asp "Lois Lowry's Newbery-winning 'Giver' still ignites debate"], from the ''[[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh]] [[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|Post-Gazette]]'' ([[18 February]] [[2004]])</ref> On the other hand, the book's detractors have tended to be as vehement in their denunciations as Silvey's lot is with praise (''see [[#Controversy|Controversy]] below''). |
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Another attribute of the Electoral College is that it often yields a decisive result, when the popular vote can be extremely close. For instance, the [[U.S. presidential election, 1916|1916 election]], [[U.S. presidential election, 1948|1948 election]], and [[U.S. presidential election, 1960|1960 elections]] were virtual ties, yet in each case, [[Woodrow Wilson|Wilson]], [[Harry Truman|Truman]], and [[John F. Kennedy|Kennedy]], respectively, won decisively in the Electoral College. The large Electoral College margins enabled the nation to move on with an accepted president. Bill Clinton may be the clearest example of this, winning only 43% of the popular vote in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1992|1992 election]] and 49% in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1996|1996 election]]. However, he did receive a mandate by winning a clear majority in the Electoral College in both cases. |
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One example of a negative review from an SF writer is from Debra Doyle, who wrote |
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The Electoral College was originally crafted by the framers of the Constitution in part as a compromise between larger and smaller states, as illustrated above. To elaborate further, [[Montana]] had a population of 902,195 in 2000, and has 3 electoral votes. [[California]] had 33,871,648 people and 54 electoral votes in 2000. Thus, while [[California]] has many more electoral votes to cast, people in [[Montana]] individually have a greater influence on their state's electoral votes. [[California]] has 627,252 people per electoral vote while [[Montana]] has 300,731 people per electoral vote. While largely ignored by Presidential candidates in elections, the smaller states are not as completely irrelevant as they would be otherwise. |
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:''The Giver'' fails the SF Plausibility Test for me. I don't see how a society like the one depicted could be attained/sustained in anything other than a metaphorical world. And even considered as fantasy, rather than sf, the book is too damned obvious. Things are the way they are because The Author is Making A Point; things work out the way they do because The Author's Point Requires It. <ref>"Doyle's YA SF Rant", ''[http://www.sfwa.org/writing/ya-riff.htm]</ref> |
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''The Giver'' has become something of a [[wikt:canon|canon]]ical work among educators who believe that "YA" (young adult) audiences respond best to contemporary literature. These teachers postulate that "teenagers need a separate body of literature written to speak directly to the adolescent experience [...] and plots that revolve around realistic, contemporary topics". (Of course, Lowry's futuristic setting means that this ''particular'' YA book can only address "contemporary topics" in an [[allegory|allegorical]] fashion, a point which raises questions of its own.) In this view, a "classics-only" curriculum can stunt a developing reader's appetite for words; there are naturally teachers who argue the opposite side of the argument, and press to keep older works on the reading lists <ref>Marie C. Franklin, "CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: Debate continues over merit of young-adult fare", ''[http://www.bostonglobe.com Boston Globe]'' [[23 February]] [[1997]] p. G1.</ref>. |
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In the [[U.S. presidential election, 2000|2000 Presidential election]], for example, when [[Al Gore]] finished just 5 electoral votes behind [[George W. Bush]], a switch of electors from any state, even those as seemingly irrelevant as Montana, would have switched the outcome of the election. |
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Lowry's most celebrated and controversial novel has also found a home in "City Reads" programs, library-sponsored reading clubs on city-wide or larger scales. [[Waukesha County, Wisconsin]] and [[Milwaukee County, Wisconsin]] chose to read ''The Giver,'' for example, as did [[Middletown, Connecticut]], [[Bloomington, Illinois]], [[Valparaiso, Indiana]], [[Rochester, Minnesota]], [[Central Valley, New York]], [[Centre County, Pennsylvania]] and others (<ref>"[http://www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/one-book.html 'One Book' Reading Promotion Projects]", form the [[Library of Congress]]'s Center for the Book</ref>, <ref>Judith Rosen, "Many Cities, Many Picks", ''Publishers Weekly'' [[10 March]] [[2003]] p. 19.</ref>). |
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===Detractors of the college=== |
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Detractors of the college feel that this system is out of date and undemocratic. They advocate [[direct election]] of the President by the voters, which might sometimes produce different results than the electoral college system (for example, the [[U.S. presidential election, 1824|1824]], [[U.S. presidential election, 1876|1876]], [[U.S. presidential election, 1888|1888]] and [[U.S. presidential election, 2000|2000]] elections). Due to potential differences in voter turnout, it cannot be certain how the results of direct elections in these or any years would have differed. Supporters of direct election argue that it disenfranchises no one, since it gives everyone an equal vote, regardless of which part of the country they live in, and oppose giving disproportionately amplified voting power to voters in small states. In contrast, the Electoral College disenfranchises those voters in every state who cast their votes for the candidate receiving fewer votes in that state. And it also partly disenfranchises voters in larger states by reducing their proportional contribution to the final election result. |
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Some adult reviewers writing for adults have commented that the novel's story is not likely to stand up to the sort of probing literary criticism used in "serious" circles. Karen Ray, writing in the ''New York Times,'' detects "occasional logical lapses", but quickly adds that the book "is sure to keep older children reading. And thinking" <ref>Karen Ray, "Children's Books", ''New York Times'' [[31 October]] 1993.</ref>. In a similar vein, Natalie Babbitt of the ''Washington Post'' calls Lowry's work "a warning in narrative form", saying |
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Opponents of the Electoral College claim that, in replacing a direct majority of the popular vote as the determinant of who wins the election, supporters of the Electoral College are actually endorsing minority vote as potentially preferable to majority vote. |
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<blockquote> |
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Opponents also point out that the Electoral College assumes that voters within states vote monolithically, when in fact this is not the case. Many states are often deeply divided over how to vote in a Presidential election. A key element of democracy is that voters disagree among themselves on what they consider their interests, and this happens within states as well as between states. Thus, for example, in the 2000 election, New Hampshire (a small state) gave 48% of its votes to Bush, and 47% to Gore. According to the pro-Electoral College model, as a small state, New Hampshire necessarily voted for its own local interests in supporting Bush. Yet, opponents point out, clearly the vote in that state was deeply divided as to what New Hampshire's "interests" were. This division results in [[swing states]], states which could "go either way" rather than being reliably Democratic or Republican when it comes to the Electoral College. This in itself skews the campaign process, as candidates focus their efforts on states whose electoral votes are in question, rather than individual voters whose ballots are in play, and may contribute to broader sectional divisions. Reliably partisan states may resent the attentions candidates lavish on swing states, and reliably partisan voters are—as described above—reliably not courted by candidates and therefore discouraged from participating in the electoral system at all. |
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''"The story has been told before in a variety of forms—[[Ray Bradbury]]'s ''[[Fahrenheit 451]]'' comes to mind—but not, to my knowledge, for children. It's well worth telling, especially by a writer of Lowry's great skill. If it is exceedingly fragile—if, in other words, some situations don't survive that well-known suspension of disbelief—well, so be it. ''The Giver'' has things to say that can't be said too often, and I hope there will be many, many young people who will be willing to listen." <ref>Natalie Babbitt, "The Hidden Cost of Contentment", ''Washington Post'' [[9 May]] 1993, p. X15.</ref> |
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</blockquote> |
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On the other hand, some practitioners of [[postmodernism|postmodern]] literary criticism suggest that a fully "adult" interpretation of Lowry's work is eminently possible <ref>[[Chip Morningstar]], "[http://www.info.ucl.ac.be/people/PVR/decon.html How to Deconstruct Almost Anything]"</ref>. |
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Thus, opponents argue, the Electoral College is based on a flawed assumption of monolithic voting patterns based on local interests which does not bear any relationship to the actual voting process. Supporters would argue that this is mitigated by the fact that states can decide to award their electoral votes proportionately, rather than as winner-take-all, despite the fact that few currently choose to do so. |
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Lois Lowry has won several awards for her work on ''The Giver''. Most notable are the following: |
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Opponents also argue that the Electoral College tends to favor a two-party system. Even when a third-party candidate receives a significant number of popular votes, he may not receive a majority in any state and may not garner even a single electoral vote, as was the case of [[Ross Perot]] in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1992|1992 elections]]. |
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* The 1994 [[Newbery Medal]] |
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* The 1996 [[William Allen White Award]] <ref>[http://www.emporia.edu/libsv/wawbookaward/winners/winner.htm William Allen White awards list], courtesy [[Emporia State University]]</ref> |
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* [[American Library Association]] listings both as "Best Book for [[young adult literature|Young Adults]]" and as a "Notable Children's Book". |
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=== Classroom use === |
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Opponents point out that the electoral college disenfranchises US citizens who are residents of Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, or other US territories. The US Constitution grants only to states and Washington DC the right to choose electors. US citizens living abroad can participate in a presidential election by sending an absentee ballot to their last place of residency within the US. But, if a US citizen establishes residency in Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands, he or she can't use an absentee ballot in any state or DC, and hence becomes disenfranchised. |
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''The Giver'' has been adopted into reading curricula across the United States, despite the objections of some that its content is unsuitable for young audiences (''see [[#Controversy|Controversy]] below''). |
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Yet another problem with the electoral college is what would result if no candidate won a majority of electoral votes, basically an election which fails to elect. In several elections of the Twentieth century, 1912, 1948, 1960, and 1968, third party candidates won electoral votes. It is certainly within the realm of possibility in a three-way race no candidate would reach the magic 270 number. If no candidate hit 270, the election would go to the House, where, under special election rules, each state delegation would have one vote, no matter its size. If the House election tied, or if enough delegations split evenly, there would be no winner at all. |
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When interviewed on [[NPR]]'s ''[[Morning Edition]],'' Lowry commented on her "young adult" audience's reaction, as follows: |
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Most [[electoral reform]] plans in the US include ways to abolish the College. |
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:The audience tends to be junior high age, and that's a tough age to engage. They come upon the book in an "Oh, this is an assignment. I'll have to read it, I suppose, but I'm not going to like it." And, yet, what has happened, and I know this because the book's been around now for a while, and I get, every day, letters from classrooms or from individual kids, they begin to see a counterpart with their own lives and to value their individuality. At the same time that they're all desperately wanting to wear the same sneakers, they suddenly begin to think "Hey, maybe that's not such a great thing, the sameness of all of us." <ref>[[NPR]] ''[[Morning Edition]]'' with Bob Edwards and Susan Stamberg (transcript), [[19 December]] [[2000]].</ref> |
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===Supporters of an electoral college with modified rules=== |
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Some argue that the biggest problems of the electoral college can be acceptably mitigated by modifying the rules by which votes are allocated. The primary proposal of this type is for states to implement a proportional vote system. Under such a system, electors would be selected in proportion to the votes cast for their candidate or party, rather than being selected to represent only the plurality vote. As an example, consider the 2000 election, in which the George W. Bush / Richard Cheney (Republican) and Albert Gore Jr. / Joseph Lieberman (Democrat) tickets were the primary contenders, with the Ralph Nader / Winona LaDuke (Green) ticket taking a small but noteworthy minority. In California, the approximate proportion of votes for these tickets was 41.65 percent Bush/Cheney, 53.45 percent Gore/Lieberman, and 3.82 percent Nader/LaDuke. Under the current system, all 54 electoral votes were for Gore/Lieberman. Under a simple proportional system, the votes might be distributed as 23 Bush/Cheney, 29 Gore/Lieberman, and 2 Nader/LaDuke. This breakdown is significant not only because it more closely represents the popular vote, but also because it could mitigate the [[spoiler effect]]. |
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==== Ambiguity ==== |
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The state of Colorado has an initiative on its November 2004 ballot, Amendment 36, which would institute a system of proportional allocation of electors beginning immediately with the 2004 Colorado electoral college members. If the proposal passes, the constitutiality of such a system may be challenged in [[court]]. Had such a system been in place in the 2000 election, only 5 of the state's 8 electors would have gone to Bush. Such a change of three electors from Bush to Gore would have changed the outcome of that election. |
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While the novel's ambiguous ending has created some confusion, many middle and high-school teachers have used this ambiguity to provide students a "jumping-off point". Beginning with their own interpretations of the book's finale, the students are encouraged to write essays exploring what could happen to Jonas next <ref name="post-gazette" />. The publication of a sequel, ''[[Messenger (novel)|Messenger]]'', did not change the publication of lesson plans for ''The Giver'' focused around the novel's ambiguity (''see [[#Inspirations and adaptations|Inspirations and adaptations]] below''). |
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Lowry herself has said: |
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Other observers argue that the current electoral rules of Maine and Nebraska should be extended nationwide. As previously noted, the winner in those two states is only guaranteed two electoral votes, with the winner of each Congressional district in the state receiving one electoral vote. Using the California example again, Gore won 33 of the state's Congressional districts and the state overall, while Bush won 19 Congressional districts. The state's electoral votes would then have gone 35-19 for Gore. |
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:How could it not be an optimistic ending, a happy ending, when that house is there with its lights on and music is playing? So I'm always kind of surprised and disappointed when some people tell me that they think that the boy and the baby just die. I don't think they die. What form their new life takes is something I like people to figure out for themselves. |
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but in the same essay said |
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===Alternative systems=== |
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:Many kids want a more specific ending to The Giver. Some write, or ask me when they see me, to spell it out exactly. And I don't do that. And the reason is because The Giver is many things to many different people. People bring to it their own complicated sense of beliefs and hopes and dreams and fears and all of that. So I don't want to put my own feelings into it, my own beliefs, and ruin that for people who create their own endings in their minds. <ref name="random-house">[http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/guides/give.html Lesson plan] from Random House publishers</ref> |
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The Electoral College requires a majority vote in order for a victor to be declared. In the case of a hypothetical direct election with multiple candidates, the question of [[majority]] versus [[plurality]] comes into play. In many recent American presidential elections ([[U.S. presidential election, 1948|1948]], [[U.S. presidential election, 1960|1960]], [[U.S. presidential election, 1968|1968]], [[U.S. presidential election, 1992|1992]], [[U.S. presidential election, 1996|1996]], and [[U.S. presidential election, 2000|2000]]), no single candidate achieved an absolute majority of the popular vote. Some nations with direct Presidential voting, such as [[France]], have a [[runoff voting|second round of voting]] if no candidate achieves a majority of votes in the first round; in the second round, the election is restricted to the two candidates with the highest number of votes. Some have argued that the French system creates problems of its own; it is possible that the initial vote becomes divided up between so many candidates that someone who is highly undesirable to most voters can make it to the second round of voting, as occurred in [[French presidential election, 2002|2002]] with the rise of candidate [[Jean-Marie Le Pen]] to the runoff election. One solution to this problem would be to implement an alternative election system, such as [[Instant runoff voting|instant runoff voting]], [[approval voting]], or [[condorcet voting]]. |
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Whatever Lowry's public statements about the happiness of the ending as she perceives it, many lesson plans and curricula, including those released by Lowry's own publisher, still focus on the ambiguity, which raises questions about [[Authorial intentionality|authorial intent]]. <ref name="random-house" /> |
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Another reform is to make the number of electors that each state has the same as its number of Representatives (effectively the same as the current system, except taking -2 electoral votes from each state). If such a system had been in place in 2000, Al Gore would have won in the Electoral College 225-211. |
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==== Science and mathematics ==== |
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A popular election could occur without amending the constitution. If a sufficient number of states chose their electors by national popular vote rather than state popular vote, then a national popular vote would occur in practice. For example, the eleven largest states, controlling over 270 electoral votes among them, could guarantee that the presidency always goes to the winner of the national popular vote, merely by changing state election law. |
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The novel has also been used as an aid to teaching [[science]] to middle-school or junior-high audiences. For example, the Community's universal color-blindness can be used to motivate a discussion of color vision, and the topic of Sameness can provide an introduction to [[genetics]]. <ref>[http://faculty.salisbury.edu/~elbond/giver.htm Lesson plans and suggestions] from [[Salisbury University]]</ref> |
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Another classroom use involves the subjects of [[probability]] and [[statistics]]. <ref>[http://www.ksu.edu/smartbooks/Lesson003.html SMart Books Lesson Plan] from [[Manhattan, Kansas]] describing a [[probability]] lesson (based in part on [http://my.nctm.org/eresources/article_summary.asp?URI=MTMS1999-05-504a&from=B an article] in ''Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School'', vol. 4, issue 8 (1999), p. 508)</ref> In Jonas's Community, fifty children are born each year; all of them receive their names at the December Ceremony of the Ones. All parts of the Community are carefully balanced, including the gender ratio. Consequently, there should be twenty-five girls and twenty-five boys per year. However, assuming a roughly fifty-fifty likelihood that a particular infant will have either gender, there is a considerable chance that the actual ratio in the population will turn out different. If Jonas's Community had the same biological characteristics as the readers' world, the boy/girl ratio would fluctuate from year to year, in a way that we can calculate mathematically. |
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===Political probabilities=== |
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Despite the difficulty of amending the Constitution, it appears that large majorities of Americans favor a direct popular vote. In a 1968 Gallup survey, 81% of Americans favored a direct popular vote, 12% favored retention, and 7% had no opinion. In 1992, pollsters asked Americans this question, "If Perot runs, there is a chance that no presidential candidate will get enough electoral votes to win. If that happens, the Constitution gives the House of Representatives the power to decide who will be the next President. Do you think that is a fair way to choose the President, or should the Constitution be changed?" 31% said it was a fair way, and 61% said the Constitution should be changed. |
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[[Image:The-giver-binomial.png|left|thumb|350px|The [[binomial distribution]] for children born each year]] |
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By some counts, there have been over seven hundred proposed amendments to the Constitution to change, or abolish, the electoral college. In 1989 an amendment to do away with the electoral college passed the House of Representatives with 83% of the vote, 338-70. Predictably, the amendment failed in the Senate, where it only got fifty-four affirmative votes. |
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Teachers who use this technique suggest that students estimate the gender ratio experimentally, say by shaking a box full of coins and counting how many land heads-up. It is also possible to predict the gender ratio and its fluctuations using probability theory, although the tools necessary for the calculation are not ([[as of 2005]]) typically taught to United States middle-school classes. Technically speaking, the birth of each child can be modeled as a [[Bernoulli trial]] with a roughly 50% probability that an individual child will be born male (or female). The overall number of boys and girls born each year would then follow a [[binomial distribution]] (with ''N'' = 50 and ''p'' = 0.5). The accompanying graph shows the result of this calculation in pictorial form: although the [[arithmetic mean|mean]] is 25, implying that ''on average'' we would find 25 boys and 25 girls each year, there is a sizeable [[standard deviation]]. Put another way, there is around a 32% chance that the actual number of males born in any one year will be less than 21 or greater than 29. The fact that the actual ratio of the sexes in Jonas's Community is so much more constrained than the ratio predicted by this probability model suggests that the Community artificially manipulates gender selection, possibly through the use of [[genetic engineering]], infanticide, or selective abortions. (The Giver himself notes that Sameness depends upon the manipulation of genes, although the Community is not completely adept at the practice.) |
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Regardless of how opponents of the system feel, it is unlikely that the system will soon be changed. Changing the system requires amending the Constitution, and amending the Constitution requires ratification of three-fourths of the States. Smaller states would be unlikely to ratify such an amendment, as their votes would count for less under direct popular vote than under the current electoral college system. |
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=== Controversy === |
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Also, removing the system would weaken the domination of the two large political parties which control most aspects of politics in the United States, so it would be difficult to imagine either party machine backing such an alteration. |
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The suitability of ''The Giver'' for [[middle school]] students in the United States is periodically challenged by some politically and socially [[conservative]] advocacy groups. The concerns typically cited include the book's treatment of [[suicide]], [[Human sexuality|sexuality]], [[euthanasia]], the [[occult]], and the negative view of conformity. The [[American Library Association]] lists ''The Giver'' as the [[United States]]'s eleventh most challenged book for the period 1990-1999, and the fourteenth most challenged from 1990 to 2000. The change may be due to the increased popularity of [[Phyllis Reynolds Naylor]]'s [[Alice series]] and [[J. K. Rowling]]'s [[Harry Potter]] novels <ref>"[http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000]", courtesy the American Library Association</ref>. |
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Debate over the merit of the Electoral College came to a head after the 2000 Presidential election, with some politicians, such as Senator [[Hillary Clinton]] calling for a Constitutional amendment abolishing the system. Clinton conceded that the chances of enacting such a change were slim, and the idea has not been vigorously pursued since the 2000 election. |
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Between 1999 and 2001, ''The Giver'' was challenged in at least five separate states, sometimes more than once <ref>[http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=14344 "Award-winning book frequent target in schools"]. (July 8, 2001). Associated Press.</ref>. |
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==Electoral votes== |
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Electoral votes are determined decennially by the [[United States Census]] (see also [[United States Congressional Apportionment]]). The electoral vote distributions for the 2004 and 2008 elections are as follows. To see the current polls state-by-state and how the electoral college stands in [[2004]], follow the daily updates at [http://www.electoral-vote.com electoral-vote.com]. |
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On [[January 6]] [[2005]], the [[Associated Press]] wire service reported that parents in [[Blue Springs, Missouri]] wished to remove ''The Giver'' from the eighth-grade reading list, almost eight years after it was placed there. Parents referred to the book as "violent" and "sexually explicit". The case reached [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] in March 2005, where hearings were held to determine the book's status. Kansas City newspapers quoted parents as saying, "The lady writes well, but when it comes to the ideas in that book, they have no place in my kid's head", and the more general, "Everything presented to kids should be positive and uplifting". The school board eventually voted, unanimously, to return the book to schools <ref name="lowry-richmond" />. A school board member was quoted saying, "What really has us concerned is not only the attack on ''The Giver,'' but what other actions might be taken by those who seek to wrest control of our kids' education from the direction of professional educators" <ref>"School board keeps ''The Giver'' on list", [[UPI]] wire service, [[15 March]] [[2005]] 5:39 p.m. EST.</ref>. |
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===Alphabetically=== |
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<table> |
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<tr halign="left" valign="top"><td> |
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[[Alabama]] - 9<BR>[[Alaska]] - 3<BR>[[Arizona]] - 10<BR>[[Arkansas]] - 6<BR>[[California]] - 55 <BR>[[Colorado]] - 9<BR>[[Connecticut]] - 7<BR>[[Washington, DC|D.C.]] - 3<BR>[[Delaware]] - 3<BR>[[Florida]] - 27<BR>[[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] - 15</td><td> |
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[[Hawaii]] - 4<BR>[[Idaho]] - 4<BR>[[Illinois]] - 21<BR>[[Indiana]] - 11<BR>[[Iowa]] - 7<BR>[[Kansas]] - 6<BR>[[Kentucky]] - 8<BR>[[Louisiana]] - 9<BR>[[Maine]] - 4<BR>[[Maryland]] - 10</td><td>[[Massachusetts]] - 12<BR>[[Michigan]] - 17<BR>[[Minnesota]] - 10<BR>[[Mississippi]] - 6<BR>[[Missouri]] - 11<BR>[[Montana]] - 3<BR>[[Nebraska]] - 5<BR>[[Nevada]] - 5 <BR> [[New Hampshire]] - 4<BR>[[New Jersey]] - 15</td><td>[[New Mexico]]- 5<BR>[[New York]] - 31<BR>[[North Carolina]] - 15<BR>[[North Dakota]] - 3<BR>[[Ohio]] - 20<BR>[[Oklahoma]] - 7<BR>[[Oregon]] - 7<BR>[[Pennsylvania]] - 21<BR>[[Rhode Island]] - 4<BR>[[South Carolina]] - 8</td><td> [[South Dakota]] - 3<BR>[[Tennessee]] - 11<BR>[[Texas]] - 34<BR>[[Utah]] - 5<BR>[[Vermont]] - 3<BR>[[Virginia]] - 13<BR>[[Washington]] - 11<BR>[[West Virginia]] - 5<BR>[[Wisconsin]] - 10<BR>[[Wyoming]] - 3</td></tr></table> |
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==Allusions/references from other works== |
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===Numerically=== |
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For a decade after ''The Giver'' was published, readers debated the meaning of its ambiguous conclusion, with little more information than Lowry's elusive statements in select interviews. |
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<table> |
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<tr valign="top" halign="left"> |
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<td> |
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California - 55<BR> |
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Texas - 34<BR> |
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New York - 31<BR> |
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Florida - 27<BR> |
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Illinois - 21<BR> |
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Pennsylvania - 21<BR> |
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Ohio - 20<BR> |
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Michigan - 17<BR> |
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Georgia - 15<BR> |
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New Jersey - 15<BR> |
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North Carolina - 15<BR> |
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</td> |
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<td> |
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Virginia - 13<BR> |
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Massachusetts - 12<BR> |
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Indiana - 11<BR> |
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Missouri - 11<BR> |
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Tennessee - 11<BR> |
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Washington - 11<BR> |
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Arizona - 10<BR> |
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Maryland - 10<BR> |
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Minnesota - 10<BR> |
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Wisconsin - 10<BR> |
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</td> |
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<td> |
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Alabama - 9<BR> |
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Colorado - 9<BR> |
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Louisiana - 9<BR> |
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Kentucky - 8<BR> |
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South Carolina - 8<BR> |
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Connecticut - 7<BR> |
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Iowa - 7<BR> |
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Oklahoma - 7<BR> |
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Oregon - 7<BR> |
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Arkansas - 6<BR> |
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</td> |
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<td> |
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Kansas - 6<BR> |
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Mississippi - 6<BR> |
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Nebraska - 5<BR> |
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Nevada - 5<BR> |
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New Mexico - 5<BR> |
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Utah - 5<BR> |
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West Virginia - 5<BR> |
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Hawaii - 4<BR> |
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Idaho - 4<BR> |
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Maine - 4<BR> |
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</td> |
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<td> |
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New Hampshire - 4<BR> |
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Rhode Island - 4<BR> |
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Alaska - 3<BR> |
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Delaware - 3<BR> |
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D.C. - 3<BR> |
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Montana - 3<BR> |
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North Dakota - 3<BR> |
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South Dakota - 3<BR> |
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Vermont - 3<BR> |
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Wyoming - 3 |
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</td> |
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</tr> |
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</table> |
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After several years of this uncertainty, Lowry revealed the next episode in the characters' lives in her novel ''[[Messenger (novel)|Messenger]]'' (2004), set seven years after ''The Giver'' concludes. (Only Gabriel is mentioned by name, but the young man known as "Leader" is clearly Jonas.) Alert readers may also notice what was possibly a reference to Jonas in the final pages of ''[[Gathering Blue]]'' (2000). However, this link was tenuous and uncertain until ''Messenger'' made it explicit. |
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To see the current polls state-by-state and how the electoral college stands in [[2004]], follow the daily updates at [http://www.electoral-vote.com electoral-vote.com]. |
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''The Giver'' also influenced [[Rodman Philbrick]], who cited ''The Giver'' as inspiration for his novel ''[[The Last Book in the Universe]]'' (2000). |
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==The 2000 election== |
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The [[U.S. presidential election, 2000|2000 election]] usefully illustrates the debate. The various totals are: |
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*Gore had a plurality of the popular vote with 51,003,926 votes |
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*Bush had 50,456,062 votes |
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*Nader had 2,858,843 votes |
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==Film, TV or theatrical adaptations== |
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*Bush won the electoral vote with 271 votes |
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The Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in [[Chicago, Illinois]] presented a stage adaptation of ''The Giver'' in April 2005, aimed largely at children. All but four of the eighteen shows during the play's two-week run sold out before the play opened <ref>Eileen O. Daday, "''The Giver'' a big hit at Metropolis", ''Chicago Daily Herald'' [[7 April]] 2005.</ref>. |
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*Gore had 266 electoral votes |
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*Nader had 0 electoral votes |
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In the fall of [[1994 in film|1994]], actor [[Jeff Bridges]] and his ASIS Productions film company established an agreement with Lancit Media Productions to adapt ''The Giver'' as a movie. Over the following years, details were slow in forthcoming; the members of the partnership changed and the production team grew in size, with little motion actually seen toward making the movie. At one point, screenwriter Ed Neumeier—who had worked on ''[[RoboCop]]'' and ''[[Starship Troopers]]''—was signed to create the screenplay. Later, Neumeier was replaced by [[Todd Alcott]] <ref>[http://www.thezreview.co.uk/comingsoon/g/giverthe.htm Article on the film adaptation]</ref>; [[Walden Media]] became the central production company. <ref>"Jeff Bridges and Lancit Media to co-produce No. 1 best seller 'THE GIVER' as feature film", ''Entertainment Editors'' [[28 September]] [[1994]].</ref>, <ref>Ian Mohr, "Walden gives 'Giver' to Neumeier", ''[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com Hollywood Reporter]'' [[10 July]] 2003.</ref> |
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*Bush won Florida with 2,912,790 votes (48.85%), to Gore's 2,912,253 (48.84%); but Bush received all 27 electoral votes for that state, while Gore received none. (For more information on Florida, see [[Bush v. Gore]]) |
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An [[Internet Movie Database]] entry for ''The Giver'' appeared in late [[2004 in film|2004]], which claims a release date in [[2007 in film|2007]]. Bridges himself is, at present, the only credited cast member to be listed. This film is currently in pre-production and is slated for release in 2007. It is to be directed by Vadim Perelman, who also wrote the screenplay. <ref>{{imdb title | id=0435651 | title=The Giver}} (in production)</ref> |
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*Gore won New Mexico with 47.91% of the vote, slightly more than Bush at 47.85% (286,783 votes to 286,417); but Gore received all 5 electoral votes from that state, and Bush received none. |
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The prolonged and arduous journey which ''The Giver'' has taken towards the silver screen is reminiscent of other novels in or near the [[science fiction]] genre. Other examples of longtime reader favourites which have endured such adaptation processes include [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''[[I, Robot]]'', [[Douglas Adams]]'s ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' and [[Orson Scott Card]]'s ''[[Ender's Game]]''. |
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*Bush won New Hampshire with 48.07% of the vote, compared to Gore's 46.80% (273,559 votes to 266,348); but Bush got all 4 electoral votes for that state, while Gore received none. |
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== References == |
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*Gore won Oregon with 46.96% of the vote, compared to Bush's 46.52% (720,342 votes to 713,577); but Gore received all 7 electoral votes from that state, and Bush received none. |
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{{Spoken Wikipedia|The_Giver.ogg|2005-09-22}} |
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<references /> |
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*"Lowry": Lois Lowry, ''The Giver'' (1993). ISBN 0440237688. |
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==See also== |
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*"20th Century Fox Signs 5-Picture Deal With Walden Media", ''Business Wire'' [[12 July]] [[2004]]. |
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* Other [[electoral college]]s. |
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*[http://www.loislowry.com Lois Lowry's web site] has an informative [http://www.loislowry.com/speeches.html Speeches] section. |
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*[http://www.trosch.org/rel/antichrist_teachings.html "Antichrist Teachings Infiltrate"], which claims the book will give children [[nightmare]]s and all but accuses the [[American Library Association]] of being in league with [[Satan|Lucifer]] |
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*[http://www.leropolt.com/orig4/debacker2.html "Read Your Children's Books"] by Deborah DeBacker, which states that this "Newberry" [sic] winner by "Louis Lowery" [sic] is "far above a twelve-year-old's understanding" |
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{{featured article}} |
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==External links == |
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*[http://www.electoral-vote.com Electoral-Vote.com] - Visual state-by-state current electoral totals of the current (2004) election, with polls from only non-Republican, non-Democratic, unbiased sources. |
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*[http://www.fec.gov/pdf/eleccoll.pdf The Electoral College] - by William C. Kimberling, Deputy Director FEC Office of Election Administration |
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*[http://www.lwv.org/where/promoting/electoral_college.html League of Women Voters] - A web page from the League of Women Voters advocating direct election and the abolition of the electoral college |
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*[http://www.avagara.com/e_c/reference/00012001.htm Math Against Tyranny] - an article describing MIT researcher Alan Natapoff's analysis favoring the electoral college system |
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*[http://www.thirty-thousand.org/pages/Neubauer-Zeitlin.htm Outcomes of Presidential Elections and the House Size] - The Neubauer-Zeitlin analysis shows that the winner of the 2000 presidential election was determined in 1941 when the House size was fixed at 435. Had the House size been set at 500, then Gore would have won the 2000 election. |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:1993 novels|Giver, The]] |
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[[Category:Speculative fiction novels|Giver, The]] |
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[[Category:Dystopian novels|Giver, The]] |
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[[Category:Utopian novels|Giver, The]] |
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[[Category:Lois Lowry Giver series|Giver, The]] |
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[[Category:Newbery Medal winners (book)|Giver, The]] |
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[[Category:Banned books|Giver, The]] |
Revision as of 02:24, 24 June 2006
Cover of a 1994 hardback edition, showing Newbery Medal 1994 hardback edition, with Newbery Medal | |
Author | Lois Lowry |
---|---|
Cover artist | Cliff Nielsen |
Language | English |
Series | Giver trilogy |
Genre | Soft science fiction |
Publisher | Bantam Books |
Publication date | 1993 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
Pages | 180 p. (paperback edition) |
ISBN | ISBN 0553571338 (paperback edition) Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
Followed by | Gathering Blue |
- This article is about the novel by Lois Lowry. For other uses of the term, see The Giver (disambiguation).
The Giver is a soft science fiction novel written by Lois Lowry and published on April 16 1993. It is set in a future society which is at first presented as a utopia and gradually appears more and more dystopic. The novel follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth year of his life. Jonas's society has eliminated pain and strife by converting to "Sameness", a move which has also eradicated emotional depth from their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of "Receiver of Memory," the person who stores all the memories of the time before Sameness, in case they are ever needed. As Jonas receives the memories from his predecessor—the Giver—he discovers how shallow his community's life has become.
A film, called The Giver, is currently in pre-production and is based on the book. The film is slated for a 2007 release date.
Despite controversy and criticism that the book's subject material is inappropriate for young children, The Giver won the 1994 Newbery Medal and has sold more than 3.5 million copies. In the United States, it is a part of many middle school reading lists, but it is also on many banned book lists (see Controversy). The novel forms a loose trilogy with Gathering Blue (2000) and Messenger (2004), two other books set in the same future era.
Plot summary
Template:Spoiler At first glance, the novel's setting seems to be a utopia, where all possible steps are taken to eliminate pain and anguish. Two-way speakers monitor every household for rule infractions. The people are almost always compliant; families share their dreams and feelings on a daily basis to defuse emotional buildup. This society remains harmonious by matching up husbands and wives based on personality compatibility.
As time progresses in the novel, however, it becomes clear that the society has lost contact with the ideas of family and love (at least in the "more complete" sense at which Lowry hints). Children are born to designated "birthmothers" and then distributed, one boy and one girl per family, in order to achieve balance in the population. After family units have served the purpose of raising the children in a stable environment, they cease to exist, the parents going to a communal housing facility for childless adults, and the children becoming involved in their work and starting monogenerational families of their own. The community maintains this process using pills which suppress emotion, mainly romantic love and human sexuality.
All the land near the community and around the other, similar towns clustered about the nearby river has been flattened to aid agriculture and transportation. Climate control is used so the weather remains constant.
The community is run by a Council of Elders that assigns each 12-year-old the job he or she will perform for the rest of his or her life. People are bound by an extensive set of rules touching every aspect of life, which if violated require a simple but somewhat ceremonious apology. In some cases, violating the rules is "winked at": older siblings invariably teach their younger brothers and sisters how to ride a bicycle before the children are officially permitted to learn the skill. If a member of the community has committed serious infractions twice before, he or she may be punished by "release," which can be seen as this future world's equivalent to death (although being sentenced for release isn't defined as actually dying in the community).
The "Ceremony of Release" recurs throughout the novel, becoming more ominous as more details are revealed. Early in the story, we learn that the procedure is generally considered a shameful fate, particularly if the one released is a functioning member of society. On the other hand, Release of the elderly is an occasion of joyful celebration, and release of an infant is regarded as unavoidable to preserve balance. Later, we learn the specific criteria for which infants-under the care of assigned Nurturers before they are assigned to families-are selected for Release. In particular, if a Birthmother produces identical twins, a Nurturer weighs them and usually Releases the smaller.
The people of Jonas' community believe that those released are sent "elsewhere," probably to another community. As the novel nears its climax, the protagonist discovers that release is actually euthanasia. The scene which makes this revelation has drawn criticism from some adults who would rather not see children exposed to such descriptions.
The book is told in the third-person limited. The protagonist, Jonas, is followed as he awaits the Ceremony of Twelve. Jonas lives in what a standard family unit with his mother (a judge) and father (a "nurturer"). He is selected to be "Receiver of Memory," because of his unusual "capacity to see beyond," which is the ability to do something unusual, such as see color or hear music. He trains for the position of Receiver by receiving memories from the aged incumbent (known to the community as "the Receiver," and to Jonas as "the Giver") who is burdened by the emotional weight of the memories. These memories are images from the world before Sameness, "back and back and back"—things that no one else in Jonas's world remembers.
Through The Giver, Jonas receives memories of things eliminated in Jonas's world: violence, sadness, and loss, as well as true love, beauty, joy, adventure, and family. Eventually, these revelations prompt Jonas to seek to change the community and return emotion to the world.
The ending is ambiguous, and Jonas' future and even survival are left unresolved. See Classroom Use for further discussion.
Characters in "The Giver"
- Jonas – the protagonist, an Eleven year-old when the novel opens, who is selected to become Receiver of Memory at his Ceremony of Twelve.
- The Giver – the incumbent Receiver of Memory, who stores human experiences from the time before Sameness. The Community's Elders rely upon his "wisdom" in the event of emergencies; because no one wants the pain that comes with keeping the necessary memories, this "honor" is restricted to one individual.
- Jonas's Mother – an intelligent, practical woman who serves her Community as a judge.
- Jonas's Father – a caring man, something of the ideal father figure, who works as a nurturer for Children in their first year of life. Later, Jonas learns that his father is, sometimes, responsible for the Release of defective children.
- Lily – Jonas's talkative, enthusiastic and outgoing younger sister.
- Asher – Jonas's closest friend, a cheerful and easygoing boy who is assigned the position of Assistant Director of Recreation.
- Fiona – Female friend and coeval of both Jonas and Asher. Her red hair represents a failure of genetic engineering, as the Giver notes. "We never completely mastered Sameness [...] Hair like Fiona's must drive them crazy." She works as a Caretaker for the Old. Despite her kind demeanor, she is adept at Releasing the elderly without emotion. She also is the one whom Jonas dreams about in his "stirrings". She is also referred to as his 'favorite female'.
- Gabriel – an infant from the Nurturing Center whom Jonas's father takes home for extra care. Slow in development and highly emotional, Gabriel is at risk of Release.
- Rosemary – the Elders' previous selection to be the new Receiver of Memory, when Jonas was a Two. Her training failed, in a way which impacted the entire Community: defeated by the memories of loss and hurt which the Giver was forced to transfer, she asked for Release. Once she was "Elsewhere", the memories given her had no place to go, so they floated freely. The Giver reveals that Rosemary was his daughter.
- Caleb – A child who drowned in the river near the town. Because of release, death is not known(old people are released at a certain age), so this shocks the community. They chant his name all day until it fades from their memories.
Major themes
Color represents diversity and a depth of feeling beyond that which the majority of society enjoys. In The Giver, however, objects do not "gain" color through intense emotional experiences on the part of their observers; rather, Jonas learns to see the colors which objects intrinsically possess. Apparently, the transition to Sameness involved removing color vision from the people, although the Giver implies that genetic engineers also attempted (without total success) to remove the variability in the human population (even light eyes and red hair are rarities).
A motif of nudity recurs in several places. During his volunteer hours (a time when children aged eight to twelve explore their community and prepare for an eventual career), Jonas assists in the House of the Old, where the most aged members of the Community reside. Lowry describes how Jonas bathes an old woman, Larissa; he enjoys the trusting, carefree nature of the experience, which reminds him of his father caring for an infant. Jonas muses about how his Community has strict rules against nakedness in almost all circumstances. He personally finds them a nuisance—such as the admonition to keep oneself entirely covered while changing for athletic games—and does not understand why the Community would institute such precautions. Later, the tenderness of the bathing scene gains a sexual edge, when Jonas dreams about cajoling a female friend, the red-haired Fiona, to remove her clothes and climb into a tub so that he can bathe her. Jonas recounts this dream at his family's breakfast dream-telling, and his parents recognize it as an early sign of what they call "the stirrings" (puberty). A daily pill makes the stirrings go away.
Music plays a role in The Giver, despite its presence being very subdued. Just as it is possible to read well into the novel without realizing that its characters do not see color — often until the Giver mentions that a thing called "color" once existed — it is also easy to miss the fact that the community has no music. One of the few clues is when Larissa describes a Ceremony of Release for an old man who was leaving the Community. "We chanted the anthem," she says, a phrasing which implies an absence of melody. Later, when the Giver is instructing Jonas, we learn that as a boy, the Giver had a faculty much like Jonas's ability to "see beyond". In the Giver's case, it was hearing beyond: he began to hear "something truly remarkable, which is called music". (This sense is more mystical than Jonas's, in that we can understand how objects have color which people are unable to see, but we cannot identify a natural source of music—unless the Giver discovered he could hear musical patterns in everyday sound, as Mozart reputedly did.)
Origins
According to her Newbery Medal acceptance speech [1], the stream of ideas which became The Giver originated when Lois Lowry lived in Japan, at the age of eleven. Her family dwelled in an American enclave, "Washington Heights", near the Shibuya district of Tokyo. Dissatisfied with the American elementary school, the tiny library full of American books—with the entire transplanted United States lifestyle—one day the young Lowry sneaked out the back gate into Shibuya. She found the experience rewarding enough to repeat:
"Again and again—countless times without my parents' knowledge—I ride my bicycle out the back gate of the fence that surrounds our comfortable, familiar, safe American community. I ride down a hill because I am curious and I enter, riding down that hill, an unfamiliar, slightly uncomfortable, perhaps even unsafe ... though I never feel it to be ... area of Tokyo that throbs with life."
Many years later, Lowry still recalled the smells and sounds of Shibuya, remembering most of all the blue-uniformed schoolchildren, "the strangers who are my own age". Among the tumult of life in that district, she noticed the widespread noise of wooden sticks being banged together, of young men shouting and waving banners—acts which turned out to be Communist demonstrations [2]. Looking back at this experience, Lowry relates that it was an example of what every child must do eventually: leave the safety of his or her village. Because Shibuya was such a different place, divided so sharply from Washington Heights, her journey was only a touch more dramatic than most. (Caldecott Medal winner Allen Say was one of the Shibuya schoolchildren. He and Lowry met at the 1994 Newbery ceremony and discovered each other's identities when Lowry autographed a copy of The Giver in Japanese. After briefly discussing the time Lowry spent in Japan, Say exclaimed, "Were you the girl on the green bike?" [3].)
The man pictured on the book's original cover is Carl Nelson, a painter who lived alone on an island off the coast of Maine. Lowry visited him in 1979, sent there to research a magazine story. His vivid and detailed sense of color impressed her greatly. Years later, she heard that he went blind. Pondering the matter, sadly and whimsically, she began to imagine if he could have magically given her the ability to see the way he had. These experiences, and others like them, percolated and gradually formed the background for a story.
Lowry describes creating the pain-free world of Jonas's Community in her Newbery speech:
"I tried to make Jonas's world seem familiar, comfortable, and safe, and I tried to seduce the reader. I seduced myself along the way. It did feel good, that world. I got rid of all the things I fear and dislike; all the violence, poverty, prejudice and injustice, and I even threw in good manners as a way of life because I liked the idea of it.
One child has pointed out, in a letter, that the people in Jonas's world didn't even have to do dishes.
It was very, very tempting to leave it at that."[4]
Literary significance and criticism
Reviews and awards
The critical reception of Lowry's work has been remarkably polarized. On the one hand, one finds critics like Anita Silvey, whose 100 Best Books for Children calls The Giver one of the 1990s' greatest children's novels—and also one of the greatest young-adult science fiction novels of all time. [5] A review in the Christian Science Monitor claims, "Lowry's powerful book, simply and directly written, offers an inspiring defense of freedom. Both adventurous and skillfully plotted, this book is recommended for young readers 8 and up." [6] This sort of praise has likely helped the book sell 3.5 million copies in its first decade, as well as making it a part of many schools' reading programs. [7] On the other hand, the book's detractors have tended to be as vehement in their denunciations as Silvey's lot is with praise (see Controversy below).
One example of a negative review from an SF writer is from Debra Doyle, who wrote
- The Giver fails the SF Plausibility Test for me. I don't see how a society like the one depicted could be attained/sustained in anything other than a metaphorical world. And even considered as fantasy, rather than sf, the book is too damned obvious. Things are the way they are because The Author is Making A Point; things work out the way they do because The Author's Point Requires It. [8]
The Giver has become something of a canonical work among educators who believe that "YA" (young adult) audiences respond best to contemporary literature. These teachers postulate that "teenagers need a separate body of literature written to speak directly to the adolescent experience [...] and plots that revolve around realistic, contemporary topics". (Of course, Lowry's futuristic setting means that this particular YA book can only address "contemporary topics" in an allegorical fashion, a point which raises questions of its own.) In this view, a "classics-only" curriculum can stunt a developing reader's appetite for words; there are naturally teachers who argue the opposite side of the argument, and press to keep older works on the reading lists [9].
Lowry's most celebrated and controversial novel has also found a home in "City Reads" programs, library-sponsored reading clubs on city-wide or larger scales. Waukesha County, Wisconsin and Milwaukee County, Wisconsin chose to read The Giver, for example, as did Middletown, Connecticut, Bloomington, Illinois, Valparaiso, Indiana, Rochester, Minnesota, Central Valley, New York, Centre County, Pennsylvania and others ([10], [11]).
Some adult reviewers writing for adults have commented that the novel's story is not likely to stand up to the sort of probing literary criticism used in "serious" circles. Karen Ray, writing in the New York Times, detects "occasional logical lapses", but quickly adds that the book "is sure to keep older children reading. And thinking" [12]. In a similar vein, Natalie Babbitt of the Washington Post calls Lowry's work "a warning in narrative form", saying
"The story has been told before in a variety of forms—Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 comes to mind—but not, to my knowledge, for children. It's well worth telling, especially by a writer of Lowry's great skill. If it is exceedingly fragile—if, in other words, some situations don't survive that well-known suspension of disbelief—well, so be it. The Giver has things to say that can't be said too often, and I hope there will be many, many young people who will be willing to listen." [13]
On the other hand, some practitioners of postmodern literary criticism suggest that a fully "adult" interpretation of Lowry's work is eminently possible [14].
Lois Lowry has won several awards for her work on The Giver. Most notable are the following:
- The 1994 Newbery Medal
- The 1996 William Allen White Award [15]
- American Library Association listings both as "Best Book for Young Adults" and as a "Notable Children's Book".
Classroom use
The Giver has been adopted into reading curricula across the United States, despite the objections of some that its content is unsuitable for young audiences (see Controversy below).
When interviewed on NPR's Morning Edition, Lowry commented on her "young adult" audience's reaction, as follows:
- The audience tends to be junior high age, and that's a tough age to engage. They come upon the book in an "Oh, this is an assignment. I'll have to read it, I suppose, but I'm not going to like it." And, yet, what has happened, and I know this because the book's been around now for a while, and I get, every day, letters from classrooms or from individual kids, they begin to see a counterpart with their own lives and to value their individuality. At the same time that they're all desperately wanting to wear the same sneakers, they suddenly begin to think "Hey, maybe that's not such a great thing, the sameness of all of us." [16]
Ambiguity
While the novel's ambiguous ending has created some confusion, many middle and high-school teachers have used this ambiguity to provide students a "jumping-off point". Beginning with their own interpretations of the book's finale, the students are encouraged to write essays exploring what could happen to Jonas next [7]. The publication of a sequel, Messenger, did not change the publication of lesson plans for The Giver focused around the novel's ambiguity (see Inspirations and adaptations below).
Lowry herself has said:
- How could it not be an optimistic ending, a happy ending, when that house is there with its lights on and music is playing? So I'm always kind of surprised and disappointed when some people tell me that they think that the boy and the baby just die. I don't think they die. What form their new life takes is something I like people to figure out for themselves.
but in the same essay said
- Many kids want a more specific ending to The Giver. Some write, or ask me when they see me, to spell it out exactly. And I don't do that. And the reason is because The Giver is many things to many different people. People bring to it their own complicated sense of beliefs and hopes and dreams and fears and all of that. So I don't want to put my own feelings into it, my own beliefs, and ruin that for people who create their own endings in their minds. [17]
Whatever Lowry's public statements about the happiness of the ending as she perceives it, many lesson plans and curricula, including those released by Lowry's own publisher, still focus on the ambiguity, which raises questions about authorial intent. [17]
Science and mathematics
The novel has also been used as an aid to teaching science to middle-school or junior-high audiences. For example, the Community's universal color-blindness can be used to motivate a discussion of color vision, and the topic of Sameness can provide an introduction to genetics. [18]
Another classroom use involves the subjects of probability and statistics. [19] In Jonas's Community, fifty children are born each year; all of them receive their names at the December Ceremony of the Ones. All parts of the Community are carefully balanced, including the gender ratio. Consequently, there should be twenty-five girls and twenty-five boys per year. However, assuming a roughly fifty-fifty likelihood that a particular infant will have either gender, there is a considerable chance that the actual ratio in the population will turn out different. If Jonas's Community had the same biological characteristics as the readers' world, the boy/girl ratio would fluctuate from year to year, in a way that we can calculate mathematically.
Teachers who use this technique suggest that students estimate the gender ratio experimentally, say by shaking a box full of coins and counting how many land heads-up. It is also possible to predict the gender ratio and its fluctuations using probability theory, although the tools necessary for the calculation are not (as of 2005) typically taught to United States middle-school classes. Technically speaking, the birth of each child can be modeled as a Bernoulli trial with a roughly 50% probability that an individual child will be born male (or female). The overall number of boys and girls born each year would then follow a binomial distribution (with N = 50 and p = 0.5). The accompanying graph shows the result of this calculation in pictorial form: although the mean is 25, implying that on average we would find 25 boys and 25 girls each year, there is a sizeable standard deviation. Put another way, there is around a 32% chance that the actual number of males born in any one year will be less than 21 or greater than 29. The fact that the actual ratio of the sexes in Jonas's Community is so much more constrained than the ratio predicted by this probability model suggests that the Community artificially manipulates gender selection, possibly through the use of genetic engineering, infanticide, or selective abortions. (The Giver himself notes that Sameness depends upon the manipulation of genes, although the Community is not completely adept at the practice.)
Controversy
The suitability of The Giver for middle school students in the United States is periodically challenged by some politically and socially conservative advocacy groups. The concerns typically cited include the book's treatment of suicide, sexuality, euthanasia, the occult, and the negative view of conformity. The American Library Association lists The Giver as the United States's eleventh most challenged book for the period 1990-1999, and the fourteenth most challenged from 1990 to 2000. The change may be due to the increased popularity of Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Alice series and J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels [20].
Between 1999 and 2001, The Giver was challenged in at least five separate states, sometimes more than once [21].
On January 6 2005, the Associated Press wire service reported that parents in Blue Springs, Missouri wished to remove The Giver from the eighth-grade reading list, almost eight years after it was placed there. Parents referred to the book as "violent" and "sexually explicit". The case reached Kansas City in March 2005, where hearings were held to determine the book's status. Kansas City newspapers quoted parents as saying, "The lady writes well, but when it comes to the ideas in that book, they have no place in my kid's head", and the more general, "Everything presented to kids should be positive and uplifting". The school board eventually voted, unanimously, to return the book to schools [3]. A school board member was quoted saying, "What really has us concerned is not only the attack on The Giver, but what other actions might be taken by those who seek to wrest control of our kids' education from the direction of professional educators" [22].
Allusions/references from other works
For a decade after The Giver was published, readers debated the meaning of its ambiguous conclusion, with little more information than Lowry's elusive statements in select interviews.
After several years of this uncertainty, Lowry revealed the next episode in the characters' lives in her novel Messenger (2004), set seven years after The Giver concludes. (Only Gabriel is mentioned by name, but the young man known as "Leader" is clearly Jonas.) Alert readers may also notice what was possibly a reference to Jonas in the final pages of Gathering Blue (2000). However, this link was tenuous and uncertain until Messenger made it explicit.
The Giver also influenced Rodman Philbrick, who cited The Giver as inspiration for his novel The Last Book in the Universe (2000).
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
The Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Chicago, Illinois presented a stage adaptation of The Giver in April 2005, aimed largely at children. All but four of the eighteen shows during the play's two-week run sold out before the play opened [23].
In the fall of 1994, actor Jeff Bridges and his ASIS Productions film company established an agreement with Lancit Media Productions to adapt The Giver as a movie. Over the following years, details were slow in forthcoming; the members of the partnership changed and the production team grew in size, with little motion actually seen toward making the movie. At one point, screenwriter Ed Neumeier—who had worked on RoboCop and Starship Troopers—was signed to create the screenplay. Later, Neumeier was replaced by Todd Alcott [24]; Walden Media became the central production company. [25], [26]
An Internet Movie Database entry for The Giver appeared in late 2004, which claims a release date in 2007. Bridges himself is, at present, the only credited cast member to be listed. This film is currently in pre-production and is slated for release in 2007. It is to be directed by Vadim Perelman, who also wrote the screenplay. [27]
The prolonged and arduous journey which The Giver has taken towards the silver screen is reminiscent of other novels in or near the science fiction genre. Other examples of longtime reader favourites which have endured such adaptation processes include Isaac Asimov's I, Robot, Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game.
References
- ^ Newbery Medal acceptance speech, June 1994.
- ^ "The Village of Childhood", August 1997.
- ^ a b "How Everything Turns Away", University of Richmond "Quest" Series, March 2005.
- ^ from Lowry's "Newbery Award" acceptance speech
- ^ Anita Silvey, 100 Best Books for Children (Houghton Mifflin, 2004). ISBN 0618278893.
- ^ "A Monitor's Guide to Children's Bestsellers", Christian Science Monitor 24 September 1998 p. B12.
- ^ a b "Lois Lowry's Newbery-winning 'Giver' still ignites debate", from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (18 February 2004)
- ^ "Doyle's YA SF Rant", [1]
- ^ Marie C. Franklin, "CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: Debate continues over merit of young-adult fare", Boston Globe 23 February 1997 p. G1.
- ^ "'One Book' Reading Promotion Projects", form the Library of Congress's Center for the Book
- ^ Judith Rosen, "Many Cities, Many Picks", Publishers Weekly 10 March 2003 p. 19.
- ^ Karen Ray, "Children's Books", New York Times 31 October 1993.
- ^ Natalie Babbitt, "The Hidden Cost of Contentment", Washington Post 9 May 1993, p. X15.
- ^ Chip Morningstar, "How to Deconstruct Almost Anything"
- ^ William Allen White awards list, courtesy Emporia State University
- ^ NPR Morning Edition with Bob Edwards and Susan Stamberg (transcript), 19 December 2000.
- ^ a b Lesson plan from Random House publishers
- ^ Lesson plans and suggestions from Salisbury University
- ^ SMart Books Lesson Plan from Manhattan, Kansas describing a probability lesson (based in part on an article in Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, vol. 4, issue 8 (1999), p. 508)
- ^ "The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000", courtesy the American Library Association
- ^ "Award-winning book frequent target in schools". (July 8, 2001). Associated Press.
- ^ "School board keeps The Giver on list", UPI wire service, 15 March 2005 5:39 p.m. EST.
- ^ Eileen O. Daday, "The Giver a big hit at Metropolis", Chicago Daily Herald 7 April 2005.
- ^ Article on the film adaptation
- ^ "Jeff Bridges and Lancit Media to co-produce No. 1 best seller 'THE GIVER' as feature film", Entertainment Editors 28 September 1994.
- ^ Ian Mohr, "Walden gives 'Giver' to Neumeier", Hollywood Reporter 10 July 2003.
- ^ The Giver at IMDb (in production)
- "Lowry": Lois Lowry, The Giver (1993). ISBN 0440237688.
- "20th Century Fox Signs 5-Picture Deal With Walden Media", Business Wire 12 July 2004.
- Lois Lowry's web site has an informative Speeches section.
- "Antichrist Teachings Infiltrate", which claims the book will give children nightmares and all but accuses the American Library Association of being in league with Lucifer
- "Read Your Children's Books" by Deborah DeBacker, which states that this "Newberry" [sic] winner by "Louis Lowery" [sic] is "far above a twelve-year-old's understanding"