The young adult dystopian classic The Giver by Lois Lowry offers readers a taste of what the world would be like if we were all anesthetized to emotion. The narrator, Jonas, is tasked with the responsibility of receiving the collective memories of humanity, along with the range of emotions that accompany those memories. I would pair this novel study with the Franklin Delano Roosevelt conversation about fear. I would ask students to discuss and debate whether or not Jonas would agree with FDR’s words, or whether he learns to be fearless in the face of strong emotion.
Level: Elementary and Secondary English/Language Arts
Subject Area: American Literature
Author: Tiffany Heitman
Login with Google