English 305, Section 2
Spring, 2005
Dr. Stewart

Ticket in #5

The Giver

Everyone should answer Parts I and II. Look for your name regarding the other questions and answer that question under Part III. Be sure to use specific textual support (quotations) and indicate the page number.

Part I

1. Who is the author?
2. What year was the novel first published?
3. How old is Jonas?
4. What might be the significance of the sled memory? (2 or 3 sentences only)

Part II

Create a question you believe will lead to sustained, productive class discussion (you do not have to answer the questions you create). Explain why this is a good question. (What is it you want others to explore/discover through the question?)

Part III

Group 1

• Dawn Lenoir
• Tara Lopeman

Choose a concept that Jonas does not question, that he takes for granted, but that is clearly very different than current ideology and discuss how its occurrence might be helpful in considering or reconsidering our current ideologies.

Group 2

• Grant Mann
• Laura Martin

Although The Giver helps readers reveal, contemplate, and evaluate cultural ideologies, it also serves to reinforce many of those ideologies. One could say that when Jonas leaves his community, he returns to contemporary mainstream thinking (the individual can do anything, the importance of freedom/choice, perhaps even the value of democracy). Using one or two of the ideologies mentioned in parentheses, explain how The Giver reinforces in contemporary thinking and consider its/their significance.

Group 3

• Geneice Mayeaux
• Yvette Newell

Theoretically, speculative fiction is supposed to help readers "think outside of the box." How might AND might not The Giver accomplish that?

Group 4

• Cheryl Olmsted
• Rachel Parker

Harmon and Holman write that irony is "A broad term referring to the recognition of a reality different from appearance." Thus, when we recognize that what is real does not match up with what we're told, we recognize the irony of a text. For instance, the community strictly enforces "precision of language," yet they rely on all kinds of euphemism ("Release," "Elsewhere," "Nurturer"). Further explain the ironic use of language and the significance of those ironic moments (and you can use "Release," Elsewhere", "Nurturer," or another euphemism).

Group 5

• Audrea Pruitt
• Loretta Robison

Harmon and Holman write that irony is "A broad term referring to the recognition of a reality different from appearance." Thus, when we recognize that what is real does not match up with what we're told, we recognize the irony of a text. For instance, the Community values "Sameness," yet they really do not, especially in light of the twins. Explain the irony of "Sameness" in the Community and the significance of that irony.

Group 6:

• Anthony Taylor
• Gonzalo Tijerina

Frederick Pohl argues "that there is very little science fiction, perhaps even that there is no good science fiction at all, that is not to some degree political" (7, author's emphasis). First, create a definition (not a dictionary definition) that explains the term "political," and explain how The Giver is or is not political.

Works Cited

Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1997.

Pohl, Frederick. "The Politics of Prophecy." Ed. Donald M. Hassler and Clyde Wilcox. Political Science Fiction. Columbia: U of South Carolina P, 1997. 7-17.