Keeper of Memory (novel)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Keepers of Memory is a 1993 novel by the American writer Lois Lowry . The English-language original of the novel bears the title The Giver , it shows traits of a youth novel and a dystopia . The novel was also filmed in 2014 under the title The Giver; in German-speaking countries, the film adaptation is titled " Keeper of Memory - The Giver ".

action

The novel takes place in a superficially harmonious, seemingly perfectly organized, yet extremely totalitarian “community” about the size of a small town , which maintains minor social contacts with other, very similarly structured “communities”, but otherwise lives completely isolated. Later it becomes clear that this order came into being after a great catastrophe called the Ruin , in order to ensure an equally productive everyday life and above all economic life. The life of the residents is regulated down to the smallest detail and is also completely monitored. A committee of so-called elders watches over the entire life and regulates and punishes most violations of the very strict and extensive rules.

One of the rules is that a spouse must be applied for from the authorities and, after a waiting period, is assigned based on "suitability" according to the standards of the committee. The same applies to children who were also assigned to the spouses in the first year of life on application, previously carried by surrogate mothers, the women who gave birth, and kept for some time in an infant station and made suitable for families. Sexual activity is unknown, even sexual arousal is not allowed and is suppressed by medication from puberty on throughout life. The residents also cannot see any colors and have no knowledge of exotic animals or any detail of world history. With each new year of life, children are given certain items of clothing and toys that are always the same for everyone in large ceremonies, and at the age of 12 they are divided into certain professions by decision of the committee.

Those who cannot be integrated into the community due to serious violations of the rules will, as well as people who do not want to remain in the community and apply to leave it, such as infants who could not be made suitable for families and old people who have reached a certain age are “released” and thus officially expatriated to an undefined “elsewhere” and never seen again afterwards.

Right at the top of the philosophy of this community is an absurdly exaggerated complete equality of all people, emotional stability, total disclosure of all feelings and, above all, the elimination of all deeper emotions that hinder a smooth collective work process. This includes above all fear and envy, but also love or any form of individualistic endeavors.

The main character of the novel is the twelve-year-old Jonas, who had a largely typical childhood and is now assigned a very unusual job: He is to become the new guardian of memories. This task is only ever done by one person in the community, and it is seen as extremely important and honorable, but also very difficult and delicate. It is the role of the guardian to advise the other elders when extraordinary decisions are made. Since Jonas' appointment, some community rules no longer apply to him. So from now on he can lie and ask other citizens any question.

Apart from the guardian, no member of the "community" must have any memory of things that are considered dangerous because they could disturb the perfected uniformity of everyday life in the community, of every detail of world history, of wars and revolutions, but also of, for example Wild animals that no longer exist. The previous keeper is a very old man, he suffers greatly from the burden of the many memories. Ten years ago he had already made an attempt to train a successor. The training with the young girl Rosemarie had failed, which is regarded as a serious misfortune in the entire community, Rosemarie was released, never seen again and further details about this misfortune are not disclosed.

The training by the previous guardian takes place through a kind of telepathic transfer of his treasure trove of memories to Jonas. The first memory he transfers to Jonas is the experience of a sleigh ride on a snow-covered mountain; Even such a thing is considered dangerous, because the climate has long been controlled to stabilize agriculture, snow no longer exists, it is unknown to everyone but the keeper, as is direct sunshine, which could cause drought or sunburn. Later he lets Jonas, who previously had brief perceptions of color, see a rainbow. Later, the transferred memory of a serious accident, of famine and wars turns out to be very unpleasant and painful. Since Jonas is on the way to the new guardian and the old one gradually gives up his memories and therefore no longer has it, he now calls himself the giver.

Meanwhile, Jona's father takes care of an infant named Gabriel, who is not yet considered suitable for the family and is not considered to be suitable for families, and is allowed to take him home at night. Like the giver and Jonas and very few people, the boy has bright, “knowing” eyes. If he does not succeed in making the infant suitable for the family, it will be released and taken elsewhere . When Jonas asks the donor about the unknown elsewhere, he shows him a video in which Jonas' father kills one of identical twins by lethal injection. Even two completely identical children will not be tolerated, releasing people into another place is in reality their secret killing. After Jonas realizes that his father is a murderer, he doesn't want to return home, but the giver convinces him that without memory and with the constant brainwashing of the community, his father cannot be able to see that his actions are moral wrong is.

Under the unbearable burden of memories, Rosemarie had applied for her release herself and injected herself with the poison when she was killed. Jonas and the Giver conclude that it is time for a change, the community has got lost in its philosophy, and people need to get the memories back. The only way to achieve this is for Jonas to leave the community. At that moment the memories would telepathically return to people; Something similar happened to the relatively few memories Rosemarie had when she killed herself. Jonas wants to flee together with the giver, but he insists that he is needed by the people to manage the memories, otherwise they would destroy themselves. As soon as the community is reorganized, the guardian wants to follow Rosemary into death, who was his daughter.

The giver devises a scenario with which Jonas escapes from the community. He wants to make sure that it looks like Jonas has drowned in the river and that the search for him will soon be stopped. The plan is ruined when Jonas learns that the infant should now be "released" in the care of his father as finally unfit for the family. He escapes with him and both of them almost freeze to death on a journey that, like Jonas, thinks of the limits of “elsewhere”. Through a special ability to see things that others do not see, he finds a sledge with which he and the infant can cross the boundary of community, which is also a boundary of memory. He arrives at a colorful house with bright lights and a Christmas tree and hears something like music for the first time in his life. He has symptoms of severe hypothermia and his and Gabriel's future, as well as that of the community, will be left open in the end. However, Jonas reappears in the author's later works "Gathering Blue", "Messenger" and "Son". These 3 novels together with "The Giver" form the so-called "The Giver Quartet".

expenditure