Control

Childhood

In the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry, the entire life of the citizens is determined by the Committee of Elders. The members themselves have no freedom of choice. After birth, the babies are cared for by nurses in a Nurturing Center for a year. Here they are constantly monitored . They have to meet certain standards. If, like Gabriel, they do not meet these criteria, they are simply released.

Couples must apply to the Committee if they want to be assigned a child. They are then monitored for three years until  the committee considers they will be suitable parents. After the children are assigned to families,  they spend the entire day at the Childcare Center.

Every year at the December Ceremony something changes for the children. This change is set for each age group. There are new clothes, new hairstyles, new items, such as the bicycle, and finally the job assignment. Like this, children or their parents are not allowed to decide for themselves what clothes or hairstyle to wear or when a child can ride a bicycle.

The only important decision the children are allowed to make is where to spend their volunteer hours: "The freedom to choose where to spend those hours [volunteer hours] had always seemed a wonderful luxury to Jonas; other hours of the day were so carefully regulated." (Chapter 4, 0%).

 Volunteer hours are counted and recorded in the "Hall of Open Record." This, then, is public control through access to information about the others.

Jonas confirms that the daily routine is otherwise completely prescribed, for example, when the young people go to work and school and even when they have their free time hours: " 'After the Ceremony of Twelve, you’ll be with your Assignment group, with those in training. No more ...