Line Illuminator (Week One) - James

Quote # 1 : "So we fought against the curse. We tried to forget our lessons, but we always remembered. We tried to understand what the teachers taught, but we always understood it before the teachers had spoken. We looked upon union 5-3992, who were a pale boy with only half a brain, and we tried to say and do as they did, that we might be like them, like union 5-3992, but somehow the teachers new that we were not. And we were lashed more often than all the other children".

This is a powerful paragraph. The main idea is that this society does not value individualism and knowledge. Not only are people that are smart and different treated differently but they are punished as well. The smart and different people in this society look up to not very smart people as examples. The look at them as roll models which is not what todays society is about. In todays society smart people are considered roll models.

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Quote # 2 : "Dare not choose in your minds the work you would like to do when you leave the Home of Students. You shall do that which the Council of Vocations shall prescribe for you". 

This quote shows how people are not allowed to make up their own minds. They are not allowed to make decisions or even think of things that they would like. Just like in The Giver people are not allowed to choose their jobs, instead they are chosen for them. The horrible thing about this is that people are not allowed to help the community to their full potential if they are assigned a job that they do not receive a job that is suited for them. Over all the community is not doing the right thing by making everybody the same. Equality is one thing but shaping people is another.

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