About Lois Lowrys Controversial Book, The Giver

About Lois Lowry's Controversial Book, The Giver Imagine living in a society of sameness where you find no color, no family connections, and no memory- a society where life is governed by rigid rules that resist change and resent questioning. Welcome to the world of Lois Lowrys 1994 Newbery award-winning book The Giver, a powerful and controversial book about a utopian community and young boy’s dawning realizations about oppression, choices and human connections. The Storyline of The Giver Twelve-year-old Jonas is looking forward to the Ceremony of Twelves and getting his new assignment. He will miss his friends and their games, but at 12 he is required to set aside his child-like activities. With excitement and fear, Jonas and the rest of the new Twelves are bid a formal â€Å"thank you for your childhood† by the head elder as they move into the next phase of community work. In The Giver’s utopian community, rules govern every aspect of life from speaking in precise language to sharing dreams and feelings at daily family councils. In this perfect world, climate is controlled, births are regulated and everyone is given an assignment based on ability. Couples are matched and applications for children are reviewed and assessed. The elderly are honored and  apologize, and the acceptance of apologies, are mandatory. In addition, anyone who refuses to follow rules or who exhibits weaknesses is â€Å"released† (a gentle euphemism for killed). If twins are born, the one weighing the least is scheduled for release while the other is taken to a nurturing facility. Daily pills to suppress desires and â€Å"stirrings† are taken by citizens beginning at age twelve. There is no choice, no disruption, and no human connections. This is the world Jonas knows until he is assigned to train under the Receiver and become his successor. The Receiver holds all the memories of the community and it’s his job to pass on this heavy burden to Jonas. As the old Receiver begins to give Jonas the memories of ages past, Jonas starts to see colors and experience new feelings. He learns there are words to label the emotions that are erupting inside him: pain, joy, sorrow, and love. The passing of memories from aged man to boy deepens their relationship and Jonas experiences a powerful need to share his newfound awareness. Jonas wants others to experience the world as he sees it, but the Receiver explains that letting loose these memories all at once into the community would be unbearable and painful. Jonas is weighed down by this new knowledge and awareness and finds solace in discussing his feelings of frustration and amazement with his mentor. Behind a closed door with the speaker device turned to OFF, Jonas and the Receiver discuss the forbidden topics of choice, fairness, and individuality. Early in their relationship, Jonas begins to see the old Receiver as a Giver because of the memories and knowledge he is giving to him. Jonas quickly finds his world shifting. He sees his community with new eyes and when he understands the real meaning of â€Å"release† and learns a sad truth about the Giver, he begins to make plans for change. However, when Jonas finds out that a young child he’s grown fond of is being prepared for release, both he and the Giver quickly alter their plans and prepare for a daring escape full of risk, danger, and death for all involved. Author Lois Lowry Lois Lowry wrote her first book, A Summer to Die, in 1977 at the age of 40. Since then she’s written more than 30 books for children and teens, often tackling serious topics such as debilitating illnesses, the Holocaust, and repressive governments. The winner of two Newbery Medals and other accolades, Lowry continues to write the types of stories she feels represents her views about humanity. Lowry explains, â€Å"My books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections. Born in Hawaii, Lowry, the second of three children, moved all over the world with her Army dentist father. Awards Over the years, Lois Lowry has accumulated multiple awards for her books, but the most prestigious are her two Newbery Medals for Number the Stars (1990) and The Giver (1994). In 2007, the American Library Association honored Lowry with the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Contribution to Young Adult Literature. Controversy, Challenges, and Censorship Despite the many accolades The Giver has garnered, it has met with enough opposition to put it on the American Library Association’s most frequently challenged and banned books list for the years 1990-1999 and 2000-2009. Controversy over the book focuses on two topics: suicide and euthanasia. When a minor character determines she can no longer endure her life, she asks to be â€Å"released† or killed. According to an article in USA Today, opponents of the book argue that Lowry fails to â€Å"explain that suicide is not a solution to life’s problems.† In addition to the concern about suicide, opponents of the book criticize Lowry’s handling of euthanasia. Supporters of the book counter these criticisms by arguing that children are being exposed to social issues that will make them think more analytically about governments, personal choice, and relationships. When asked for her opinion on book banning Lowry responded: I think banning books is a very, very dangerous thing. It takes away an important freedom. Any time there is an attempt to ban a book, you should fight it as hard as you can. Its okay for a parent to say, I dont want my child to read this book. But it is not okay for anyone to try to make that decision for other people. The world portrayed in The Giver is a world where choice has been taken away. It is a frightening world. Lets work hard to keep it from truly happening. The Giver Quartet and the Movie While The Giver can be read as a standalone book, Lowry has written companion books to further explore the meaning of community. Gathering Blue (published in 2000) introduces readers to Kira, a crippled orphan girl with a gift for needlework. Messenger, published in 2004, is the story of Mattie who is first introduced in Gathering Blue as Kira’s friend. In fall 2012 Lowrys Son was published. Son represents the grand finale in Lois Lowrys Giver books.

Biography of Willa Cather, American Author

Biography of Willa Cather, American Author Willa Cather (born Wilella Sibert Cather; December 7, 1873–April 24, 1947) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer who gained acclaim for her novels capturing the American pioneer experience. Fast Facts: Willa Cather Born:  December 7, 1873 in Back Creek Valley, Virginia, USADied:  April 24, 1947 in New York City, New York, USAOccupation:  Author and journalistEducation: University of Nebraska–LincolnSelected Works: My ntonia (1918), O Pioneers! (1913), Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927), One of Ours (1922)Key Accomplishment: 1923 Pulitzer Prize for One of OursFamous Quote:  There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before. (from O Pioneers!) Early Life on the Prairie Willa Cather was born on the farm of her maternal grandmother, Rachel Boak, in the poor farming region of Back Creek Valley, Virginia, on December 7, 1873. The oldest of seven children, she was the daughter of Charles Cather and Mary Cather (nà ©e Boak). Despite the Cather family having spent several generations in Virginia, Charles moved his family to the Nebraska frontier when Willa was nine years old. After spending about eighteen months attempting to farm in the community of Catherton, the Cathers moved into the town of Red Cloud. Charles opened a business for real estate and insurance, and the children, including Willa, were able to attend formal school for the first time. Many of the figures in Willa’s early life would appear in fictionalized form in her later novels: most notably her grandmother Rachel Boak, but also her parents and her friend and neighbor Marjorie Anderson. As a girl, Willa found herself fascinated by the frontier environment and its people. She developed a lifelong passion for the land and befriended a wide array of the area’s residents. Her curiosity and interest in literature and language led her to forge connections with immigrant families in her community, especially older women who remembered the â€Å"Old World† and who delighted in telling young Willa their stories. Another of her friends and mentors was the local doctor, Robert Damerell, under whose guidance she decided to pursue science and medicine. Student, Teacher, Journalist Willa attended the University of Nebraska, where her career plans took an unexpected turn. During her freshman year, her English professor submitted an essay she had written on Thomas Carlyle to the Nebraska State Journal, which published it. Seeing her name in print had a huge impact on the young student, and she shifted her aspirations immediately towards becoming a professional writer. While at the University of Nebraska, Willa immersed herself in the world of writing, particularly journalism, although she also penned short stories. She became the editor of the university’s student newspaper while also contributing to the Journal and to the Lincoln Courier as a theatre critic and columnist. Quickly, she gained a reputation for her strong opinions and sharp, intelligent columns, as well as for her dressing in masculine fashions and using â€Å"William† as a nickname. In 1894, she graduated with her B.A. in English. In 1896, Willa accepted a position in Pittsburgh as writer and managing editor for Home Monthly, a women’s magazine. She continued to write for the Journal and the Pittsburgh Leader, mostly as a theatre critic, while running Home Monthly. During this period, her love for the arts brought her in contact with Pittsburgh socialite Isabelle McClung, who became her lifelong friend. After a few years of journalism, Willa stepped into the role of teacher. Fom 1901 to 1906, she taught English, Latin, and, in one case, algebra at nearby high schools. During this time, she began publishing: first a book of poetry, April Twilights, in 1903, and then a short story collection, The Troll Garden, in 1905. These caught the eye of S.S. McClure, who, in 1906, invited Willa to join the staff of McClure’s Magazine in New York City. Literary Success in New York City Willa was extremely successful at McClure’s. She ghostwrote a notable biography of Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy, which was credited to researcher Georgine Milmine and published in several installments around 1907. Her position as managing editor earned her prestige and the admiration of McClure himself, but it also meant that she had significantly less time to work on her own writing. On the advice of her mentor Sarah Orne Jewett, Willa left the magazine business in 1911 to focus on fiction. Although she no longer worked for McClure’s, her relationship with the publication continued. In 1912, the magazine published, in serial, her first novel, Alexander’s Bridge. The novel was well-reviewed (although Willa herself would, later in life, consider it a more derivative work than her later novels). Her next three novels cemented her legacy. Her â€Å"Prairie Trilogy† consisted of O Pioneers! (published in 1913), The Song of the Lark (1915), and My ntonia  (1918). These three novels centered on the pioneer experience, drawing on her childhood experiences of life in Nebraska, the immigrant communities she loved there, and her passion for the untamed land. The novels included some autobiographical elements, and all three were celebrated by critics and audiences alike. These novels shaped her reputation as a writer who used plain but beautiful language to write thoroughly American romantic literature. Dissatisfied with her publisher’s lack of support for her novels, Willa began publishing short stories with Knopf in 1920. She would eventually publish sixteen works with them, including her 1923 novel One Of Them, which won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel. A subsequent book, 1925’s Death Comes for the Archbishop, also enjoyed a long legacy. At this point in her career, Willa’s novels were beginning to move away from epic, romantic tales of the American prairie to stories that leaned into the disillusionment of the post-World War I era. Later Years As the 1930s rolled around, literary critics soured on Willa’s books, criticizing them for being too nostalgic and not contemporary enough. She continued to publish, but at a much slower pace than before. During this time, she received honorary degrees from Yale, Princeton, and Berkeley. Her personal life also began to take a toll. Her mother and the two brothers with whom she was closest all passed away, as did Isabelle McClung. The bright spot was Edith Lewis, the editor who was her closest companion from the early 1900s until her death. Scholars are divided as to whether or not the relationship was romantic or platonic; Willa, a deeply private person, destroyed many personal papers, so there is no certain evidence either way, but scholars of queer theory have often interpreted her works through the lens of this partnership. Willa’s personal life remained something she kept closely guarded, even after her death. Willa despaired over the coming conflicts of World War II, and she began to have issues with an inflamed tendon in her writing hand. Her final novel, Sapphira and the Slave Girl, was published in 1940 and marked a significantly darker tone than her previous works. In 1944, the National Institute of Arts and Letters awarded her the gold medal for fiction as a mark of her lifetime of literary achievement. In her final years, her health began to decline, and on April 24, 1947, Willa Cather died of a cerebral hemorrhage in New York City. Legacy Willa Cather left behind a canon that was both plainspoken and elegant, accessible and deeply nuanced. Her portrayals of immigrants and women (and of immigrant women) have been at the center of much modern scholarship. With a style that encompassed sweeping epics along with realistic depictions of frontier life, Willa Cather’s writings have become iconic pieces of the literary canon, both in America and worldwide. Sources Ahearn, Amy. Willa Cather: A Longer Biographical Sketch. Willa Cather Archive, https://cather.unl.edu/life.longbio.html.Smiley, Jane. Willa Cather, Pioneer. The Paris Review, 27 February 2018, https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/02/27/willa-cather-pioneer.Woodress, James.  Willa Cather: A Literary Life. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987.