Student Essay on Word Choice in "The Giver"

Word Choice in "The Giver" by Lois Lowry

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Essay

William James, a famous psychiatrist, once said "If we remembered everything we should be as ill as if we remembered nothing." This is what I think of as I read Lois Lowry's The Giver. She makes the reader of her book feel many different things at separate, yet at the same times.

Lois Lowry's word choice played a big role in this. The words that she uses to describe the Christmas scene were small by themselves, but together left me a warm and comforting feeling. Some of the words that affected me most were: twinkling, firelight, warmth, glowing, soft, flickering, delight, and laughter. With just these words I am left with that warm feeling already.

Even though she makes me feel happy, there are parts in the book where I'm sad and uneasy. When Jonas takes Gabriel from the community, I feel scared because I don't know what will happen. At first it seems as if everything is going fine, but I wonder about what will come next for Gabe and Jonas. Most of the things she wrote helped in creating this feeling. I believe that Ms. Lowry uses word choice as the biggest emotional factor in her book. I not only felt uneasy, but also a passion for what Jonas is doing. My favorite sentence in the book is, "But the moment passed and was followed by an urge, a passionate yearning to share the warmth with the only person left for him to love."

Ms. Lowry uses word choice and figurative language to make the reader experience many different feelings throughout her book. It fills me with such emotion, it is a feeling that I didn't want to let go, it is peaceful. Lois Lowry brings all of her ideas together in chronological order, the way that the events would have happened in time. She pulls it together by relating everything to one topic, and showing how her main characters grow stronger with time.