When the word "technology" is used, we generally think of TVs, computers or phones. We don't think of medicine as technology, but it is. The term "medical technology" has been surfacing within the last decade, in fact, and this certainly can be applied to the society seen in Lois Lowry's The Giver. The best example of the use of medical technology is found in the form of a pill that everyone must take daily...
When the word "technology" is used, we generally think of TVs, computers or phones. We don't think of medicine as technology, but it is. The term "medical technology" has been surfacing within the last decade, in fact, and this certainly can be applied to the society seen in Lois Lowry's The Giver. The best example of the use of medical technology is found in the form of a pill that everyone must take daily after they hit puberty. Jonas first learns about the pill after a dream he has that causes him to experience sensual feelings called "stirrings". The conflict of "Person vs. Technology" comes into play when Jonas reports his stirrings and his mother gives him this pill to suppress them.
"Then, in the same way that his own dwelling slipped away behind him as he rounded a corner on his bicycle, the dream slipped away from his thoughts. Very briefly, a little guiltily, he tried to grasp it back. But the feelings had disappeared. The Stirrings were gone" (39).
The above passage clearly describes Jonas's instincts fighting against the pill he has just taken. Essentially, the medical technology wins over the person's natural desire to feel sensuality. As a result, people do not desire or prefer one person over another; therefore, dating and pairing off does not occur and the government can control the education and growth of family units. Later on, The Giver teaches Jonas about the society's desire to maintain what they all "sameness," and this pill is one of the ways they accomplish it.
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