How do the rules of the community in The Giver affect the characters in the story?

There are so many rules and regulation in the society of The Giverthat the citizens of the town don't question the rules. For example, Jonas' father is a Nurturer who works with newborn babies. In our society, someone who works with newborn babies would want to do everything they could to save the baby. We later learn that the Nurturer will sometimes have to "release" a baby, which means to kill the baby through a...

There are so many rules and regulation in the society of The Giver that the citizens of the town don't question the rules. For example, Jonas' father is a Nurturer who works with newborn babies. In our society, someone who works with newborn babies would want to do everything they could to save the baby. We later learn that the Nurturer will sometimes have to "release" a baby, which means to kill the baby through a lethal injection. The rules of community state that certain newborn babies need to be released—and this makes it okay in the eyes of the Nurturer. Since the rules dictate that, no one will think they are doing harm.

Everything inside the society is regulated. Citizens' careers, the weather, and even feelings are all regulated to such an extent that one cannot even fathom choosing their own career or alterations in the weather. This affects how people will think and act.

The characters become used to that society and cannot think of anything else. When Jonas starts receiving emotions and memories from The Giver, he is now different than everyone else. Jonas feels alone because he knows true emotion while everyone else does not. 

As The Giver is the only one who has memories and feelings, The Elders must come to The Giver for advice. When a whole society lacks emotions and memories, it is hard to make the best decisions.