I’d love to hear more of these ones. What was Lowry’s purpose in including that in the community? At what point might precision language become a problem, if ever?
Christian, welcome to the community. As far as I can find, Lowry never commented on why that was part of her community. My thought, having not read the book in a few years, is that the communities in the Giver were set up so the citizenry could avoid discomfort and pain. The precision of language is just an outgrowth of that. So, Lowry must have assumed that vagueness either leaves room for interpretation that can cause offense or can cause confusion and frustration.
The only problem I can see with precision of language is it doesn't allow for language to evolve which is something I love about language. Who knew that lit would mean cool or that woke would mean something besides the past-tense of wake.
I’d love to hear more of these ones. What was Lowry’s purpose in including that in the community? At what point might precision language become a problem, if ever?
Christian, welcome to the community. As far as I can find, Lowry never commented on why that was part of her community. My thought, having not read the book in a few years, is that the communities in the Giver were set up so the citizenry could avoid discomfort and pain. The precision of language is just an outgrowth of that. So, Lowry must have assumed that vagueness either leaves room for interpretation that can cause offense or can cause confusion and frustration.
The only problem I can see with precision of language is it doesn't allow for language to evolve which is something I love about language. Who knew that lit would mean cool or that woke would mean something besides the past-tense of wake.