Abdulkareem 1

Danah Abdulkareem
English 113B
Professor Lawson
April 27 2016
Project text final draft
1296
Religions Diversity
The Giver is a story that shows a utopian community known as Sameness which was
written by Lois Lowry in 1993. The novel offers hope for a better future because their life is
much easier (Hanson, Carter). In this society, everything is similar. Because of the lack of
choices by the societys founders, diversity was removed. Everyone is the same. They do the
same things and are treated equally. At the beginning of the book, the author appears to admire
the kind of life in Sameness. However, through the experiences of the character Jonas, it is
discovered that Sameness might not be utopian at all, and the exchange of safety for diversity
might not have been worth it. The theme of diversity in religion is important as shown by the
lack of the same in the novel, its importance in real life, and its removal have several
consequences.
Due to the lack of diversity in Sameness, there is a peace and development. The society is
free of some of the conflicts and wars. Growth in the community is easily achieved as everyone
works towards one goal. There are no such thing as individual differences. There is no hate,
jealousy, and the damages that make life in society challenging. However, the removal of
diversity in Sameness is not easy. Its the choosing thats important. (Lowry, p. 98). This quote
sets the tone for the lack of diversity in the text. The founders made the decision to establish this

Abdulkareem 2
community and continue to take actions that maintain them. When children are born with any
degree of difference, they are killed The narrator of the giver tells us that release of new
children [infants] was always sad, because they hadnt had a chance to enjoy life within the
community yet if this was a fact in our real life many problems will blow up such as killing and
Insurgency (Lea, Susan G.54). The people of the society have no freedom as similar choices are
made for them. They are given instructions on what to do, what to wear and how and where to
work. The leaders use language as a tool to convince the people into agreement. The people are
forced to give up their memories. They do not experience emotions due to their sameness.
Therefore, the current communities in the world are prepared to give up for safety.
There is no refusing that the lack of diversity in religion might be of benefit in some of
the nations in which we live. The lack of diversity would ensure that no religion is greater than
other. As such, no community would feel worthless. The feeling of satisfaction would be clear.
There would be no such thing as competition. World peace, an achievement that has been
impossible since the birth of human, would become a reality. There would be little to fight over
or fight for because we would all have the same opinion, same resources, and be of the same
nature. Poverty would also be a thing of imagination because the worlds wealth would be shared
equally. All religions would be afforded the same opportunities in education, healthcare, salaries,
and finally success. The safety would be basic as everyone will observe the same religion and
follow the same ideals. A uniform religion would not have discriminations like racism, conflicts,
pain, and death that it has caused.
On the other hand, living life as a clone is not appealing at all. Regardless of any of the
above benefits, losing our diversity would be hard. Without the differences in religions, there
would be no progress. The inventors of the world became different because their religions took

Abdulkareem 3
out their different personalities. They thought of the world and its problems from a different
perspective and designed different items or ideas to resolve them. A quote, made by Max Muller,
the founder of the discipline of history of religions. "To know one religion is to know none."
(Quoted in William E. Paden) And its mean we cannot discover the world without comparing
some religions together to have different thoughts and ideas. Religions need diversity to
compete. In the journal On the Possibility of Elsewhere the writer discuses about the use of
religion in the Giver There is ambivalence even in the choice to represent Heaven as a family
singing around a treean image almost as evocative of secular (and even pagan) practices as it
is of specifically Christian religiosity which can show us that in our life we can get many
benefits and behaviors by having different religions in our world. We need motivation to reach
our full potential.
Sameness across religion would kill that notion. A uniform religion would yield no
music, no technology, and no art as the ideas that we would conceive would all was the same.
Moreover, like in the book, some people assume that a lot would need to be done to maintain this
sameness. If babies are killed because they are different, people would think that any religion
that develops differently would have to be wiped from existence, an act that is also known as
the Holocaust definition. The removal of cultural diversity might remove the bad, but it will
also take the good with it.
It is best for communities to have diverse religions. Countries need motivation,
competition, and progress to succeed. An excellent example of this is the United States. The
country is contained a wealth of different religions. The country is among the most influential in
the world. The nation, like many otherness with diversity, has experienced conflict, but the
gradual acceptance has yielded success that many other countries can only hope to achieve. The

Abdulkareem 4
removal of cultural differences within a state would damage it.
Besides, not all the ills of the world are caused by the difference in religions and as such
not all of them will be resolved by removing it. Conflicts still happen within people of the same
religion and organization achieved because there is no other choice is not real. The diversity that
we experience across different religions is a gift that has yielded benefits that we neither could
nor even begin surviving in their absence. Acceptance is the key to everything. Each religion has
something to offer, no matter how small it might be. No religion can hope to survive more. Once
we understand that the differences across religions are what make them strong, this entire
discussion would not be necessary.
Overall, the diversity in religion is important. Besides, how sure are us that the removal
of diversity will hold up? Even Sameness experienced a form of realization in the end. If you
were to be lost in the river, Jonas, your memories would not be lost with you. Memories are
forever. (Lowry, p. 144). The removal of diversity in religion would be impractical as the
memory will last long enough for someone to start it once more. At least if the horror of total
uniformity happens, we can hold on to the hope that sooner or later someone is sure to realize the
mess that we have created. Nature, God or evolution must have forced the difference of religions
for a reason. Rejecting the differences goes against the nature that was instilled within the
religions. Familiarity is as dangerous as it is comfortable. The world should handle with it. We
should understand that different religions are here to stay, and we would do our best to accept
them for their benefits rather than faulting them for their errors. We should notice the lessons that
Lois Lowry shows in The Giver. She has shown the world why it is important to hold on to our
diversity both for individual good and for the good of the world.

Abdulkareem 5
Bibliography
Enriquez, G. "Making Meaning of Cultural Depictions: Using Lois Lowry's The Giver to
Reconsider What Is 'Multicultural' about Literature." Journal of children's
literature 27.1 (2001): 13-22.
In this article the writer "multicultural literature" and how can the student understand it
by mentioning some definitions and characters . I found this article using one search engine,
accessed through CSUN Oviatt Library. I searched for The Giver and found this article after
looking through my search results. It is a peer-reviewed article from a respected journal, so I
knew it was both academic and trustworthy. This article will help me to see the culture diversity .

Hanson, Carter. "The Utopian Function of Memory in Lois Lowry's The

Giver." Extrapolation50.1 (2009): 45-60. Print.
In this article the writer discusses the Utopian community in the book book the giver.
I found this article using one search engine, accessed through CSUN Oviatt Library. I searched
for The Giver and found this article after looking through my search results. It is a peerreviewed article from a respected journal, so I knew it was both academic and trustworthy. This
article will be useful to my essay because it provides some useful examples of utopian life.

Lea, Susan G. "Seeing Beyond Sameness: Using The Giver to Challenge Colorblind
Ideology."Children's Literature in Education 37.1 (2006): 51-67. Print.
This article discusses the social results to the colorblind people and their opinion
about discrimination. I found this article using one search engine, accessed through CSUN Oviatt
Library. I searched for The Giver and found this article after looking through my search

Abdulkareem 6
results. It is a peer-reviewed article from a respected journal, so I knew it was both academic and
trustworthy. This article will be useful to my essay because it gives me a vision about the
advantages of sameness in the world.
Lowry, Lois. The Giver. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. Print.
Wend-Walker, Graeme. "On the Possibility of Elsewhere: A Postsecular Reading of Lois
Lowry's Giver Trilogy." Children's Literature Association Quarterly 38.2 (2013): 137158. Print.
The article is about the three works of Lois Lowry ; The Giver, Messenger ,and
Gathering blue discussing different topics and compare his ideas in each work. I found this
article using one search engine, accessed through CSUN Oviatt Library. I searched for Lois
Lowry the Giver and found this article after looking through my search results. It is a peerreviewed article from a respected journal, so I knew it was both academic and trustworthy. This
article will be useful because its give me some ideas about the language of religions and the
important of it.

Quoted in William E. Paden, Religious Worlds: The Comparative Study of Religion (Boston:
Beacon Press, 1988), 38, from F. Max Mueller, Lectures on the Science of Religion (New
York: Charles Scribner and Co., 1872), 10-11.