First, the way in which a society celebrates birthdays reveals how that society values individuality. To begin, in The Giver, everyone’s “birthday” is celebrated at an annual ceremony in December. For example, Jonas reveals, “The Ceremony for the Ones was always noisy and fun. Each December, all the new …show more content…
This reveals that all children born in a certain year advance to the next age group on the same day. In modern society, however, everyone has their own birthday and turn different ages on different days. In addition, in The Giver’s society, children all receive a certain gift at a specific age. For example, eight-year-olds begin volunteer hours, nine-year-olds receive bicycles, and Twelves receive their job assignments (45, 51). In modern society, instead, children receive gifts, mostly toys, based on their individual interests. Finally, people often lose track of their ages after twelve in Jonas’s society. This is shown when Jonas’s mom tells him, “After Twelve, age isn’t important. Most of us even lose track of how old we are as time passes, though the information is in the Hall of Open Records” (17). This shows again that this community does not value individuality because nothing different ages would highlight differences. On the other hand, age is important and everyone knows their age in today’s society. Although