So today I just watched "The Giver" (movie). It has been a while since I last read the book, but I still remember the book having a profound impact on me. Come to think of it, The Giver was my first dystopian book, the first book to get me hooked onto the genre. Anyways, before I go on, I want to make this clear: this is not a movie review (though I will admit I thought the movie was excellent.) No, this is is just a rambling post about a connection I made shortly after watching "The Giver."
Before I go on, have you read 1984 by George Orwell?
Alright, I know that was a rather random question, but it will all make sense in a second, I promise.
Jumping back to "The Giver." So I was thinking about the meaning of the movie/book, and came upon the conclusion that the message is "you most know one extreme to know the other." Okay, so that wasn't very well phrased. Let me elaborate: in order to feel joy, you must know sadness. In order to feel love, you most know loss. In order to feel peace, you must know war/conflict. Basically, The Giver conveys the message of "you can't miss what you never had."
Alright, and here is my big epiphany. Over the summer, I read 1984 and this famous quote really stuck out to me:
At first, I didn't understand it. How could war be peace? Freedom be slavery and ignorance be strength? But after watching "The Giver," I realized that it does make sense in its own convoluted way. You see, without war, people wouldn't know what peace really meant because there is nothing to compare it to. Nobody would appreciate the concept of freedom if slavery didn't exist. I still haven't quite figured out how ignorance is strength yet...I'm getting there (have any ideas? let me know down in the comments!)
In other words, "you never know a good thing 'till it's gone." So like how there can be no joy without pain, there can be no peace without war and so forth.
Alright, I think that is enough thinking for tonight...going to call it a day!
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