Meeting with the Book

Jonas lives in a community that lives on rules. Everything is controlled even simple things such as  sharing your feelings at dinner with your family. In this society everyone is the same and has the same things, being different isn't good. In this community you can't have your own birthday everyone turns a year older each December until you reach 12 and you get an assigned job made by the Elders based on your volunteering hours and observations. Jonas is eleven and feels apprehensive about the upcoming ceremony, he has not a single clue to what assignment will he get. His parents try to calm him down by telling him how excited his father was when he was his age and the would get the assignment as a nurturer. Next Jonas' father brings a baby home to take care because he isn't growing rightly and he could be released and they talk about high status and low status assignment such as Birthmother or Nurturer. Jonas is very confused he doesn't know what job will he get since he spent most of his volunteer hours in many places because he liked to choose from many. After that he goes to The House of the Old and they tell him about the celebration of a release that morning and meets with Asher and Fiona, his friends.


''Well, they tried to make her life sound meaningful. And of course,'' she added primly, ''all lives are  meaningful, I don't mean that they aren't, But Edna.  My goodness. She was a Birthmother, and then she worked in Food Production for years, until she came here. She never even had a family unit.'' (31)
By reading this quote it shows me how society looked at meaningful lives. They care if that person has a meaningful job, forgetting  people don't even get to choose the job. they criticise people over the way they choose to live. This makes me wonder, why would people that live in a society which almost makes the choices for you would critize ones way of living?


Living in a society were I don't have freedom to choose almost anything is completely wrong. Everyone deserves the right to choose for themselves.  Also people deserve to have meaningful lives not because of the job you have nor the way you choose to live but of what is it important to you. How will Jonas feel when he gets his job, will his life be meaningful?