The Giver Vs Steelheart Which Is More Dehumanizing
“ Jonas was forced to flee.” (Lowry 163). This was from The Giver and A Giver is an excellent form of a dystopian society. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson and The Giver by Lois Lowry showed strong dystopian characteristics of living in fear, Constance surveillance, and the illusion of perfection.In the story Steelheart the people constantly live in fear. The people are scared because the epics could kill them at any point in time. If the epics don't like the way we look at them then they would kill us for that: “ Curveball opened fire on me” ( Sanderson 33). He opened fire because David was not under the streets like he should have been. The quote shows they live in fear because they could be shot at by the epics if they do something wrong.
An The Giver there was also people living in fear. Jonas lives in fear when he is scared he will be seen running away from his society: “ Jonas was forced to flee” ( Lowery 163). This causes him to be very careful and to run the plan in his head over, over, and over again. This shows that Jonas lives in fear because he wants to run away but is scared that he will be caught. I feel like the first example of living in fear by Sanderson would be more dehumanizing because you are taking away the ability to have any freedom on where they go or the look on their face. The epics bane people from being themself because the epics think their better because they have superpowers. Steelheart shows dystopian characters of constant surveillance. David is going into an apartment when there's a sniper aiming at him:“That would be the sniper on top of the playground equipment nearby, repositioning to aim at me” (Sanderson 80). That is David being watching closely by the sniper while he trying to get into the apartment. The Giver also shows the characteristic of constant surveillance.
The people he told over a loudspeaker to stop doing what they are not supposed to be doing: “ATTENTION. THIS IS A REMINDER TO MALE ELEVENS THAT OBJECTS ARE NOT TO BE REMOVED FROM THE RECREATION AREA AND THAT SNACK ARE TO BE EATEN, NOT HOARDED” ( Lowry 23). They constantly watch over the people and call them when they do something wrong and that is kinda creepy. I feel that the second one by Lowry would be more dehumanizing because the leaders of the society are spying on everyone and if they do something wrong they get told not to over the loudspeaker. I take people the ability to think for themselves away and do not allow them to think what they think is bad versus what the leaders think is bad. One of the last strong dystopian characters in Steelheart was an illusion of perfection. The Epics would make an allegiance to Steelheart because they thought it made Newcargo better: “ Night wielder was one of the first Epics to swear allegiance to Steelheart” ( Sanderson 19). They thought that it was better because it would make them stronger and the people would act better and behave. The Giver also showed illusion of perfection. The society thought that it would be perfect if they killed the weakest child in the twins: “ his father began very carefully to direct the needle into the new child's forehead” ( Lowery 149).
The last one by Lowry i feel would be the most dehumanizing out of the whole essay because the people are losing feelings and the leaders think that is the only way to have the society be perfect. They think it make it easier for people and it makes the world perfect. Steelheart by Sanderson and The Giver by Lowry had both showed strong dystopian characteristics of living in fear, the illusion of perfection, and Constance surveillance. All of those show dehumanization because are taking people the ability to live their life the way they want to and to be knowing what they are doing is also taking away their privacy.
