THE UTOPIAN IDEA OF SOCIETY REPRESENTED IN THE SETTING OF LOIS LOWRY’S THE GIVER

  

THE UTOPIAN IDEA OF SOCIETY REPRESENTED IN THE

SETTING OF LOIS LOWRY’S THE GIVER

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

RATRI NUGRAHENI PERMATASARI

  Student Number: 054214117

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2010

  

THE UTOPIAN IDEA OF SOCIETY REPRESENTED IN THE SETTING

OF LOIS LOWRY’S THE GIVER

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

RATRI NUGRAHENI PERMATASARI

  Student Number: 054214117

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2010

  A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis

  THE UTOPIAN IDEA OF SOCIETY REPRESENTED IN THE SETTING OF LOIS LOWRY’S THE GIVER

  By

RATRI NUGRAHENI PERMATASARI

  Student Number: 054214117 Approved by Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S., M.Hum January 04, 2010.

  Advisor Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum January 04, 2010.

  Co-Advisor

  A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis

  

THE UTOPIAN IDEA OF SOCIETY

REPRESENTED IN THE

SETTING OF LOIS LOWRY’S THE GIVER

  By

  

RATRI NUGRAHENI PERMATASARI

  Student Number: 054214117 Defended before the Board of Examiners on January 29, 2010 and Declared Acceptable

  

BOARD OF EXAMINERS

Name Signature

  Chairman : Dr.Fr.Borgias Alip, M. Pd, M. A ________________ Secretary : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum ________________ Member : Maria Ananta Tri Suryandari, S.S ________________ Member : Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S., M.Hum ________________ Member : Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum ________________ Yogyakarta, January 30, 2010.

  Faculty of Letters Sanata Dharma University

  Dean Dr. I. Praptomo Baryadi, M.Hum.

  : Maria Ananta Tri Suryandari, S.S, M.Ed

   He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.

  Psalm 62:2 

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  This thesis is very valuable for me. There were so many things that I’ve gotten during the work. Up and down that I felt, the people behind this thesis which can make it accomplished and many things that make me realize that I’m never left alone by GOD. So, first of all, I am so grateful to GOD for what His doing for me. He always protects me and gives me all what I need. He always companies me even when I was angry to Him. He guides me with love and patience. He gives me many people who encourage me and it cannot be forgotten. I know I cannot finish my study well without Him.

  I’ve said before that this thesis will not be done if there were no people behind me who encourage me; my family, my lecturers, and my friends. I thank to my Mom for giving me birth to this world and to my Pa who has already passed away but has given me enough knowledge to pass this life. I thank to my dear brothers, both who has already passed away and who is now in happily marriage. Thank you so much for your guidance in this stubborn sister. Without you I will never be mature girl. I also want to thank to other family who help me on many things that I cannot provide for myself.

  My special thank is given to Mrs. Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S for being patience in guiding me during this work and for all the explanations and corrections. I want to thank for all lecturers who have taught me and helped me. I am sorry for many faults that I have done.

  Last but not the least, I want to thank to whole friends, brothers and sisters in Sanata Dharma; from English Letters, Cantus Firmus Choir and Sekar Jepun dance community. All of you have been my second family in my heart. All of them, by their own way, are always be my place to cheer again. I will not forget and I will keep my memories during my study at Sanata Dharma University.

  At the end, I dedicate this thesis for all of them.

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

  PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma :

  Nama : Ratri Nugraheni Permatasari Nomor Mahasiswa : 054214117

  Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul :

  The Utopian Idea of Society Represented in the Setting of Lois Lowry’s The

  

Giver

  beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, me- ngalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

  Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal : 30 Januari 2010 Yang menyatakan, (Ratri Nugraheni Permatasari)

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ......................................................................................................... i

APPROVAL PAGE .............................................................................................. ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE........................................................................................ iii

MOTTO PAGE .................................................................................................... iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...................................................................................v

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN ................................................................................. vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................... vii

ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................ viii

ABSTRAK ............................................................................................................ ix

  

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .........................................................................1

A. Background of the Study .................................................................................1 B. Problem Formulation .......................................................................................5 C. Objectives of the Study....................................................................................6 D. Definition of Terms .........................................................................................6

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ........................................................7

A. Review of Related Studies...............................................................................7 B. Review of Related Theories...........................................................................14

  1. Theory of Setting ........................................................................................14

  2. Theory of Society in the Novel...................................................................17

  3. Theory of Utopian Philosophy ...................................................................17

  C. Theoretical Framework..................................................................................24

  

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ...................................................................26

A. Object of the Study ........................................................................................26 B. Approach of the Study ...................................................................................28 C. Method of the Study ......................................................................................28

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ................................................................................30

A. The Condition of the Social Setting Described in The Giver ........................30 B. The Utopian Idea of Society Shown in the Social Setting.............................51

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION...........................................................................73

BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................76

APPENDIX ...........................................................................................................80

  

ABSTRACT

  RATRI NUGRAHENI PERMATASARI. The Utopian Idea of Society as

Represented in the Condition of Social Setting in Lois Lowry’s The Giver.

Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2009.

  The Giver is one of Lois Lowry’s famous works which has been discussed

  by many people around the world. It is interesting how the novel tells a perfect society which since Plato’s era is known as Utopian society. This thesis tries to understand how the Utopian idea of society can be represented through the condition of social setting in The Giver. Thus, the achievements gotten by The

  

Giver makes it worth to be analyzed. At this time, the discussion is more about

  how the society in the novel sees the circumstances which is known as their ‘heaven’ or Utopia.

  There are two problem formulations, how the condition of the social setting is described in The Giver and how the Utopian idea of society is represented through the condition of social setting in The Giver. The first objective will focus on discussion of The Giver’s social setting. Then, the second one will discuss it deeper in order to represent the Utopian idea of society.

  Discussing Utopia, the philosophical approach is used in order to make the discussion not out of context. This approach is an approach which believes that ‘the larger function of literature is to teach morality and to probe philosophical issues’ which assumes the seriousness of literary works as statements of values and criticisms of life, and the philosophical critic judges works on the basis of his or her articulated philosophy of life. In addition, the library research is taken in order to do the analysis with carefully choice of the sources, both the books and the sources from the internet.

  In the analysis of first problem formulation, the social setting of The Giver is considered as a well-structured and prosperous society. It is said a well- structured society as seen from the buildings, the organization and the rules. It is said a prosperous society as seen from the education, the stock and distribution of food, the social relationship and the safety for the entire people in The Giver.

  In the analysis of the second problem formulation, the representation of Utopia characteristics and the basic belief of Utopia are revealed in the novel. The concept of Humanity is represented by the Sameness. People do not recognize death. All people are the selected people with good quality. All people get all what they need. All people are the same in the society. Thus, they have ‘complete knowledge’. In the end, the conclusion is the society of The Giver feel that they have reached Utopia. Thus, the Utopian idea of society is represented by the social setting they have.

  

ABSTRAK

  RATRI NUGRAHENI PERMATASARI. The Utopian Idea of Society as

Represented in the Condition of Social Setting in Lois Lowry’s The Giver.

Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2009.

  The Giver merupakan salah satu karya terkenal Lois Lowry yang telah

  banyak didiskusikan oleh banyak orang di seluruh dunia. Novel ini menceritakan tentang suatu peradaban yang sempurna, di mana sejak jaman Plato telah dikenal sebagai masyarakat Utopia secara menarik. Untuk itu, skripsi ini mencoba untuk memahami bagaimana ide masyarakat Utopia dapat digambarkan kembali melalui seting sosial masyarakat The Giver. Selain itu, penghargaan-penghargaan yang diterima novel ini membuatnya semakin berharga untuk dianalisa. Kali ini, diskusi akan lebih dititikberatkan pada masyarakat di dalam novel, yaitu bagaimana cara mereka melihat lingkungan yang mereka tempati sebagai ‘surga’ atau Utopia milik mereka.

  Ada dua rumusan masalah yang akan dibahas dalam skripsi ini yaitu, bagaimanakah kondisi seting sosial digambarkan dalam The Giver dan bagaimana ide masyarakat Utopia tersirat melalui hal ini. Rumusan masalah yang pertama akan lebih menitikberatkan pada seting masyarakat The Giver. Kemudian, hal ini akan dibahas lebih dalam pada bagian kedua untuk mengetahui bagaimana ide masyarakat Utopia tersirat dalam novel The Giver.

  Dalam membahas Utopia, maka pendekatan filosofis digunakan supaya pembahasan tidak keluar dari pokok permasalahan. Pendekatan ini merupakan pendekatan yang mempercayai bahwa tujuan dibuatnya literatur adalah untuk mengajarkan moral dan filosofi kehidupan. Sebagai tambahan, penelitian ini dilakukan dengan sumber dari buku-buku dan internet dengan pemilihan sumber yang hati-hati.

  Dalam pokok bahasan yang pertama, seting masyarakat The Giver digambarkan sebagai masyarakat yang terstruktur dan makmur. Berdasarkan ulasan mengenai bangunan, organisasi dan peraturan yang ada masyarakat The

  

Giver bisa dikategorikan sebagai masyarakat yang terstruktur. Pendidikan, stok

  dan pendistribusian makanan, hubungan antar individu dalam masyarakat dan keamanan untuk seluruh anggota masyarakat mengacu kepada masyarakat yang makmur.

  Dalam pokok bahasan yang kedua, penggambaran konsep yang mendasari suatu masyarakat beserta ciri-cirinya ditunjukkan. Konsep ‘Kemanusiaan’ disebut sebagai ‘Kesamaan’ (the Sameness). Tak ada yang mengenal kematian. Semua orang adalah orang–orang pilihan dengan kualitas yang baik. Semua orang mendapatkan keinginannya. Semua orang sama di mata masyarakat. Di samping itu, mereka juga memiliki ‘pengetahuan yang sempurna’. Pada akhir kesimpulan, dinyatakan bahwa masyarakat The Giver merasa bahwa mereka telah mencapai Utopia. Selain itu, ide masyarakat Utopia tergambarkan melalui seting masyarakat

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study People always want happiness for their life so the way they reach the

  perfect life was always searched since a long time ago. That is why the researchers in many fields try to find out how to make it come true. It is such an impossible situation where people will never know anymore about war, famine, sadness, anger, etc, and the only thing is happened just the happiness and joy, but this imagination has been haunting people for years. This perfect life which has been dreamt by all people all over the world is known as Utopia.

  This idea is like a mirage and better to be said as a fantasy, but the idea about Utopia has become the one of famous discussion topics between the scholars to grab the visualization and the realization of the perfect life since Plato’s era. As stated by Irwin Edman, the first Utopia has been found in Plato’s central work, the Republic. It is said that:

  The construction of the Perfect City has been praised and dismissed as the poet’s dream. It is rather the vision of the imaginative philosopher who says, as does Socrates, that the Perfect City exists in the sky, that in beholding it men may make their cities on earth more perfect (Edman, 1956: xl).

  Plato’s Republic is Plato’s work in 400 BC in the form of a dialogue. In the first part, it tells about the concept of ‘ideal commonwealth’ which is said as ‘the earliest Utopia’. The state in Plato’s concept in Republic consists of three classes: ‘the common people’, ‘the soldiers’ and ‘the guardians’. In this concept, all citizens must have an equal education, no matter what their gender or class (Russell, 1945: 108-111). Each class has their own peculiar virtue which should exist; ‘the common people’, who is called ‘the class of workers’ by Edman, should have ‘temperance; a control of physical desires’ as their peculiar virtue; ‘the soldiers’, who represents ‘the guardians’ in Edman’s book should have the peculiar virtue of ‘courage’, and ‘the guardian’ whom Edman calls as ‘the philosophers’ –for representing the kings or the rulers– should have ‘wisdom’ for their peculiar virtue. From those three classes, according to Russell, the one who is deserved as the ruler is ‘the guardian’, or ‘the philosopher’ as quoted from Irwin Edman, because they should ‘have political power’ (Russell, 1945: 108).

  According to Plato, as quoted by Irwin Edman, he said about society that “Cities will not cease from evil until kings are philosophers or philosophers are kings.” It is said in The Philosophy of Plato that:

  If the philosophers are truly wise, the warriors loyal and courageous, the workers temperate and disciplined, then the state will function perfectly; justice will appear (Edman, 1956: xli).

  Once this kind of idea also has inspired Sir Thomas Moore to make a novel entitled Utopia, a story about a perfect society, in the earlier 16th century.

  

Utopia , which consists of two books, is written a year after Sir Thomas Moore

  returned to England and rewritten in 1515 (Moore, 1957: xl). It is said that: The first book is critical. It presents a picture of English social life at the beginning of the sixteenth century, on the eye of the Reformation. Tyranny and corruption are everywhere; but the fundamental evil, in Moore’s opinion, is the misuse of private property (Moore, 1957: xl).

  According to John Warrington, who states in the Introduction part of the real society while the second book describes the concepts of ideal life. It is said that: In the second book we are shown the opposite picture of an ideal society in an imaginary island. Here tyranny and luxury have been abolished, private property is unknown, and manual labour is looked upon as the sole occupation profitable to the state (Moore, 1957: xl).

  Later, this idea makes a philosophy of Utopia as has been written by Jon Will, ESQ., CPA, MBA in his book entitled Ultimate Philosophy which is divided into three books; A Map to Utopia, The Light of Knowledge, and Vision.

  In the first book, Jon Will talks about ‘the Infinity Theory of Creation’ which: [t]here is no beginning since only the third dimension could exist and therefore always did exist (2002: 12). It is said that all people are the same in their species because all of them are ‘the third dimension’. For this reason, he states that ‘the only gospel which should be preached is the true gospel of Humanity’. In this part, Jon Will also says that:

  Since every human dreams of a better life, Humanity’s common destination should be Utopia, which is what religion refers to as heaven, and which is the best existence, obtainable (2002: 18). In the second book, with the subtitle ‘The Light of Knowledge’, Jon Will talks about the importance of the knowledge in a Utopia. In the third one, he more focuses on telling about how Utopia can be reached, that ‘[h]umanity will bridge the gap between reality and Utopia’ (2002: 101).

  This thesis will not analyzed further about the Republic by Plato nor

  

Utopia by Sir Thomas Moore nor Ultimate Philosophy by John Will, but The

Giver , a novel which is the first part of the trilogy books from Lois Lowry, an author who lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who writes many popular books, whose the book is first published in 1993 and reprinted in 2002. Its words are understandable and the work is not boring to be read. As has been said in The

  

Boston Globe by David Mehegan in his article Lois Lowry: A Children's Writer

Who doesn't Talk Down, which is published in April 16, 2008 in

  http://www.iht.co,/articles/2008/04/05/arts/lowry.php that: …."The Giver" (1993) - won the John Newbery Medal, the pre-eminent award in the United States for children's chapter books. The latter has sold 5 million books in 29 languages, and a movie version is in development (Mehegan, 2008).

  Kathy Latrobe and Trisha Hutcherson also state the similar statement in

  

World Literature Today that ’The Giver is Lowry’s most widely read and studied

  young-adult novel’ (Latrobe, 2002: 75). In the other words, this novel is known in many parts of the world.

  This novel tells about a life of a boy named Jonas in a community that is orderly ruled and finely structured so the community never involves with war, famine, cold season, natural disaster or other things which can make them uncomfortable with the environment. It is so perfect and so unbelievable that there is a society which is giving such happiness for the community. Almost all people in the novel feel happy and satisfied with their life. This condition of the social setting in The Giver vividly describes the Utopian idea of its society, a perfection of a society.

  The Utopian idea of The Giver’s society is interesting to be analyzed so we can understand the concept of Utopia itself. This statement is strengthened by

  Utopian novels, thus, do not fall within this sphere because they take, as their primary end, the criticism or espousal of a particular social order. Although utopias do include characters with whom we become involved, they use that involvement to achieve another end, that of focusing attention on some idea or ideas about society (Langland, 1984: 83). Another reason that the society in the novel is interesting to be analyzed is because we can find out what kind of imagination that the author wants to live in and the idea or point of view about an ideal society according to the author. It is like learning the sociology but the analyzed object of society is in the world of the author’s mind, which in this case is represented through the novel.

  Because the topic searched in this thesis is more about the idea, this thesis will talk a little bit about the theme which is always said as the main idea of the story. As has been stated by some researchers in their works that the theme of The

  

Giver is Utopia, which is known as the ideal society, it means this thesis is not

only discusses about the theme but also involves the condition of its social setting.

  It is said in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, as has been quoted in http://www.the-thinking-man.com/definition-of-philosophy.html, philosophy is ‘an organized system of ideas and arguments’ (2002). Based on this meaning of philosophy, the philosophical approach is taken to analyze the questions in problem formulation. The aim of this thesis is to find out how the idea of Utopia is represented through the condition of social setting in The Giver.

B. Problem Formulation

  1. How is the condition of the social setting described in The Giver?

  2. How is the Utopian idea of society represented through the condition of social setting in The Giver?

  C. Objectives of the Study

  There are two objectives of the study which must be found out in the thesis in order to answer the problem formulation. First of all, it tries to identify how the condition of social setting in The Giver is described. In this first objective, the setting in The Giver will be presented as detailed as possible, especially its social setting. Then, by describing the idea of society from the social setting, it tries to find out the similarities between the social setting in The Giver and the society condition of Utopia in order to understand how the Utopian idea of the society is represented through the condition of social setting in The Giver.

  D. Definition of Terms

  According to Encyclopædia Britannica online in http://www.howhist.com/ fraser/utopia%20definition.htm, Utopia is: an ideal commonwealth whose inhabitants exist under seemingly perfect conditions. Hence "utopian" and "utopianism" are words used to denote visionary reform that tends to be impossibly idealistic (Britannica).

  According to John Will in Ultimate Philosophy, ‘Utopia is generally defined as a place of ideal perfection in all aspects of existence.’(2002: 17).

  According to C. Hugh Holman and William Harman in A Handbook to

  

Literature , Utopia is ‘an imaginary ideal world. It is derived from Greek word

“outopia”, meaning “no place and “eutopia”, meaning “good place” (1986: 519).

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies There are so many researchers who study, analyze and discuss this novel. The topics discussed not only include the intrinsic elements but also the extrinsic

  elements of The Giver. Those researches study the theme, characters, symbols, structure, and language, even the connection between the text, the author and the reader.

  As example of the research on the extrinsic elements is the research about the reader of The Giver, that is, how they respond toward The Giver. In a workshop entitled Literary Education and Canon Formation, which was held in 8-9 May 2003 by Professor Michel Hockx (East Asia, SOAS) and Dr George Paizis (French, UCL), they researched about the attitude of the reader to the novel, in this case The Giver, especially in France and Burkina Faso. Their respondents were the teenagers who learned in 4th year of secondary school, between 16 until 20 years old, both in France and Burkina Faso. He said that:

  ‘the interpretations were diverse. Their experiences of life, in a very general meaning, are so different so this diversity was foreseeable … and expected’ (Hockx, 2003). The teenagers from France and the ones from Burkina Faso have different circumstances which can make both has different interpretation when reading The

  

Giver . The writer thinks that it is an interesting work for it tells how the different

  cultures which have different life can influence a reader to respond a novel so they can have different perspectives or point of view to the literary work they read. We can learn not only the literature but also the culture diversity that influence the reader’s opinion.

  The research paper done by Kathryn Prather (2001), entitled Literature –

  

Based Exploration: Efferent and Aesthetic , takes the correspondents who are the

  students of the researcher in sixth grade of Language Arts class. From three weeks exploration, she proposed ‘a combination of aesthetic and efferent teaching’ to reach the goal that students become ‘life-long readers’ (Prather, 2001: 61, 63). Its aim is to make more people to love reading, especially the literary books, by this kind of teaching. The work is understandable read and interestingly reviewed.

  Jeff Kolose (2005) studied the theme of eight novels as the case studies in his work entitled Twentieth-Century Science Fiction Literature and the Right to

  

Life Issues of Abortion, Infanticide, and Euthanasia . They are H.G. Well’s When

the Sleeper Wakes (1899), E. M. Forster’s The Machine Stops (1909), Aldous

  Huxley’ Brave New World (1932), Robert Herrick’s Sometime (1933), James Blish’ A Case in Conscience (1958), William F. Nolan and George Clayton’s

  

Logan’s Run (1967), Lois Lowry’s The Giver (1993), and Mike Resnick’s

Kirinyaga: A Fable of Utopia (1998).

  According to his work, there were ‘six common themes in twentieth- century science-fiction literature concerned with abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia’ (Kolose, 2005). They are ‘abortion and attitudes toward children’, ‘infanticide’, ‘euthanasia’, ‘loss and distortion of religious values’, ‘tragic endings’, and ‘hope for a better world based on a restoration’.

  When reading the work, it is said that the three themes at the end is the findings after the three themes before. From this paper, it is revealed that sometimes we sacrificed something unintentionally to gain the better life. At the end, Jeff Kolose said that:

  [r]esearching these questions is not merely an academic questions, helping us catalog instances of science fiction’s presentation of the life issues, for answering them may help us determine not only how to respond to, but also how to prevent attacks on human life (Kolose, 2005).

  It means that the literary works might be the way to criticize our life. If we see our circumstances, we find that the free sex is done, many babies who are abandoned by their parents for they were born outside the marriage and even many of them are born with the HIV-AIDS disease in their body. Moreover, the killing people seems to be usual news in the mass media. Jeff Kolose hopes that by his research, we are not only aware of this matter nor saying easily, “Well, it is miserable but it doesn’t matter as long as not involve my life”, but also try to prevent it happened started from our surrounding.

  Some literary works such us George Orwell’s 1984, Aldous Huxley’s

  

Brave New World , Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, Lois Lowry’s The

  and M.T. Anderson’s Feed, were analyzed together in Lauren L. Reber’s

  Giver

  work (2005) as been submitted to the Faculty of Brigham Young University. The rhetorical approach which had been established by Wayne Booth in The Rhetoric

  

of Fiction and The Company We Keep, were used to examine the problems in the

  thesis to know ‘the reasons for the inclusion of hope and the strategies by which hope is created and maintained’ (Reber, 2005). The approach saw the novel as the

  The Giver was taken as one of the examples in this paper because of its

  ambiguous ending. It is said that ‘Lowry’s novel is a perfect exploration of the centrality of audience’ because ‘[t]he ambiguity of the story allows the reader to exercise freedom in creating his or her own sense of closure’ (Reber, 2005). The closure that Jonas and Gabriel is kept alive –just get faint– or died depends on our interpretation. In the other hand, as the author, Lois can make the readers feel what the condition in the novel, especially, Jonas’ feelings. It is an understandable thesis which done by Lauren L. Reber.

  In Children's Literature in Education, Vol. 29, No. 2, 1998, Barbara A. Lehman and Patricia R. Crook were trying something different with other works as had been found related to this study. They were comparing between a novel,

  

The Giver , and a picture book entitled We are All in the Dumps with Jack and

Guy , by focusing in its themes, language, symbols, and structure. It states that the

  theme of the works is about the children, We are All in the Dumps with Jack and

  

Guy described the children as ‘the society’s victims’ who later ‘they save

  themselves and create their own “family”’ while The Giver described them as the children with ‘idealized childhood’ which its ‘child protagonist decides to save his community from a life devoid of decision making or human emotion, the language of The Giver is ‘doublespeak and lies’ which is wrap in the system of ‘precise language’ that must be used by the community of The Giver while ‘the rhymes of We Are All in the Dumps actually have no particular meaning or else very different meanings with other interpretations’ and the symbols in We Are All

  

in the Dumps and The Giver is merely the same but they have an antonyms meaning –the good meaning of The Giver and the bad meaning of We Are All in

  

the Dumps -. They also talked about the difference of ‘the circular narrative’

  structure in both works (Lehman: 1998). It is shown by this work that children can have different personality in order to face on the condition of their life.

  It is an interesting discussion written in this work. By comparing between the novel and the picture book, we can analyze and learn many things from it.

  Moreover, the idea of comparing between the novel and the picture book makes it more interesting to be read.

  Jennifer Schröder in her webpage entitled The Conception of Adolescence

  

in Lois Lowry’s The Giver rewrote what had been discussed in The Seminar

Fictions of Adolescence in American Literature which was held by Prof. Isensee

  during the summer semester 2005 for the students of the Institute for British and American Studies at Humboldt University, Berlin, during the summer semester 2005. It discussed about the maturity of the society in The Giver. As has been written by Jennifer Schröder in her webpage, the topics of the seminar are divided into 5 subtopics with History, Innocence, Eden & Utopia as the introduction. The subtopics are ‘the community’, ‘Jonas’ –as the main character–, ‘the initiation’ and the relationship between ‘the adolescence and fiction’ (Schröder: 2005).

  This event seemed interesting to be followed and the writing in Schröder’s webpage was interested to be read. It seems that this work is analyzed from the psychological side for it was revealed that the adult people in this society were mentally considered as children. It had been stated as seen in the following quotation:

  Jonas’s community also shows some qualities that symbolize childhood instead of adulthood (Schröder: 2005). The situations they face in are the situations which never get sad, know the disaster and so on. Their life is just like a baby or a child who knows nothing about significant problems that can make them exhausted for their life. It is said that their initiation to reach ‘whole adulthood’ was begun suddenly after being abandoned by Jonas.

  The discussion written in the webpage is easy to understand. In addition, each subtopic of this seminar was explained in detail so we can understand ‘the conception of adolescence in Lois Lowry’s The Giver’.

  New Social Orders: Reconceptualising Family and Community in Utopian

Fiction (2005) is different from other works that have been reviewed in this

  chapter because it is not discussing about The Giver but other Lois Lowry’s novels, which are the second and the third sequel of it –in this work they were said as ‘loosely connected trilogy’–, Gathering Blue and Messenger, and several novels, which are considered as the futuristic setting novels and ‘the refugee novels’.

  Both kinds of novels have different concept of making a family with our conception to make family in nuclear family and gather in extended family. While the families in The Giver was made by applying to the Committee of Elders and each of them considered as nuclear family, which are same with our conception, although they were not biological family, it was not so with the family in these novels. that ‘family structure can be used to model forms of cultural hegemony’, Kerry Mallan, Clare Bradford and John Stephens come to the final conclusion that ‘[i]f the family is the cradle of the future, then we need to be alert to the hand that rocks the cradle’ (Mallan, 2005). In another way, it can be said that our future is depended on the way we treat and care of our children and shape their personality in spending their life.

  As said before that The Giver has been studied by many people, the writer also found in some thesis which studied the same novel at Sanata Dharma University Library. They are three undergraduate papers which examined the problems’ found in The Giver. Pranathalia Bondan Prasnorirni’s thesis which is completed in 2004 is analyzing the intrinsic element of theme, character and setting. Against the Utopian Mentality: The Importance of History and

  

Individualism as a Social Critique toward the United States of America as Seen in

Lois Lowry’s The Giver by Aryo Swastika Nugroho (2005) tells about the social

  critique for America which is represented by The Giver. The third thesis was found is The Importance of Memory Relating to Jonas’ Self Actualization through

  

Jonas’ Characteristics in Lois Lowry’s The Giver by Yoseph Hary Wibowo

  (2008) which analyzed how the role of memory in Jonas characteristics is important so that he can make a certain self actualization.

  The topics of the above papers are very interesting and this thesis will not argue those conclusions which had been made by them. The aim of this study is just to reveal what kind of Utopian idea of society in the novel written by Lois Lowry as known by the society of The Giver, whether the concept known by these people were presented the characteristic of the Utopian society as what has been said by Jon Will in his book, Ultimate Philosophy, or not.

B. Review of Related Theories

  There are three theories used to help in answering the problem formulations and to accomplish the understanding of this thesis. They are the theory of setting, the theory of society in the novel and the theory of Utopian philosophy.

1. Theory of Setting

  Setting is commonly described as time and place of a story such as has been said by several experts such us Robert Stanton, Sylvan Barnet, William Burto, William E. Cain, Hans P. Guth, Gabriele L. Rico, X. J Kennedy, Dana Giola, Addison Wesley, Richard Abcrarian, Marvin Klotz, and Peter Ricardson.

  Stanton states ’the visible background’ or the place that we can see such us the store in Canada, the boutique in Paris, etc, and ‘the climate, or the historical period’ are some parts of setting (Stanton, 1965: 18). Kennedy said that place of a story ‘includes the physical environment’ (e. g: the mountain, the river, the house, even the room) while the time includes ‘hour, year, or century’ (Kennedy, 1999: 92).

  These opinions are as we learned at school about setting. We are also taught that setting is merely about time and place, but when learning deeper about the setting it is found that it is not so simply to say that a setting is the place and the time which novel occurred.

  As read in Drs. Sunaryo Basuki Koesnosoebroto, M. A’s book, The

  

Anatomy of Prose Fiction , some experts statement which quoted in his book have

  their own way to show the deeper meanings of the setting. These experts are Connolly, Elisabeth Bowen, Marjorie Boulton, Lostracco and Wilkerson.

  Connolly said that the setting also involves ‘the concrete situation’, it is not just the time and the place of the character lives but also moment or situation that involves the character. Elisabeth Bowen added that setting is also the ‘scene’. It means that setting also relates to everything which describe the environment around the character. Marjorie Boulton states that the setting:

  …refer(s) to the whole environment: the country, district, urban or occupational groups, buildings, diet, family patterns, religions, politics, moral assumptions, intellectual and cultural life, education, amusements, standard of living and so on (Koesnosoebroto, 1988: 79).

  While Lostracco and Wilkerson examined that: [S]etting refers to the conditions or total environment – – physical, emotional, economic, political, social, and psychological – – in which characters live (Koesnosoebroto, 1988: 79). Both quotations have same statement that setting involves all things surrounding the character. These things are related each other to shape a particular setting of a novel. For the example, the existence of ‘buildings’ in the society related with ‘occupational groups’ which can shape the condition of ‘intellectual and cultural life’ and consider as the ‘social’ condition of the society. The ‘social’ condition is also related to the ‘political’ condition in order to know the ‘standard of living’ in the society, the ‘moral assumption’ of the society and so on.

  Lostracco and Wilkerson said that the setting is derived into two varieties. They are the general setting and the specific one. The general setting is usually east part of the United States in the last of century. The specific setting is described in exact place and time, e. g: This story is happened at Texas in 1954 (Koesnosoebroto, 1988: 80).

  It is concluded that setting involves not just ‘geographical setting’, but also ‘the time’ and ‘the social situation’ happened in the story (Abcrarian, 1998: 5). It is also stated in Hans P. Guth that:

  A story creates its own world. It takes us to a setting in space and in time. In a successful story, that place becomes a small universe of its own, consistent in itself (Guth, 1997: 35).

  It means that to shape or form a particular setting, we cannot separating each of them -the political condition, the social condition, the economic condition, etc.-.

  The intention is each of them cannot be discussed without involving the others to understand the thing that we want to analyze.

  M. H. Abrams states that setting involves ‘the general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which its action occurs’ (Abrams, 1985: 192). It strengthens the idea that setting is more complicated than just the place and time of a story. Moreover, it also strengthens the theory of setting that setting is about the ‘whole environment’ (Koesnosoebroto, 1988: 79).

  For the setting can be described ‘through descriptive passages’ as what Robert Stanton states (1965: 18), it leads to Richard Gill’s statement in Mastering that:

  English Literature

  A word is necessary on just how broad a term ‘setting’ is. It can be used to cover:  the places in which characters appear  the social context of characters, such us their families, friends and class  the customs, beliefs and rules of behaviour that give identity to a society

   the atmosphere, mood and feel that all the above elements create.

  (Gill, 1995: 148) As one of the intrinsic elements of a story, setting is always related to other elements such us characters, plot, theme, etc. it can be the device for the author to reveal what their idea or ‘their views about the world’, although it can ‘create a distinctive world’ of its own reality (Gill, 1995: 153, 154).

  2. Theory of Society in the Novel

  According to Elisabeth Langland in Society in the Novel, learning the society in the novel is just as learning the society in real world. It deals with a community and their relationships in daily life in all situations (Langland, 1984: 4). It is also stated that: