The Importance Of Memory In The Movie The Giver

A famous quote by Haruki Murakami says “memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.” I never expected this quote to be so real until I watched ‘The Giver’ directed by Philip Noyce. The movie introduces a society faced with a calamity referred to as The Ruin. Due to the calamity, the community is organized into a different series where all the memories and color visions are held by one person called the Receiver of memory. All the other members of the society have no emotions, and they all lead a similar life with no competition. Jonas is appointed the receiver of memory, and he acquires them from the Giver. After Jonas receives the memories, he realizes that his community is living an empty life and he releases the memories and color vision back to them to help them lead meaningful lives. Memory is important in the lives of individuals as it determines the kind of lives they lead. The paper will prove the importance of memory by proving how its absence hurt Jona’s community and how its presence changed their lives for the better.

The Importance of Memory

            The absence of memory shapes the perspective of individuals towards life. Torkel in his article on the importance of working memory stated that ”the remembrance of individuals is the filing system of their brains (Torkel 320).” In a similar perspective when Jona’s community decided to eliminate all their reminiscence, they forgot other crucial aspects of life such as pain, pleasure, love, and hatred because they had eliminated the filing system of their brains. As such, the members of the society seized engaging in relationships and activities that would allow them to experience conflict, suffering or anything that would make them nostalgic about the things they went had given up to enjoy total peace and harmony. The society during Jona’s time also seized to view life as a major issue, and they were quick to ‘release’ individuals who failed to conform to the standards set in the community. New children and the elderly were quick to be released into elsewhere. Due to the lack of memory, the members of the community did not understand the aspect of love and how crucial every person is in the society. Furthermore, they do not feel saddened by death because they had lost memory of how much the demise of an individual could hurt their lives. They had acquired a care-free perspective towards life and failed to see the interrelation between life matters. In fact, the Giver stated ” Everything is connected, everything is a balance. With good, there is always bad (Noyce).” The people of Jona’s community had failed to understand this perspective of life.

            Memory can change how individuals lead their lives. In his article, Barker states that ”life passes in moments if time where an action happens (Barker).” The people of Jona’s community preferred a planned and organized life into a meaningful one characterized by love, hatred, and forgiveness. They forgot that they were living life in the organization they were seeking daily. As such, the citizens were quick to release any individual who seemed not to obey the set rules and regulations. Before the giver handed the memories to Jona, he stated ” Memories are not just about the past. The determine our future. You can change things. You can make things better (Noyce).”When Jona released their memories back to them, he was able to save his best friend, Fiona, and his father from death. The society understood the importance of love and demonstrating forgiveness which they could not understand previously when the Giver attempted to explain to them using memories from his daughter. The return of their reminiscence helped them understand the need for family, celebrations, love, disagreements, and forgiveness which makes life meaningful. The memories helped the people comprehend that the moments they were continually taking for granted was what was shaping their daily lives and they were now ready to take more meaningful actions.

Conclusion

            The audience of the movie must understand how to utilize the memory of their past to ensure they lead better lives in the present and future. The meaningless lives that the people in Jona’s community lived when they did not have is a reflection of the individuals who do not consider the lessons they learned in the past when making present-day decisions. Memories also help the audience of the movie to understand the importance of the presence of specific people in their lives and the need to forgive them because they may long for them when death or loss of memory attacks them. Memory is crucial in guiding the lives of individuals and helping them make right decisions about the choices they face daily.

Works Cited

Barker, Paul. The Importance of Memory. 29 May 2011. Web. 6 March 2018. .

The Giver. Dir. Phillip Noyce. 2014. Web.

Torkel, Klingberg. ”Training and Plasticity of Working Memory.“Trends in Cognitive Sciences 14.7 (2010): 317-324. Print.