Messenger by Lois Lowry
Messenger is the third in the series of The Giver, and Gathering Blue. Messenger combines the characters from Giver and Blue about 7 years since the end of the other two books in the series. I enjoyed reading this book, hopefully it’ll show in this response.
One of the main themes in Messenger is how greed (which is unavoidable) can corrupt people, and lead to the loss of ones real self. This unavoidable thing called greed can lead to the loss of ones real self. Messenger starts off with a utopia of a sort in the form of a tight-knit community-village. The constant flow of wanderers coming to the community are all fully accepted by the kind villagers. It’s a dream situation, one that a lot of people in the world long for. I started to cringe when this book started moving, and the community started to corrupt. A feeling of hopelessness arose in my head, it was sort of depressing in a way.
I really liked the way that the other two books came together in this one. I smiled when I recognized Jonas from The Giver. The main character, Matty is from Gathering Blue. Lois Lowry did a fairly good job integrating the characters.
Lois Lowry might’ve gotten the utopian-to-hell scenario from real world examples, although I doubt it. She doesn’t seem like a writer that would write about that. The people that started to corrupt the community were originally very nice people. Trading is a desirable thing in the village, if not a bit dangerous. The wiser people frown down on trading, because they know what it can do to an individual. Trading and the selfishness that arose from it is how the rebellion started. The traders, overcome by their greed were so desperate for the things that they wanted that they sold their inner selves to the tradesmen! The way the transformation happens within these people is really interesting. As soon as they sell their inner selves, their body starts to transform, they lose their slight posture disfunction. It's all really metaphorical.
You can find this example anywhere in the world! For instance, you have a very happy person who encounters the greedy powers of money. He then spends his whole life collecting it, ignoring himself and everyone around him if he doesn’t watch out for himself in the first place. This ignorance of life is most problems arise in the real world. The strive for getting rid of one's bodily imperfections could also relate to this. Each persons body is unique to to themselves, and say they have an unsightly birthmark that they want to get rid of. It's part of them, no matter how important. It might now matter to much, but it's still something to think about.
I also can become like the selfish people in Messenger, although I usually get out of that rut. Say I’m enjoying a regular evening, reading, talking with people, and playing video games. Those are all pretty good things to do, but sometimes if there’s a distraction that attracts my lower self, which is more instinctual and sadly, easier to go towards. Let’s say I get caught up in my ego by thinking about my image, and doing things to help it. If I half-consciously choose to go down this path to hell the only hope of getting back to reality is to make a conscious choice to come back. It’s really hard sometimes, but pays off in the end.
Out of the three books in this trilogy, I would say this one closely rivals The Giver. It's a lot cleaner, quicker and better written than Gathering Blue. It kept my attention steadily throughout it. I really recommend you read this series, Lois Lowry is an extraordinary author.
One of the main themes in Messenger is how greed (which is unavoidable) can corrupt people, and lead to the loss of ones real self. This unavoidable thing called greed can lead to the loss of ones real self. Messenger starts off with a utopia of a sort in the form of a tight-knit community-village. The constant flow of wanderers coming to the community are all fully accepted by the kind villagers. It’s a dream situation, one that a lot of people in the world long for. I started to cringe when this book started moving, and the community started to corrupt. A feeling of hopelessness arose in my head, it was sort of depressing in a way.
I really liked the way that the other two books came together in this one. I smiled when I recognized Jonas from The Giver. The main character, Matty is from Gathering Blue. Lois Lowry did a fairly good job integrating the characters.
Lois Lowry might’ve gotten the utopian-to-hell scenario from real world examples, although I doubt it. She doesn’t seem like a writer that would write about that. The people that started to corrupt the community were originally very nice people. Trading is a desirable thing in the village, if not a bit dangerous. The wiser people frown down on trading, because they know what it can do to an individual. Trading and the selfishness that arose from it is how the rebellion started. The traders, overcome by their greed were so desperate for the things that they wanted that they sold their inner selves to the tradesmen! The way the transformation happens within these people is really interesting. As soon as they sell their inner selves, their body starts to transform, they lose their slight posture disfunction. It's all really metaphorical.
You can find this example anywhere in the world! For instance, you have a very happy person who encounters the greedy powers of money. He then spends his whole life collecting it, ignoring himself and everyone around him if he doesn’t watch out for himself in the first place. This ignorance of life is most problems arise in the real world. The strive for getting rid of one's bodily imperfections could also relate to this. Each persons body is unique to to themselves, and say they have an unsightly birthmark that they want to get rid of. It's part of them, no matter how important. It might now matter to much, but it's still something to think about.
I also can become like the selfish people in Messenger, although I usually get out of that rut. Say I’m enjoying a regular evening, reading, talking with people, and playing video games. Those are all pretty good things to do, but sometimes if there’s a distraction that attracts my lower self, which is more instinctual and sadly, easier to go towards. Let’s say I get caught up in my ego by thinking about my image, and doing things to help it. If I half-consciously choose to go down this path to hell the only hope of getting back to reality is to make a conscious choice to come back. It’s really hard sometimes, but pays off in the end.
Out of the three books in this trilogy, I would say this one closely rivals The Giver. It's a lot cleaner, quicker and better written than Gathering Blue. It kept my attention steadily throughout it. I really recommend you read this series, Lois Lowry is an extraordinary author.
posted by featheredtar at Saturday, April 30, 2005
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