The Importance of Emotions

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The Importance of Emotions

Jeremy Sullivan

English 420

June 1, 2011



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The use of Birthmothers is one way the society is stripped of emotion. The gift of

bringing new life into the world is seen as a job. To compound the situation, it is not a

glamorous job because once the mothers give birth to three children they are

reassigned as Laborers. All births are the result of artificial insemination making the

process clinical and emotionless. Mates, couples that have been paired by the society

to create a family unit, apply for a child. They have no biological or emotional

attachment to the children.

Another example of the society¶s lack of emotion is the process of releasing

citizens. If a child is deemed unruly or odd or an elderly citizen is getting too old they are

released, which Jonas comes to learn means euthanized. Once the Giver begins to give

Jonas memories Jonas begins to feel genuine emotion. His emotions for the baby

Gabriel are what propel him to leave the community towards the end of the novel. He

cannot bare the thought of Gabriel being euthanized and is disgusted that his family,

especially his father who is Gabriel¶s Nurturer, is complacent in the matter.

After the introduction of emotion into Jonas¶s life, he is unable to function in the

society. He is unable to share anything he has learned or seen with others because

they lack the basic understanding of even the simplest of emotions. Jonas cannot

imagine life without the many emotions he now feels because of the memories given to

him. This innate need to feel combines with Jonas¶s desire to save Gabriel and results

in his leaving the community never to return.

Vonnegut¶s ³Harrison Bergeron´ is set in a similarly dystopian society where all

people are equal. To achieve equality, all emotions are suppressed and anyone with

above average talent, skills, intellect, or beauty is forced to wear ³handicaps´ that limit



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the ability or hide the beauty. The entire story is about George and Hazel Bergeron

watching television. Anytime George has an independent thought or an emotion about

his son who is in prison his ears are filled with terrible noises as punishment for the

thought and as a deterrent to any continuation of the thought process.

All of the assigned handicaps cripple George and Hazel¶s emotions. This

becomes quite evident after they witness the Handicapper General shoot their son on

television for taking off his handicaps and showing how truly remarkable his looks and

talents are. George comes back into the room and comments that Hazel has been

crying. However, Hazel cannot say why she is crying. The fact that she just witnessed

her son being killed obviously registered for a moment but then dissipated. She

remembers that it had something to do with, ³something real sad on television´

(Vonnegut). George instructs her to, ³forget sad things,´ and she replies, ³I always do.´

The Bergeron¶s absence of emotion has made them shells of human beings.

Ross¶s Pleasantville provides excellent supplemental material for the unit.

Breaking up the reading portion of the unit with a film is a great way to re-ignite student

interest. Pleasantville¶s depiction of awakened emotion is in direct correlation with the

themes presented in The Giver and ³Harrison Bergeron.´ David and Jennifer are

transported into a 1958 black-and-white sitcom. At first the community seems idyllic.

However, it becomes apparent to David and Jennifer that the community lacks any try

emotion. Through David and Jennifer¶s actions, members of the community begin to feel

and change. As this happens, colors begin to appear. At first people are afraid of the

color. However, as more and more people begin to feel emotion the color begins to take

over. By learning to truly feel genuine strong emotions themselves, David and Jennifer



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are able to grow. The town¶s mayor tries to do what he can to stop these changes.

However, he eventually gets so angry that he too becomes ³colored.´ After witnessing

the positive changes to the community brought on by emotion, Jennifer decides to stay

while David chooses to return to the present.

3. Pairing Activities and Examples

³Harrison Bergeron´ should be used as an activation exercise to introduce

students to the unit. After the class has read the story aloud the class should get into

smaller groups and look for examples of emotion in the story. They should locate the

two times that Hazel is crying and the many times that George¶s radio handicap goes off

in his ear. Then the discussion should transition into an examination of the pros and

cons of a world where everyone is equal and no one feels emotions. Students should

relate the examples in the story to their own lives. How would they feel if they did not

have emotions but were ³equal´ to everyone else? Would they be willing to give up the

emotions of love and happiness in order to never feel sadness or betrayal? The

discussion should reach the conclusion that emotions are essential to human beings.

Without them, we are no longer truly human.

Following the examination of ³Harrison Bergeron,´ the class should read The

Giver. After the students have read the first three chapters, they should compare the

society presented in The Giver to the world of the Bergerons. This should be done

through double-entry journals in which the students write characteristics of each society

on either side of a page with a line drawn down the center. The entries should provide

examples of how the two societies are similar and different. An example of a difference



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would be that Jonas¶s society doesn¶t require everyone to wear handicaps to become

equal. They are assigned roles that play to their strengths. An example of a similarity

would be the control that the society leaders have over the community¶s emotions and

words.

As the students continue to read The Giver they should be mapping out the

changes in Jonas in a writing log. After Jonas begins to receive memories he begins to

feel separated from the community. One activity for the students to explore this sense of

isolation is to have the students describe the color green (or any other color) to the

class knowing that the class had no knowledge of colors or emotions. The perfect place

in the novel for this activity is after chapter twelve when Jonas learns about the color

red. One by one have the students attempt to describe the color. If they mention

anything related to an emotion or other color a bell should be rung to signal that they

are disqualified. Following the activity, the class should discuss how it felt to not be able

to communicate with the class. The different emotions and frustrations should be

documented on the board to be referred back to as Jonas continues to receive

memories and his feeling of isolation grows.

The metaphor of colors as emotions continues throughout the book. The last time

Jonas sees the Giver, the Giver says, ³You have the colors...you have the courage´

(157). The colors that Jonas now sees are the physical manifestation of the emotions

that he now feels. After Jonas has left the community and is starving, he begins to doubt

his choice to leave. However, he realizes that if he had stayed he would have, ³lived a

life hungry for feelings, for color, for love´ (173). Again, color is synonymous with

emotion. Students should take the many different emotions that they feel and



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brainstorm about what color properly represents that emotion. Following the

brainstorming activity, they should choose one emotion and explain why the color they

have chosen is symbolic of the emotion. This writing assignment should be at least a

paragraph long. For example, if a student were using yellow to represent happiness

they should make personal connections to the color yellow. Did they have a yellow toy

that made them happy when they were little? Does the yellow remind them of how the

sun provides warmth and happy summer activities?

This color activity should directly precede the watching of Pleasantville. Students

should be instructed to take note of the role color and emotions play in the plot of the

movie. Discussion questions should include why did it take longer for some people to

become ³colored´ than others? Why were the town fathers so scared of colors? Was life

happier with or without color? Once a person had experienced color is it possible for

them to return to the life they had before? This last question should be directly tied into

a comparison between Jonas and the townspeople of Pleasantville. The townspeople

cannot go back to the way things were before just as Jonas could not live in the

community once he felt emotions and had the memories of life as it was supposed to

be.

The final activity for the unit should be an essay arguing the importance of

emotion. The students should incorporate all three works into their final paper.

Examples should include George and Hazel¶s half-life existence in a world of equals

and their inability to feel emotion after witnessing the brutal death of their son, the

changes and maturity Jonas goes through as he begins to feel emotions that were

mapped out in their writing logs throughout the book, and the positive changes to the



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people of Pleasantville after they went from two-dimensional black-and-white characters

to colorful three dimensional characters with real emotion. Students would be required

to address the last line of The Giver, which states, ³Behind him, across vast distances of

space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps

it was only an echo´ (179). They can either take the stance that Jonas¶s community now

has the memories are better off or that the community does not have the memories or

emotions and is just an echo of what human beings are supposed to be.

4. Conclusion

Teenagers face a multitude of emotions every day. Only by acknowledging these

emotions and learning how to deal with them can young adults, or anyone for that

matter, know how to responsibly live their lives to the fullest. The Giver, ³Harrison

Bergeron,´ and Pleasantville provide three different examples of the importance of

emotions. By examining the different representations of this theme in the three works

students will be better prepared to recognize the various emotions that they feel and

translate those emotions into productive and beneficial relationships and lives.



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Works Cited

Lowry, Lois. The Giver . New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 2002. Print.

Nilsen, Alleen P. and Kenneth L. Donelson. Literature for Today's Young Adults. New

York: Longman, 2001. Print.

Pleasantville. Dir. Gary Ross. Larger Than Life, 1998. Film.

Vonnegut, Kurt. "Harrison Bergeron." Nexuslearning.net . Web. 15 Apr. 2011.

The Importance of Emotions

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