기억 전수자 에 그려진 공동체의 언어 통제와 조나스의 언어 재생

The Language Control in the Community of The Giver and Jonas’s Resuscitation of Language

This essay examines the specific ways in which language is used as a means of dominance and manipulation in the dystopian community in Lois Lowry’s The Giver. Focusing specifically on the process by which Jonas uncovers hidden meanings of the keyword, “release,” and finally restores its original meaning, this essay contends that what is suppressed and stifled through the community’s language control is none other than human life. Among many examples that illustrate how the community’s manipulation of language has prevented its members from understanding the sanctity of human life as well as the depth of human feelings, the word, ‘release’ is of particular significance because it carefully conceals the concept of death. After realizing that ‘release’ actually means euthanasia, infanticide, and execution in his community, Jonas embarks on a journey to Elsewhere in order to save Gabriel from the terrible fate of ‘release.’ By granting him an opportunity to experience “starving” and thereby resuscitate both figurative and literal dimensions of the word, ‘death,’ the journey helps him separate “death” from ‘release.’ Through this process, Jonas not only achieves his own release from his community but also releases human life from the deathly power of the community’s language control.