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Naser Almutairi
English 113B
Project Text
The Pros and Cons of Diversity

Lois Lowrys, The Giver, is a frightening account of what can happen when a controlling
government is allowed to do what is wants without much consequences. The story is told through
the perspective of Jonas, the twelve-year-old protagonist who is selected to become the Receiver
of Memory. As the Receiver of Memory, Jonas has access to memories before Sameness, the
term used to describe the communitys efforts to eliminate any diversity in favor of order and
equality. Lowrys novel is fiction, but the scenarios can easily be applied to countries around the
world since there are many which have fought to preserve their sameness, or homogeneity, while
others have been more open to immigrants and the multiculturalism that these immigrants bring.
People who support preserving a countrys homogeneity state that there are fewer problems in
the society since everyone shares the same background, culture, and language. On the other
hand, people who favor multiculturalism state that different cultures enrich a society by adding
new ideas and making unique contributions. Even though the two sides do not agree with each
other, diversity is preferable to sameness since a diverse population is more tolerant and fair,
challenges governments to rethink unjust policies, and brings new ideas to a society that can
make it better.
While conversing with The Giver, Jonas learns that, as the Receiver of Memory, he will
have to advise the Committee of Elders when they face a problem that they cannot resolve. The
Committee Elders do not call on the Receiver of Memory very often, however, which causes The
Giver to declare that he wishes that they would change. But they dont want to change. Life

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here is so orderly, so predictable so painless. Its what theyve chosen (103). To reach this
predictability and painlessness, diversity has been eliminated, and all people who were different
were sent to Elsewhere which is a place outside of the community. The order and predictability
in the community makes life easier since people do not have to worry about lifes problems and
know that what happened yesterday will be the same that happens today and tomorrow. Keeping
up the order and predictability is not easy though, and toward the end of the book Jonas watches
as his father kills an innocent baby just because the baby is an identical twin and would cause
confusion in the community. If there was more diversity in the community, Jonass father would
not have killed that baby since the community would have been used to seeing different people.
The scene with Jonass father shows that the loss of diversity is not worthwhile since diversity
teaches tolerance which outweighs predictability and painlessness. Still, diversity can lead to
other problems as written about by Bloemraad, Kortewag, and Youdakul who point to a recent
study that suggests that greater ethno-racial diversity correlates with lower social trust which
could lead to problems that might not as great as those in Jonass community, but still disrupt
order and increase tension. When people from diverse backgrounds live in one society, there is
going to be some tension since people have different worldviews and will not agree on all the
issues affecting society. But these problems can be overcome, and even Bloemraad, Kortewag,
and Youdakul write that state action might mitigate [the] effects (162) of lower social mistrust.
For the effects of lower social trust to be mitigated, the state will have to work toward creating
policies that are more inclusive and do not punish people for being different. Justice for all must
become a part of the society, and social equality needs to be reinforced so that all people feel
valued and do not become bitter from being excluded. Old policies that might have promoted
racism, discrimination, or the exclusion of one group, will also have to be overturned so that

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society can move forward and incidents like the one with Jonass father, although extreme, can
be avoided.
With polices in place that promote justice and social equality, various racial and ethnic
groups can work together to continue to improve society. In Jonass community, people who are
different are never given a chance to contribute to the society because they are immediately sent
away. Those who were released even as newchildren were sent Elsewhere and never
returned to the community, (43) the narrator says as Jonas thinks about his fathers job. Sending
people to Elsewhere is analogous to deporting people because they are different which has
happened many times throughout history. Instead of deporting people for being different, people
need to be recognized in terms of their own identity and various bindings so they will feel
accepted and therefore identity more with the society in which they live. Creating space for
diversity and allowing peopleto live their identity may often be a good strategy for
encouraging people to connect (Levrau and Loobuyck, 104).
In Lowrys novel Diversity is not valued, but rejected, leading to an intolerant society that
promotes unjust policies and does destroys human capital that could make it a better place to
live. For the Elders, the advantages of sameness outweigh those associated with diversity.
Stepping back and looking at Jonass community shows that the Elders, instead of being wise,
are foolish, since their decisions have made their community worse. In real-world communities,
diversity is socially rewarding, but to reap these rewards governments and citizens must work
together to make sure that there is justice and equality. When this justice and equality is reached,
the country will be better off and its citizens will be happier as they see their quality of life
improve.
Works Cited

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Levrau, Franois, and Patrick Loobuyck. "Is Multiculturalism Bad for Social Cohesion and
Redistribution?" The Political Quarterly, 84.1 (2013): 101-109.
Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Dell-Laurel Leaf, 1993. Print.
Bloemraad, Irene, Anna Korteweg, and Gke Yurdakul. "Citizenship and Immigration:
Multiculturalism, Assimilation, and Challenges to the Nation-State." Annual Review of
Sociology, 34.1 (2008): 153-179. Print.