“The books that the world calls immoral are the ones that show the world its own shame,” famous author Oscar Wilde once said. In Lois Lowry's controversial young adult novel The Giver, twelve-year-old protagonist Jonas lives in a dystopian world in which the citizens of the community have their careers, spouses, and children chosen for them by elders. The Community is dominated by the concept of sameness where individuality, emotion and color do not exist. In fact, everyone has the same birthday. Once children reach the age of twelve, their career path is assigned to them. Jonas learns that he is selected to become the Receiver of Memory, an honorary role, as they call it. The receiver is the person who holds all the memories, good and bad, in order to maintain identity in the community; in short; the receiver carries the burden of emotions and memories for everyone. The former Receiver, now known as the Giver, gives Jonas memories of pain and hope, loss and love during his training, which changes the way Jonas views his community. During its training, readers are confronted with conflicts of euthanasia, sexuality, and suicide that parents and schools find too inappropriate and immoral for their children, leading The Giver to become the eleventh most challenged book of the 1990s from the American Library Association ("A Book on Suicide Contested in Schools"). Many things in the world are considered inhumane. In the novel, there is a process known as "liberation." Only later in the novel does Jonas watch a recorded tape of his foster father "freeing" the weaker of the twin babies. Like other citizens, Jonas imagines "being liberated" as the pleasant notion of being transferred to... middle of paper...... the book is often called immoral and inappropriate, it does not is supposed to do nothing but show the world its own shame. Works Cited Baldassarro, R. Wolf. “Raising Banned Books: The Giver by Lois Lowry. " World. March 27, 2011. the web. April 3, 2014. “The Giver.” Dangerous books. May 1, 2008. the web. April 3, 2014. Lowry, Lois. The Giver. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. Print. Munley, Kyle. “Banned Books Week: The Giver.” Suvudu. September 30, 2010. the web. April 3, 2014. Ouvrard-Prettol, Elsa. “Banned Books Week 2013: Defending the Giver by Lois Lowry.” Librarian's Toolkit for Teens. September 23, 2013. the web. April 5, 2014. Sova, Dawn B. Literature suppressed for social reasons. 3rd ed. New York: Facts on File, 2011. Web. EBSCOHost. April 6, 2014. “A book on suicide contested in schools.” The United States Today. July 20, 2001. The web. April 4 2014.