precision of languange
October 4, 2006“Do you love me?”
There was an awkward silence for a moment. Then Father gave a little chuckle. “Jonas. You, of all people. Precision of language, please!”
“What do you mean?” Jonas asked. Amusement was not at all what he had anticipated.
“Your father means that you used a very generalized word, so meaningless that it’s become almost obsolete,” his mother explained carefully.
“And of course our community can’t function smoothly if people don’t use precise language. You could ask, ‘Do you enjoy me?’ The answer is ‘Yes,’” his mother said.
“Or,” his father suggested, “‘Do you take pride in my accomplisments?; And the answer is wholeheartedly ‘Yes’”
“Do you understand why it’s inappropriate to use a word like ‘love’?”
Jonas’s world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain, or even a past. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. In this community, every person and his or her experience are precisely the same. The climate is controlled, and competition has been eliminated in favor of a community in which everyone works only for the common good. But underneath the placid calm of this society lies a very orderly and inexorable system of euthanasia, practiced on the very young who do not conform, and elderly, and those whose errors threaten the stability of the community.
Lois Lowry was able to create an alternate world by having the community use words in a special way. Though the world stresses what it calls “precision of language”, in fact it is built upon language that is not precise but deliberately clouds meaning (as you can see on the sample paragraph above.)
This is a different kind of book. I suggest everyone to read it and you will realize a whole new meaning of life and living it.
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17 irksome years and counting. frustrated guitarist. former vocalist. procrastinator. sarcasm jar. master crammer. sadistic. angst-ridden. bookworm. music lover. mischievous. naughty. professional liar. digital arts and design student. mapuan never a malayan. loves spongebob. ely buendia. brandon boyd. ice cream. isaw. cappucino. coffee experience. marlboro lights. bananas. and the word banana itself. hates backstabbers. perverts. loves listening to opm. walang kamatayang eraserheads. spongecola. urbandub. sugarfree. sandwich. kamikazee. parokya ni edgar. i. am. taken.
peace!
