A euphemism is a word used in place of another word.
Usually, a euphemism is used to use another word for a less pleasant word. There are
many euphemisms in The Giver. I would argue that the most
significant one is Release. Release sounds like a nice
simple thing, but it really means that someone is killed. Connected to release is the
euphemism Elsewhere, which essentially means death. By
contrast, Loss means unintentional
death.
You can identify the euphemisms because they are
unusual words or words not used as we would use them. For example,
Stirrings is a euphemism for sexual feelings. Usually,
they are capitalized.
Other euphemisms:
Community (dystopic world where everyone is tightly
controlled), discomfort (confusion of any
kind), Mother (female caretaker),
Father (male caretaker), Elder
(people in charge), Nurturer (cares for babies),
Receiver (stores the community’s memories),
Giver (transmits memory to the Receiver), each of the years
(Ones, Two,
Twelve and so on, there are 12 of these),
Precision of language (telling the truth), the
Old (elderly people waiting for release), Childless Adults
(adults not currently raising children), Replacement Child
(a child that the family takes after a loss), Feelings
(emotions to be suppressed), Animals (rough people or
imaginary creatures), Comfort
Object (stuffed animals),
Newchild (baby, under the age of one, who has no name),
Apology (public contrition).
No comments:
Post a Comment