Choices in The Giver

In "The Giver," the people are not allowed to make choices of their own. Their lives are organized and everything is pre-planned for them. The choice of where to volunteer to fulfull their hours is an exception. I thought it was a little strange that this was the only decision they were allowed to make for themselves. If everything else was decided for them, why let them have this one choice? I assumed it meant that volunteering could not be tampered with. This should be done out of free will and not be forced. That is the the whole concept behind volunteer work.

At first, Jonas liked the idea of everything being planned and carefully decided for him. He did not understand why anyone would want to leave this community behind. Since all the choices and decisions were carefully thought out and made for the people, they did not have to worry about making wrong choices or mistakes. This was another way to enforce the concept of sameness in this community. Sometimes, I would rather others make decisions for me because they are too hard to make by myself, but I always want the last say. I ask my friends and family for advice on how to approach something and then I decide if that's the way I want to go or not. I could never give over full control of my decisions and choices to anyone.