Carter and Sadie: Their Unjust Life

                In The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan the story begins and injustice has already taken place.  Carter and Sadie, the main characters¸ are siblings who barely know each other. Before the story begins; their mother has died and Carter lives with their dad and Sadie with their grandparents.  For kids this is unfair, they have neither their mother’s love nor sibling support. Rick Riordan has set them up for a tough life.  As the book goes on more injustices unravel for Carter and Sadie.

            As if it is not bad enough to lose one parent, Carter and Sadie also lose their dad.  While doing a ritual their dad vanishes.  Set, an evil Egyptian god, was the one who causes this injustice against Carter and Sadie.  The ritual that their dad was performing was supposed to restore justice to the family.  When Set makes their dad disappear it makes the kids suffer another injustice.

            For Carter and Sadie the injustices continue.  They are questioned by an inspector from Scotland Yard about the disappearance of their father.  The inspector wanted to question them separately so that their stories would not affect each other.  Even though they were questioned separately they both gave the same account of what happened.  The inspector did not believe them; he felt that they were just telling a story, that their father could not have just vanished into the floor.  As a result they got deported.

            Imagine being a kid that lost both your parents and gets deported from where you live.  You now have no immediate family, except for the sibling you barely know.  You have no home to live in and you know nobody where you are going.  Would you feel the world was unjust?

Village a Place For Everyone

            Some might think that the communities of The Giver and Gathering Blue were ideal societies, but in Messenger the society is more realistic and closer to perfection because of its differences.  Village, the community of Messenger, is the land of “misfits”.  They were not really “misfits”, but they were welcomed in this community.  The people of Village aren’t really “misfits” but they are examples of differences among people.  Messenger shows how painful prejudice can be and shows how many people can accept their differences and thrive.

            In some societies people aren’t accepted because of physical appearances.  An example of this is the mentor, Village’s school teacher, has a birthmark.  Also Seer, the man who is from Matty’s community and the one who took him in, was beaten by people from his community because they were jealous of him.  Village took care of him and took him in when his community wouldn’t because he was left blind.  Both of them are important to Village in spite of their physical differences.

             Some communities don’t have a place for everybody.  Matty was a free spirited kid who was often seen as a trouble maker by his community.  In Messenger he plays an important role by delivering messages from his community to other communities.  He one day hopes to get his true name as messenger.  Jonas, the leader of Village, lives there because he escaped his village with Gabe, his “brother”.  He didn’t think his role in the other community was fair.  Jonas had to keep all the memories of the community’s past and he didn’t think it was fair that every one didn’t get to experience the memories.  When he escaped from the community all the memories would go back to the people and he did this knowing he would never be able to return.  Both Jonas and Matty who didn’t fit in their own community found a place in Village.

            The best example of accepting differences in others might be the village accepting Gabe. His previous community was going to release him because he wasn’t developing normally.  Village is accepting him even though at the age of 8 he is still learning how to speak.  Gabe’s disability didn’t make him a misfit in Village, but just a member with a difference.

            Village is an open minded place for everyone.  No one in the Village is a misfit because of differences.  Accepting our own differences and the differences of other will make a perfect society.

The Giver: The Mentor

            In Lois Lowry’s The Giver, the Giver is the mentor.  The mentor helps, trains or teaches a hero.  The Giver has held the memories of the world’s past and he is the only one who has these memories.  These memories include war, love, loneliness, the ability to make decisions, seeing color and weather.  Life in this community is very structured and the people living in the community don’t know any other way to live so they are happy.  The old receiver gives the memories to the new carefully selected new receiver and if the receiver leaves the community all the memories will go back to the community.

            The Giver received all the memories of the world many years ago, and is now responsible to give the memories to the new Receiver.  During the Ceremony of the Twelves, Jonas was told he was selected to be the new Receiver.  Jonas must report to the Giver right after school and go back to his dwelling right after his training.  Jonas received the memories of the world little by little from the Giver.

            The Giver is a mentor to Jonas because he helps him receive the world’s memories.  The Giver trains Jonas by first introducing pleasant memories like snow, sled rides and sunlight.  As time passes, Jonas wants to accept the more painful memories and the Giver transfers them.  Jonas now had memories of the world beyond the community that included feelings, color and war.  Jonas realizes this could be the way of life for everyone but doesn’t know how to make that happen.  The Giver explains how the last receiver couldn’t handle the memories and chose not to be the next Receiver.  When she was released all the memories she had were released back into the community.  The Giver helped Jonas make a plan for Jonas’ escape so that the memories would be released into the community.  Since the Giver helps Jonas give the memories back to the community, he is the mentor.