Desire Destroyed

Here is Anna's submission on The Giver. Anna is a long-distance member of Mommy Salon, joining us from Utah (correct me if I'm wrong!). Thanks Anna!

I thought The Giver was all about taking away choices at first. But there was still choice in the community, it was just very, very limited. When sharing their feelings around the dinner table, Jonas' mother was frightened for a man who was brought to the Department of Justice for the 2nd time. She says, "You know that there's no third chance. The rules say that if there's a third transgression, he simply has to be released." (p. 9) This man was choosing, to some degree, to disobey the rules. The "Sameness" did take away choices, yes, but more fundamentally than that, I believe, it took away desire.

I think it comes back to the idea that their desires were suppressed. Rather than learning to channel their desires, they went to "Sameness" and desires were destroyed. "Our divinely granted willpower gives us control over our desires, but it may take many years for us to educate them to the point that they are entirely righteous." (Elder Oaks, BYU Devotional, 8 October 1985) It seems to be that "back and back and back," those who brought on the "Sameness" realized that they could not perfectly "educate" the desires of the people. They figured the only way to solve problems of unrighteous desires was to take desire away.
In a lecture given at Stanford by Rene Girard, he talks about mimetic desire, meaning that our desires come based on relationships with others. He used the example of women baring their navels. They don't just decide one day that it would be less hot if they showed their midriffs. They saw someone else, thought it was fashionable, or smart, or whatever, and desired to do the same.

We must believe this principle to an extent because our leaders advise us against pornographic, sensual or violent entertainment, instead encouraging us to seek after whatever is "virtuous, lovely, of good report, or praiseworthy". For the Strength of Youth states "Whatever you read, listen to, or look at has an effect on you. Therefore, choose only entertainment and media that uplift you. Good entertainment will help you to have good thoughts and make righteous choices." So in Jonas' community—if one person could not keep desire within the proper bounds, they would not be the only one affected. Every other person in the community would be affected.

Jonas showed signs of wanting, of desiring. After learning of so many different colors, he spoke to the Giver, "I want to wake up in the morning and decide things! A blue tunic, or a red one?" It wasn't just the choosing that was important here, but the wanting. He didn't want to choose his tunic color until he knew that he could! Of course, there is the example of the "stirrings" also. "Jonas thought about [his dream]. The details were murky and vague. But the feelings were clear, and flooded him again now as he thought. 'The wanting,' he said. 'I knew that she wouldn't. And I think I knew that she shouldn't. But I wanted it so terribly. I could feel the wanting all through me." (p. 36) Later, after taking the pill, "Jonas felt oddly proud to have joined those who took the pills. For a moment, though, he remembered the dream again. The dream had felt pleasurable. Though the feelings were confused, he thought that he had liked the feelings that his mother had called Stirrings. He remembered that upon waking, he had wanted to feel the Stirrings again. Then, in the same way that his own dwelling slipped away behind him as he rounded a corner on his bicycle, the dream slipped away from his thoughts. Very briefly, a little guiltily, he tried to grasp it back. But the feelings had disappeared. The Stirrings were gone." (p. 38)

Of course, desire and choice are closely linked. Desiring things leads us to make choices. But Elder Oaks makes a clear distinction, "God judges us not only for our acts, but also for the desires of our hearts. This is not surprising, for agency and accountability are eternal principles. We exercise our free agency not only by what we do, but also by what we decide, or will, or desire. We are therefore accountable for the desires of our hearts." (BYU Devotional 8 October 1985) So, in a world where plenty of things–good and evil—are begging for our desires, how can we be sure to desire good?

I am not going to attempt to answer that question, but just something to think about…