Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 12:47 am
Strangely enough, looking up "Jonas" on Wikipedia brings up the result for the main character in the Lois Lowry book, "The Giver". The only reason I find it intriguing is for the following passage about the plot:
"Children are born to designated "birthmothers" and then distributed, one boy and one girl per family, in order to achieve balance in the population. After family units have served the purpose of raising the children in a stable environment, they cease to exist, the parents going to a communal housing facility for childless adults, and the children becoming involved in their work and starting monogenerational families of their own. The community maintains this process using pills which suppress emotion, mainly romantic love and sexuality.
The community is run by a Council of Elders that assigns each 12-year-old the job he or she will perform for the rest of his or her life. People are bound by an extensive set of rules touching every aspect of life, which if violated would require a simple but somewhat ceremonious apology.
The "Ceremony of Release" recurs throughout, becoming more ominous as more details are revealed. The people of Jonas' community believe that those Released are sent "Elsewhere," probably to another community. Jonas eventually discovers that "release" is actually euthanasia."
Granted, I doubt it has ANYTHING to do with the Breeniverse (as I don't think the Creators are unintuitive and would just borrow a book's plot)...but the fact that it draws quite a few similarities is kinda creepy.
"Children are born to designated "birthmothers" and then distributed, one boy and one girl per family, in order to achieve balance in the population. After family units have served the purpose of raising the children in a stable environment, they cease to exist, the parents going to a communal housing facility for childless adults, and the children becoming involved in their work and starting monogenerational families of their own. The community maintains this process using pills which suppress emotion, mainly romantic love and sexuality.
The community is run by a Council of Elders that assigns each 12-year-old the job he or she will perform for the rest of his or her life. People are bound by an extensive set of rules touching every aspect of life, which if violated would require a simple but somewhat ceremonious apology.
The "Ceremony of Release" recurs throughout, becoming more ominous as more details are revealed. The people of Jonas' community believe that those Released are sent "Elsewhere," probably to another community. Jonas eventually discovers that "release" is actually euthanasia."
Granted, I doubt it has ANYTHING to do with the Breeniverse (as I don't think the Creators are unintuitive and would just borrow a book's plot)...but the fact that it draws quite a few similarities is kinda creepy.
