[ SECRET POST #1981 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1981 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 68 secrets from Secret Submission Post #283.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I am trying really hard to prove you wrong, and I can't. I always got the idea it was a very small society, but you're right that the population would dwindle and, because of the one child of each gender rule (I may be misremembering that) and heterosexual nuclear families, there can be no way for there to be a gender disparity that allows for population growth. The gender ratio, however, doesn't have to be 50/50: families are allowed a maximum of two children, which means they're allowed to have only one.

The most ridiculous thing, though, is the three-year period the Birthmothers have before they become Laborers. This necessitates at least one new Birthmother every three years, which is a huge turnover rate. You have to have a huge portion of the female population be unsuitable for anything but hard labor. So why are you stopping at three children? You're screwing yourself over. I'm not positive, but I don't think there's anything saying that the Birthmothers can't start a family unit once they become Laborers. If they can't, then you need a higher female birth rate than male just to supply a female for every male in a family unit. I dunno, it's just a really interesting dilemma. You'd think Lowry would have thought it through better.

[(Anonymous)]

Wow, I think I muddled that. Basically:

1 male for every female=family unit
Family unit can have a maximum of one male and one female child

HOWEVER, gender disparity can exist and does necessarily exist IF Birthmothers do not create family units as Laborers, in which case there must be as many females as males PLUS current and former Birthmothers. In this case, the three children may very well be a controlled two female children and one male child per every Birthmother. So it could work if the Birthmothers/female Laborers make up a disproportionately large part of the population.

[spicandspan89.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that seems plausible. Plus, since the Giver outright states that hair colour can be controlled (they were trying to eliminate red hair IIRC - no idea why), choosing the gender of the babies would be a piece of cake.

[velvet_mace]

You are right. If you select for gender (though here I think if you are selecting for gender, why are you allowing twins at all?) you can pull the ratio down to half of all female children being designated breeders instead of 2/3rds. But that still means that 33 percent of your society (all female) is this underclass that is later punished for the crime of making the next generation possible by being sent to the most menial labor without the benefit of the happy family unit. The number of births is still a problem. You have to factor in some attrition for accidents and whatnot. And this means that your basic family unit should be three not two. One male and two female, one of which will ultimately become a parent and the other will become a breeder.

And having twice as many female children than male children aught to have some implications in society.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, my explanation's not a great one. I was actually thinking Birthmothers were chosen for having no above-average skill. There aren't a whole lot of jobs in the Giver's world, and Laborers are absolutely vital. A lot depends on Laborers, who deliver food, do the physical work of building, and probably tons of other things like garbage disposal, gardening, food preparation, and housework. You don't need a ton of doctors, lawyers, and firefighters if the society is small enough. You do need someone to do all the grunt work. I wouldn't call that punishment any more than I would call working in the service industry or a shipyard punishment. It's not glamorous, but it's a necessary job (I've worked in the food service industry for several years and there are definitely people who make it a livelihood). The default, then, is Birthmother/Laborer. The girl who is chosen to be a Birthmother in Jonas' year was noted to be dim-witted, iirc.

I was thinking that the families that only care for one child would almost always be assigned a girl. There's certainly still the issue of too many children, too few parents in that case, but that problem already exists with the family units that only care for one child.