Archtype entry on the Giver

I think that, in The Giver, the shadow is the idea of perfection. The shadow is defined as the thing/character, that is the heroes main enemy. 

Release for one, is a potentially perfect idea of a new, happy, life in elsewhere, while in actuallity, to the few that know it, it is an unnecessary death.  Someone is released when they either, commit 3 major breaches against the rules, like a death penalty, for the old, when they whish to, or reach to old, they can apply for release or will be released, and the realease also goes for imperfect newborns, or twins.

no emotions or choices keeps everyone safe and content without war famine or anything humanity can bring on itself, but also stops love, individuality, and pain, for you can't be happy without sadness, it stops experience and growth. 


To keep everything perfect isn't possible, for there must be complete control, which of course leads to corruption.  With release one way and forced un - individuality the next it is not perfection which leads to a distopic hidden hell hole where a utopia is supposed to lie, it is the tempting desire to make perfect and to seize total control to do it, in essence, one of humanities main values, to make perfect, is one of our most frightening, in our desire to better everything we see, we strip it of everything it was, without our control, loosing its individuality. 

Jonas is used to, and in the begining, somewhat unwilling to release the idea of perfection, however he does, when he realizes what human nature has done to all that was, and he never thought to notice it, or realize it was wrong.