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Do you believe we should celebrate our sameness or our diversity

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Family units are a lot like regular family units before you grow up, but after, like in your 20's.  The book describes he/she growing farther apart from your family like they don't have feelings, or just cared for you because they had to. In reality, families spend time throughout their lives with each other, strengthening bonds, and even sharing memories.nally, I believe that families are better than family units because families have closer bonds instead of order.  What do you think it would be like if you lived in a family unit?  Nick S.

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What if you don't like the person you are paired with? Being stuck with an annoying, rude person till you are an elder would drive me insane.

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I am reading this now...I suggest you re-focus your posts on the actual questions.... Not happy about the mess we've made here. 

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I am reading this now...I suggest you re-focus your posts on the actual questions.... Not happy about the mess we've made here. 

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If there are only 50 newborn children every year...

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If there are only 50 newborn children every year...

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There are only 50 children born every year. How do they control the amount of boys and girls that are born each year, so that they can keep them even? I am also confused on how the society can actually function with so little amounts of people. - Caleb J.

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I think that the rituals are as close to "family love" as the community can allow them without causing problems like divorces or cheating. A family unit has some basic feelings like "enjoyment." A family should not be controlled completely by the government, as these units are. A family should love one another because they want to, and not be forced to live with each other. This family units are just units, not family. I was wondering why they don't let people choose their family? What caused the government/ Elders to be so strict.
R. Beach

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The rituals are something that wouldn't appeal to anyone. You would have no privacy and since they are trying to make them a little more independent but, its not helping only making them less independent and more reliant on the adults. Then they become one and they still don't understand how to live on there own so they kinda just wink it but soon as the generations go on thy will get less and less independent so it will just back fire anyway

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I do think that the family rituals are helpful to make the families bond as much as possible. They aren't real families but the bonding could help get it closer to the real thing, also how would the families not love each other? I get if the parents don't but for the kids it's the only thing they know. The children probably do love their parents because they are still the ones who raised them even if they weren't the birth parents. -Georgia F

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I believe that family units are not a good thing because it is forcing a relationship.   Relationships are supposed to be natural not forced.  Although the characters in this story seem to get along with their parents i don't think it is as good of relationship as it could be if it was natural.  When it is forced you don't have a choice and you don't have that bond that you get with a blood relative.

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Family units are the Community's version of a real family. People are assigned spouses and children, so they aren't genetically connected. They use rituals to share feelings and dreams, which is most likely supposed to make them closer as a family. I think that they are not really a true family, because they don't have true feelings for each other. They enjoy each other's company and get along, but that could be said for anyone in the Community. Why does each family need to have exactly two kids?

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I think they took love away because that could cause people to make bad choices or get hurt. I think they are trying to make everyone absolutely perfect, and make people in the community  not have bad feelings, or get hurt.I think the family rituals are good because if you aren't actually a family by blood, rituals could help you understand their feelings. It can create bonding time and it would help you to get to know your family better. Although, since family units are chosen for you, and you aren't actually family, I think it's defeating the purpose of even having a family. I think the parents should be able to choose thier kids, or have them, and choose their names. I personally don't think family units are sufficent. - Grace D

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I don't think the family units are a good thing nor a bad thing. Since they can't have emotions and fall in love with each other, it's not exactly forcing a relationship but it's close. Since none of the family units have ever had more than 2 girls and 2  boys in the house, nobody can really feel like they want to change that. They all seem content with what they have because that's what's known. Assigning marriages and children isn't good, but some culture today have it like that.
The rituals are probably put in place so that they can bond. And again, since they don't have normal human emotions they can't know the sense of real family.

(G.Hale)

Should the community be able to choose their own spouses?

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Why do you guys think they took love away from all these people? What do you think caused this?

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Why do you guys think they took love away from all these people? What do you think caused this?

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I'm slightly perplexed by this whole "Family Unit" Thing. It seems unnatural. Just going off of the fact that they call it a "Unit," it seems like we are talking about a troop or a section of a math textbook. I don't really know if the members of this unit could every truly love and feel for one another, for they take pills to prevent feelings. The marriage portion of the unit is probably the most natural. There are a lot of arranged marriages, even today. However, the arrangers do not (I may be wrong for some cultures) put two people together because they would be good for each other, unlike in The Giver. That feature of the arranged marriages in The Giver is good. The daily ritual brings the families closer because they are giving each other support and really giving each other their full attention. (For the most part) Overall, the family unit is just plain weird.
~Annie Fischer
What would happen if the parents don't like each other? Are there divorces in this society?

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The rituals are probably put in place so that they can bond. And again, since they don't have normal human emotions they can't know the sense of real family. 

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-What do you think of the “family unit” within this unique community? How do their daily ritualsen hance the close bond between family members?

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-What do you think of the “family unit” within this unique community? How do their daily ritualsen hance the close bond between family members?

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SUMMARY (in your own words answer all parts of the question above)
OPINION (at least 2 sentences giving your own opinion on the content in the question)
QUESTION (pose a question to the group about the topic - at least 1 sentence)

REPLY (you must read and reply to one of the questions someone else posed to the group. Click reply at the bottom of his or her post and use his or her name in your answer his or her question in at least 2 sentences

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1.	What do you think of the “family unit” within this unique community?  How do their daily rituals enhance the close bond between family members? 

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1.	What do you think of the “family unit” within this unique community?  How do their daily rituals enhance the close bond between family members? 