The novels The Giver by Lois Lowry and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury are both very similar and are set in futuristic dystopian societies. In The Giver, the twelve-year-old protagonist, Jonas, is given his life assignment during the Ceremony of Twelve. Jonas becomes the Receiver of Memory, shared only by one other in his community, and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives. Similarly, in Fahrenheit 451 the main character Guy Montag recognizes how horrible and empty his community is. He is a firefighter in a community where all books are banned. His job is to set fire to houses containing books. Guy loved his job until he met a professor who told him about a future where people could think. Suddenly he realizes that there is something he must do. Both Jonas and Montag live in highly disciplined societies that depend on effective means of enforcing rules through punitive acts. The conflict between the power of the individual and the power structures of communities suggests that radical, but positive, social change may be possible through courageous acts of resistance. Beneath the surface of order and identity in both communities lies a vast web of social discipline. In The Giver, citizens are spatially distributed based on their life stage. For example, newborns live together in the Nurturing Center, children and adults live together in families, and older adults live together in the Elderly Home. Furthermore, power structures control activities in order to encourage those that are beneficial to society and those that are considered counterproductive. Therefore, the children's lives are strictly regulated by their defined jobs and participation in... the midst of the paper... war, Montag and his new friends return to the community to rescue the survivors and rebuild a new, improved civilization. The conflict between the power of the individual and the power structures of both communities in The Giver and Fahrenheit 451 results in undeniably hopeful endings. Works Cited Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine Books, 1953. Print.Hanson, Carter F. “The Utopian Function of Memory in Lois Lowr'ys The Giver.” Extrapolation.50. (2009): 46. Web. November 29, 2011. Latham, Don. "Childhood Under Siege: Counting the Stars and Lois Lowry's Donor." Lion and the Unicorn. 26. (2002): 13. Web. November 29, 2011. Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Laurel Leaf Books, 2002. Print.Smolla, Rodney A. “The Life of the Mind and a Life of Meaning: Reflections on Fahrenheit 451.” Review of Michigan law. 107. (2009): 898. Web. 29 November. 2011.