Both Lois Lowry's The Giver and Paolo Bacigalupi's “Pop Squad” address the regulation of reproductive rights to encourage a better future for the society . Although both of these regulations differ in terms of enforcement and level of restriction, both succeed in promoting society's beliefs and needs. In The Giver, sexuality, or Stirrings, is repressed through the use of drugs. Sexual desire is also repressed through love control and partner selection, limiting the risk of sexual activity. In “Pop Squad” only reproduction is prohibited. Even outside the law, the social perception of reproduction functions as an additional persuasive factor. Although reproduction is prohibited, sexual activity is permitted. However, romantic relationships tend to focus less on commitment due to longevity of life, which ultimately changes how and why people in "Pop Squad" love. Reproduction regulation alters how people love and consequently keeps their respected societies selfish. As self-preservation, rather than selfless love, prevails, it becomes easier to manipulate individuals. It is only when the protagonists of their respected stories know love that they choose to rebel for the good of others. By controlling sex, reproduction and love, rebellion is less likely to exist as following order benefits the individual more. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Sexual feelings, or stirrings, are repressed in The Giver through the use of daily medications. This pill is desired by those in power, transmitted through the President to remind young people that “UNRESTS MUST BE REPORTED IN ORDER TO CARRY OUT TREATMENT” (Lowry 47). By preventing citizens from experiencing sexual desire, they are controlled in several ways. First and foremost, this prevents an unexpected pregnancy from occurring. This allows the council to control the population. This also prevents intentional non-Vessel births, ensuring that citizens do not become attached to their biological children. By limiting sexual desire, the legal advisor is able to easily control the relationships of citizens who no longer feel desire for desire for a particular person. By removing sexual desire, the council is able to create an easily manipulated society. Drugs are also used in “Pop Squad” to prevent reproduction in citizens. This drug, rejoo, is the substance used by society to achieve eternal life. Contains a contraceptive supplement to prevent a population boom due to their large population. Apart from this functional purpose, it also helps the government to control its citizens. First, by having rejoo and birth control together, those who choose to have children will age and eventually die, gradually eliminating them from society and making them less of a problem. Furthermore, since the vast majority of the population does not have children, they have no dependents to worry about. This causes citizens to think primarily about their own well-being rather than worrying about the well-being of others. This ensures that people follow the rules as it is more beneficial to obey the law than to make the world different for another person. The life-extending properties of rejoo, along with its birth prevention, regulate and discourage births in society. Romantic relationships do not exist in The Giver. To eliminate pain, allemotions have been removed from the population. This prevents people from feeling love for another. Furthermore, the social norm has prevented people from choosing their life partner. Partners are not selected by individuals for their compatible personalities but simply for the same desire to help raise a child. These situations help prevent committed relationships from forming. These are not lovers, but business partners, working to form functional members of society. This relationship is strictly professional. Due to the lack of personal commitment between partners, their motivations remain selfish. Although they are willing to help raise their children, their lack of emotional ties to each other prevents altruistic decisions from being made. This discourages individuals from rebelling as it is more advantageous to follow the order. Relationships in "Pop Squad" are formed personally, although, due to the longevity of life, it is implied that they do not last forever. During an interaction between the narrator and his fiancée she comments “'If we didn't live forever, I would marry you'” (Bacigalupi 144). This implies that because of eternal life, marriages and long-term relationships are no longer considered the norm. There is a limited need or desire for long, committed relationships due to the permanence of life. It seems to be an accepted fact that relationships probably won't last forever and are simply a short-term arrangement. This public acknowledgment of a relationship almost certainly destined to end reinforces self-preservation in the character's life. It is more beneficial for a character to care about their own needs rather than those of their partner since they probably won't be with this person forever. Due to the nature of a selfish and uncommitted society, people are unlikely to act in ways that benefit others while harming their own desires. Knowing that your partner will likely be replaced later in life limits the depth of love you feel towards that person. Neither Alice nor the narrator directly express love for each other. While it is clear that they value each other, the established temporary nature of their relationship prevents either from sacrificing their desires or morals for the other. This selfishness prevents people from rebelling to benefit their partners since it is easier and more accepted to find another person to share their life with than to support reproduction. The parent/child relationships in The Giver are also a fabrication of community. Children are born from Community Vessels and assigned to families to which they have no biological attachment. This helps prevent the formation of biological love and attachment within a family. Just as Jonas' parents don't love each other, they don't love their children. When the Giver introduces Jonas to the emotion of love, he wonders if his parents love him. His parents not only laugh at Jonas for this question, but attempt to convince him that love is “meaningless” (Lowry 127). Just as distance between spouses prevents altruistic acts that benefit others, the same logic applies here too. Because parents do not possess a biological instinct to protect their children, they are less likely to take action in an attempt to do what is best for their children. For example, Jonas' father is aware that he must release Gabriel, his technical son, and will do so when the time comes. If he had loved Gabriel, his father would have neglected his duties as a nurturer to protect him. He feels no love towards Gabriel or the need to protect him: he does what is best for the community because it is what he believes is right. Children are keptaway from their biological parents to prevent a love-driven rebellion. The mother-son relationships in “Pop Squad” are significantly more passionate than those in The Giver. First, simply giving birth to a child presents a great deal of risk that mothers are willing to take for the sake of their children. These mothers are aware that what they do is a crime. They are willing to risk their eternal life to bring a new one into the world. Additionally, mothers experience a primal, instinctive reaction to the arrival of pop teams. In the case where the narrator kills the child in front of his mother, he is devastated by calling the narrator “a bastard and a murderer and a bastard and an ape man and a fucking pig” (Bacigalupi 149). It is a rambling of passionate emotions, unable to control one's feelings. There is a striking difference from Jonas' father's reaction to killing Gabriel. While this mother is horrified at having to witness her son's death, Jonas' father is content with the idea of ​​killing what is essentially his adopted son. Parental love is clearly shown in “Pop Squad” through the mothers' emotional reactions. Both protagonists begin to rebel once they experience or witness a forbidden form of love within their societies. When Jonas learns about love from the Giver, he begins to experience it, particularly towards Gabriel, recognizing that "[t]here could be love" (Lowry 129). Jonas develops love for Gabriel and shows it when he attempts to save Gabriel from being released. Jonas, who once wanted to blend in only with his peers, rebels against the committee's wishes to protect Gabriel. This shows the exact risks that Jonas' parents are not willing to take for each other or their children. While most in The Giver's world are concerned with following the rules for the sake of self-preservation, Jonas is able to identify that Gabriel's needs are more important than preserving his role as a model citizen and does what he can to do so. helps save Gabriel's life. When Jonas discovers love, he begins to rebel. It is shortly after Jonas stops taking the pill that he decides to go against the lawyer's wishes. Jonas longs to experience real emotions as he does through the memories he receives from the Giver. It is when Jonas' sexual feelings are no longer repressed that he chooses to rebel against order and give memories and emotions to everyone in the city. These forbidden stirrings provide Jonas with raw emotions that he experiences for himself and not through the Giver. By choosing to experience sexual desire, Jonas takes the first step towards rebellion. He chooses to feel all the emotions rather than follow the rules put in place, almost leading him to neglect all the rules. The narrator of "Pop Squad" also neglects his duties as an officer when he is presented with parental love. After tracking down a young woman he finds in a toy store, the narrator meets her and her daughter Melanie. Even though he intends to shoot the little girl, he cannot do so because the mother is holding her. This is a physical example of the love that protects the child. The mother's embrace prevents the narrator from shooting the child and allows enough time to pique the narrator's interest. She witnesses many natural acts of love between Melanie and her mother: breastfeeding, playing, and the mother's overwhelming desire to protect her daughter. Witnessing the mother's innate need to protect her child inevitably leads the narrator to choose not to kill Melanie and arrest her mother. While his act of rebellion is small, it speaks volumes. In contrast to his previous encounters between mother and son, simply walk away from the situation.