The community members have chosen Sameness over individuality and security over freedom, both major themes in the novel. Until the age of twelve, each peer group is called by its age — for example, Fives, Sevens, Elevens — and must abide by established rules regarding appropriate clothing, haircuts, and behavior for each particular age group. Every child in a peer group looks the same. Everyone and everything are predictable day after day, year after year, thereby ensuring the false sense of security that people in the community have chosen over the freedoms to think and act for themselves. Jonas' community is not a utopia; it's a dystopia, a place that appears to be perfect but really is not.
Lowry gives us the illusion that the people living in the community are acting as individuals rather than as robots. For example, when Jonas' father breaks a rule by checking a list to see what name an infant, who is not sleeping soundly or developing as quickly as he should, will be given at the naming ceremony, Jonas is awed. He can't imagine his father breaking a rule, especially because fathers are expected to exhibit model behavior for their children, and if citizens are caught breaking the rules, they are punished. If someone breaks the rules and is caught three times, the offender's punishment on the third offense is release from the community.
