Similarities

The future is always looked to with hope and expectation of technology and other advances. However, dystopian literature points out how good things can go drastically wrong (although The Giver isn't typically categorized as such, there are enough similarities to qualify it). There tend to be many similarities that authors put into their novels. The trash receptacles is one example. In both Fahrenheit 451 and The Giver (as well as other novels), there is a wonderful trash receptacle readily available to keep the society clean and orderly. This seems like a great concept and somehow you get the impression that this is the solution for our waste issue (go green!). Aside from the fact that burning actually releases toxins and other pollutants into the atmosphere, there are downfalls to such a simple system. Blindly, the civilians in Fahrenheit 451 promptly destroy materials without thinking, to the point that books have become prohibited. In a similar manner, the father in The Giver simply follows his directive and not only places but pushes the body of the infant into the receptacle. Although I am not promoting littering, it seems to be when the choice is removed, individuals no longer think about what they are doing. Habits are hard to break, but become impossible without thinking about it. The trash receptacle was created in response to littering and to break the bad habit of littering. Yet, the true issue would have been correcting the way people think about trash in the first place.
What other symbols and tools are repeated in the novels? Why? What are the pros and cons of each?