We think that our lives are complicated and full of challenges, but imagine if our lives were decided by someone else. If there were no mistakes or no ways to differentiate between people or objects, we would have no choice or say in things. In a world of “Sameness” and predictability, a young male is chosen for an important job in his community. The utopian community that he lives in has erased all memories of emotions. Jonas is 11, soon to be 12 which is considered an upcoming adult in the community. At the Ceremony of Twelve, the 11’s are given their jobs assigned by The Elders. Things become tense when Jonas has been skipped during the ceremony. At the end of the ceremony, he is selected Receiver of Memory, which is one of the most important …show more content…
At the beginning Jonas is naive because he is brought in a world of sameness, but as he receives the memories he gains a sense of diversity. The community is a place where mistakes are not acceptable; everything has to be perfect. Jonas is different but, his difference is useful to the community. When Jonas is named the Receiver of Memory, he experiences the life before sameness. “Jonas learned, through the memories, the names of colors; and now he began to see them all” (122). His gift is part of the reason why he was selected the Receiver of Memory. Without his mentor helping him to learn about and use his gift, life would still be colorless, but now he could see the world in a broader and brighter perspective. Although his job requires him to be secretive and alone, Jonas explores the world outside of the community through the memories that the Giver gives to him. Some of the memories are delightful. “He could smell things cooking, and heard soft laughter.” (154). Jonas experiences the presence of love, family, and Christmas through this memory. Some memories allow you to learn the truth. “His father loaded the carton containing the body into the chute and gave it a shove. Bye-bye, little guy.” (188). Prior to watching his father perform a release, Jonas thought a release was something amazing. He learned that a release is truly murder and he felt betrayed by his father and deceived by the people whom he calls the Elders of the community. When he realized that everyone was being manipulated, he began to create a plan to escape the community so that everyone could have the
Jonas, the protagonist, is assigned the job of holding memories for the community. This is so that not everyone has to experience sad or painful memories. The Giver's job is to transmit these memories to Jonas and, in doing so, reveals the wonders of love, and family, and pain, and sorrow to this young boy. Jonas begins to resent the rules of sameness and wants to share these joys with his community. After receiving his first memory, Jonas says, "I wish we had those things, still." (p. 84)
What are memories to you? In the book The Giver, by Lois Lowry. There is a boy his name is Jonas. He is the Receiver of Memories. Jonas experiences the memories over the course of the book. Memories help us understand there are consequences to your actions. Although some readers may believe that memories are not important. The memories Jonas had helped him with the journey at the end of the book.
Without memories, nobody can make the right decision, which will lead to a bad choice. Without memories, one cannot shape his or her future. In addition, when Jonas describes the pain he feel when experiencing a sunburn when, “‘It hurts a lot,’ Jonas said, ‘but I’m glad you gave it to me. It was interesting,”(Lowry 86). This quote show that Jonas does not understand
During Jonas’s selection to become the next Receiver of Memory, the Chief Elder states that the previous selection was a failure. When Jonas questions his parents about the results of the previous selection, they inform him that “[they] never saw her again (Lowry 85)” and they do not know what happened to her. As well as being informed of a failure in the past, Jonas’s rules state that he is not allowed to apply for medication related to his training or release. These clues hint that Jonas will suffer to the point that he may want to apply for release or there is a chance that he will fail. Later in his training, Jonas experiences memories of pain and suffering, such as injury, war, and hunger.
Jonas decides to leave and change the lives of his people so that they can experience the truth. “The Giver rubbed Jonas’s hunched shoulders… We’ll make a plan” (155). Their plan involves leaving sameness and heading to Elsewhere, where Jonas knows the memories can be released to the people. He has a connection with Gabe, a special child who has experienced the memories, unlike the rest of the community. Jonas has a strong love for Gabe, and he longs to give him a better life. “We’re almost there, Gabriel” (178). Even with a sprained ankle, Jonas keeps pushing forward because he wants everyone to experience what The Giver has given him. He wants them to have a life where the truth is exposed. His determination allows him to make a change for a greater future in his community. This proves that Jonas has the strength to change his community for the
He starts to believe that a world of sameness where no one can decide or make choices for themselves is boring. Lois Lowry is warning readers that living in a world of sameness is not something to create as it is boring and dull, but if the world follows conformity and does not value diversity and difference enough, society could become that of Jonas’s. When he turns twelve, his job for the rest of his life is decided as the Receiver. His job is to receive all the memories the previous Receiver has held on to. While this is beneficial for Jonas as he is able to leave the society and his job of the Receiver behind and get freedom, the community is left without someone to take the memories from The Giver.
So all the memories everyone had from the past has now created a world that is today, enjoyable. “Call me the Giver.” (Lowry 110). Quoted by the only old man who holds all the memories from years and years of the past to give to the new Receiver, which is Jonas. It is not just the happiness of past memories holding on throughout lives. But pain is the biggest part of memory that anyone will have to endure. It is not just the mental pain we suffer through, it also could have a pain in the physical body and mind that the elderly man had to be tortured with throughout his life. Lois Lowry is a powerful writer inflicting and teaching in the minds of all and how most important and delicate memory is in the novel, The Giver, and how it must not be forgotten or fade away as it will determine your future and fill the gaps of mistakes individuals have
In an early discussion with the Giver, Jonas concludes that "`We really have to protect people from wrong choices... [It's] much safer'" (99). However, it is with the progression of his training as Receiver of Memories that Jonas learns the impact of the sacrifices his community makes. After receiving a memory of a family celebrating together, Jonas speculates with the Giver about the emotional potential of the situation. He contemplates "`The family in the memory seemed... complete...
The main protagonist is a young boy named Jonas, living in a utopian community, which, at first glance, seems like an ideal place to live. In this society each birthday celebration has its own distinct rights of passage and privileges. Each age group has distinct expectations of behavior and responsibilities to the community. Infractions of expectations carry extreme shame and might even lead to being “released to elsewhere” from the community. Jonas is a well-behaved young boy who follows the guidelines without thinking about them. We first meet Jonas when he is eleven and apprehensive about his upcoming 12th birthday. This birthday will determine what his life’s work will be within the community. The community is lead by a group of elders and it is the elders who determine what jobs each 12 year old will have. The children have no word or input into their jobs, they must accept whatever is decided for them. In his ceremony of twelve, Jonas is surprised to learn that he has been picked to be Receiver of Memories in training, a unique and prestigious position.
Tones of gray are all I see. Movement of the floor is the alarm that stirs me awake. It goes off at 4:00 am every morning, every day. Heading down a marble staircase in a washed out grey cardigan that everyone wears daily, I grab of what is called an apple and bite into it. An announcement always goes off throughout the day as a reminder, an event coming up, or a warning to the citizens. People watch us with cameras, it’s their jobs to track everyone’s movement since the day you were born to the day you die. Soldiers patrol around so no one can become disobedient. Life is perfect, no mistakes are made. Then one day I realized this lifestyle is unfair. How is it unfair if everything is perfect? Sameness is a rule that is unreasonable and the lack of privacy since we are monitored.
Imagine, not having any knowledge of the past and having no feelings for one another. Someone would just be living in a fake life and someone’s parents wouldn’t even love them. A world where someone takes a pill to have no feelings, too many rules, and if someone did something that they were not suppose to do, someone would have to be on a speaker and tell everyone what they have done. To have no free will and do everything that the Elders tell you, but exactly what you want, which would to be free. No freedom seems a little off to me, in spite that it does help the society from all the pain. There is no, war, music, love, color or suffering. Except for the 11, soon to be 12 year old boy, Jonas since he is the one with the memories. Jonas and the Giver were chosen because they are strong people who can take all the memories in, no matter how bad it is. It must be hard to have one person keep all the memories for themselves and not be allowed to tell anyone, but it is his job though, so he can’t or he will be released because the Elders control everything. Someone must be able to live life the way they want it, knowing memories, and history. Which brings attention to my next point.
The Giver takes place in the future in a place that the people call community, the community is isolated from the rest of the world. It is protected by a boundary called the boundary of memory, and everyone is exactly the same, no one is better or worse than anyone else, they are all equal. In the communities the people have no memories of the past, for us it is the present day. The communities are not exactly controlled but they have to follow certain ruler, rules that were made by Chief Elder. None of the citizen know what feelings are, like for example they do not know what love is. The Giver is revolved around a character named Jonas, played by Brenton Thwaites, who is helped by an old man, the old man is called “The Giver”. He helps him gain little memories of the past, which is present day for us. After a while Jonas starts to feel emotions and pain, he also gains the mentality of how the world that they live in is somewhat corrupt. However, that is
The book the giver is about a boy named Jonas that is trying to find the meaning of everything and why things are the way they are in his society.The in the main character Jonas is going to turn a twelve in a couple of days. Joans is different than the other people in his community, he can see beyond what other people can see. In jonas’s community people take pills every day to get rid of their emotions, ability to see color, and their individuality. The reason that they take away all of these things away from the citizens is because they think that being different can lead to conflict. On the day that Jonas turns a twele he is chose to be the giver which is a very important job, the giver's job is to hold onto all of the memories of the past. The memories of the past are the memories of our world today the memories of when people could see color, when they could dance, and had emotions towards each other. On Jonas first day of being giver he has been given the memory of snow and sledding down a
This shows that Jonas was a little hesitant before he left his society. He knew that if he stayed his life would not be worth living. (STEWE-2) “Jonas learned, through the memories, the names of colors; and now he began to see them all, in his ordinary life (though he knew it had was ordinary no longer, and would never be again)”(97). Jonas starts questioning about his society when he receives the memories. (SIP-B) One thing that Jonas desires is to make his own decisions.
The Giver starts off as the ordinary story of an eleven-year-old boy named Jonas. When we meet the protagonist, he is apprehensive about the Ceremony of Twelve, at which he will be assigned his job. Although he has no clue as to what job he might be assigned, he is astonished when he is selected to be the Receiver of Memory. He learns that it is a job of the highest honor, one that requires him to bear physical pain of a magnitude beyond anyone’s experience.