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Exploring the character of the giver
The giver summary
Critical review of the giver
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Recommended: Exploring the character of the giver
In the novel The Giver, by Lois Lowry, The main character, Jonas changes who he is throughout the story.
In the beginning of the book Jonas was obedient and lived life by the rules. Jonas is raised like everyone else in the community. His life is planned out and expectations are set for every part of his life. ¨Instantly, obediently, Jonas had dropped his bike on its side on the path behind his family's dwelling¨ As the children grow they gain new small privileges. When Jonas turned into an Eight he was allowed to go into the community to volunteer. ¨The freedom to choose where to spend those hours had always seemed a wonderful luxury to Jonas; other hours of the day were so carefully regulated.¨ His family had a set routine that followed the rules of the community that everyone had to follow.
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One rule was that Jonas was exempt from governing rudeness and he may ask any question of any citizen and you will receive an answer. ¨He was so completely, so thoroughly accustomed to courtesy within the community that the thought of asking another citizen an intimidating question, of calling someoneś attention to an area of awkwardness, was unnerving.¨ Another rule was he could not apply for release. ¨It had never occurred to him that under any circumstances, ever, he might apply for release.” The last rule was that he was allowed to lie. ¨He had been trained since earliest childhood, since his earliest learning of language, never to lie.¨ Jonas is learning that his life will change from his obedient past to something new that only he and the Giver
People change over time. It's inevitable, time helps people grow. In the beginning of The Giver by Lois Lowry, Jonas played it safe, but after being chosen as the Receiver, he becomes more aware of the conflicts in his community.
The Giver and Matched are both futuristic societies with a lot of rules. In The Giver the Elders choose their match as well as their children. Jonas starts loving Fiona but isn’t allowed and stops taking the pill. In Matched the officials choose their match but they can have their own children. Cassia is matched with Xander but also loves Ky and doesn't know what to do. In both story they all get jobs for the rest of their lives but in Matched they just call it vocations. Jonas gets the Receiver of memory and Cassia is supposed to be the sorter.
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 gets freedom, the community is left without someone to take the memories from The Giver. This is an example of conformity because a few of the Receivers before Jonas had left the community due to the things they were learning and finding out about the community, which changed the way they viewed the society. They then realized that they do not want to do this for the rest of their life, and for their job to sit around and hold memories as no one else is capable of knowing them is not something they want to do. To conclude, Jonas’s action to run away from the society follows in the footsteps of the others, and if others follow Jonas, there may never be a Receiver for the Jonas’s
Jonas understands the consequences of leaving the community, but wants to be able to experience colors, pain, and love; which he couldn’t have if he stayed. “If it failed, he would very likely be killed. But what did that matter? If he stayed, his life was no longer worth living” (Lowry 155). Jonas is willing to risk the unknown for the idea of finding Elsewhere for himself. He knows how much he does not fit in with the community and wants to be able to be himself, to love, and to share the memories without being chastised. “He felt, surprisingly, no fear, nor any regret at leaving the community behind” (Lowry 164). Jonas was ready for what was ahead of him; even if he didn’t know what that was. He knows that leaving the community is the best option for him and the people of the community, because they need to know about the world’s past and Jonas wants to be able to experience life to the fullest. By leaving the community, he is leavi...
I can assure you that reading this book will make you take valuable lessons with you. Jonas is a really wise, curious and a positive 12 year old boy. I think we should learn to be like him more because in the story Jonas shows how he follows what he thinks is right and not what the society thinks. This helps portray the importance of individuality.
The Giver: Analysis of Jonas On the surface, Jonas is like any other eleven-year-old boy living in his community. He seems more intelligent and perceptive than many of his peers, and he thinks more seriously than they do about life, worrying about his own future as well as his friend Asher’s. He enjoys learning and experiencing new things: he chooses to volunteer at a variety of different centers rather than focusing on one, because he enjoys the freedom of choice that volunteer hours provide. He also enjoys learning about and connecting with other people, and he craves more warmth and human contact than his society permits or encourages. The things that really set him apart from his peers—his unusual eyes, his ability to see things change in a way that he cannot explain—trouble him, but he does not let them bother him too much, since the community’s emphasis on politeness makes it easy for Jonas to conceal or ignore these little differences.
Jonas is the protagonist in The Giver. He changes from being a typical twelve-year-old boy to being a boy with the knowledge and wisdom of generations past. He has emotions that he has no idea how to handle. At first he wants to share his changes with his family by transmitting memories to them, but he soon realizes this will not work. After he feels pain and love, Jonas decides that the whole community needs to understand these memories. Therefore Jonas leaves the community and his memories behind for them to deal with. He hopes to change the society so that they may feel love and happiness, and also see color. Jonas knows that memories are hard to deal with but without memories there is no pain and with no pain, there is no true happiness.
It states in chapter 13 that “my role is now to escape the community.” This relates to the topic the theme importance of memory because once jonas has the importance of memory Jonas knows the right decisions and choices to make. Such as running away from the Community to have freedom. Sure Jonas may have escaped due to the Giver telling him to but if he didn’t have the memeriors he needed it would have said no and stayed in the community because he would have classified it as breaking the rules.
Evelyn Sanchez (esanchez47@student.cccd.edu) Professor Leighton English 143, Final Essay 21 May 21, 2014 What the heck happened to Jonas? Topic #2. The Giver is actually one of my all-time favorite books, so I’ve looked into why she left the book so inconclusive in the past. The Giver is basically about a boy named Jonas who lives in a perfect society. He lives in a household with his two parents and his little sister Lilly.
You know everything about the past and the present from your life, but the citizens of Jonas’ community don’t. Everything is hidden from them, except for Jonas and The Giver, who have all
We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others” (97). In the book The Giver by Lois Lowry, no one has seen a rainbow after a storm, no one knew what colors were; what choosing was; what it meant to be an individual. Everyone lived in complete Sameness, and never learned what it meant to be an individual. By eliminating as much self expression as possible in Sameness and society, Jonas's community has rejected the individuality of a society where people are free to move society forward. In The Giver individuality is represented by colors, memories, and pale eyes.
The people in the community have absolutely no choices what so ever. The people already have their whole life rolled out in front of you without even knowing it. The council chooses your spouse, your family unit, your job, what you do everyday and how to do everything everyday. The rules that Jonas gets restrict him from doing certain things. “1. Go immediately at the end
In the book, The Giver, Jonas is portrayed as a kind, curious and rebellious individual with a keen sense of awareness. The beginning chapters revealed Jonas as a very naive and compliant person, similar to everyone else in his community. Instances, when he was a child and got reprimanded for small misunderstandings, made him like this. However, throughout the book, Jonas has grown into an independent and determined person, someone who wants to make a change. Jonas finds new strengths in his character which forms him into someone spectacular and distinctive.
This is the first time he breaks a major rule. He would do anything. “Look at those flowers very carefully” (99). Jonas really wanted someone to connect with, even if it was just a color. (STEWE-2)Jonas also tried with lily. Jonas went up to her and was trying to tell her about how elephants were actually a real thing. “Did you know that once there really were elephants?” (101). Lily has a comfort toy of an elephant. Jonas touched her shoulder and tried to give her the memory. It did not work, All he did was make Lily frustrated. (SIP-B) As the more memories Jonas received the harder is was to accept his society. (STEWE-1)Jonas received the memory of Christmas. “Who were all those old people” (123). Jonas was so shocked that all of those people where in that room. Jonas never knew what love was. (STEWE-2) Jonas has just received the memory of war. “Jonas did not want to go back” (121). He did not want the honor, he did not want the wisdom, and he also did not want the pain. Jonas was so scared by the memory he wanted to stop receiving these memories. (CS) Jonas could not handle his community with all these