Jonas Decisions In Lois Lowry's The Giver

450 Words1 Page

Jonas’ Decision

Jonas had to make a hard decision in Lois Lowry’s “The Giver”. Jonas makes the choice to leave the community, which is selfless and is the right choice for the community. Jonas’ decision is right for the community because the community has no memories other than the ones they have accumulated in their lifetime. Without the knowledge of the memories, they can not make very logical decisions. Jonas must leave the community in order to share all the memories with the entire community.

Jonas thinks the community can help benefit Jonas by taking the memories. Jonas can barely sustain the pain of the memories. He thinks that the community can rely on one another to get through the hardship that is the memories. This is because …show more content…

Not only did Jonas make the right decision, he was also selfless while doing it. Jonas’ decision was selfless because he put his own life at risk for other people’s benefit. Jonas not only risked his life, but he went without the Giver and without all of his training being completed. Jonas also saved Gabriels life by taking Gabriel with him when Gabriel was scheduled for release. Jonas also was scared at the end of the book, not because he was going to die, but because he could not save Gabriel. This furthermore proves why Jonas’ act was selfless and ultimately right for the community.

In conclusion, not only was Jonas’ act selfless, it was ultimately right for the community. This is because Jonas is releasing the memories to the community. The community can benefit from keeping the memories because they can use them to logically make decisions. Jonas can benefit by having the burden lifted from his back. People will be able to sustain the pain of the memories because they have each other's company. Jonas’ act was selfless because he did this on his own, without all of his training being completed. This is why Jonas’ acts are selfless and good for the

Show More
Related

  • The Giver, by Lois Lowry, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, and Logan's Run, by William F. Nolan

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    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)

    Read More

  • Examples Of Perfection In The Giver

    544 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Giver Quote Analysis

    578 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Overcoming Adversity In The Giver, By Lois Lowry

    709 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Essay On Conformity In The Giver

    854 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Sacrifice In The Giver

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    As Jonas receives these memories, he ponders how their community would be different if they could make more choices. For example, after the Giver transmits Jonas a memory of family, Jonas thinks how crazy it is that they have generations and he says about his community, “‘What if they were allowed to choose their own mate?’”...”’Or what if’”...”’they could choose their own jobs?’” (124). Jonas then thinks if people should make these choices, and things that could go wrong if they did. For instance, while he is thinking about how crazy these choices are, he says, “‘I can’t even imagine it. We really have to protect people from wrong choices’”(124). People in his Community don’t choose their own spouse, the Community leaders assign them a spouse and children if they want. Jonas’s Community is brain-washed into not having opinions or choices. Although they have no divorce and wrong choices, Jonas would rather have choices and a real

    Read More

  • The Giver: Analysis of Jonas

    501 Words  | 2 Pages

    Once Jonas begins his training with the Giver, however, the tendencies he showed in his earlier life—his sensitivity, his heightened perceptual powers, his kindness to and interest in people, his curiosity about new experiences, his honesty, and his high intelligence—make him extremely absorbed in the memories the Giver has to transmit. In turn, the memories, with their rich sensory and emotional experiences, enhance all of Jonas’s unusual qualities. Within a year of training, he becomes extremely sensitive to beauty, pleasure, and suffering, deeply loving toward his family and the Giver, and fiercely passionate about his new beliefs and feelings. Things about the community that used to be mildly perplexing or troubling are now intensely frustrating or depressing, and Jonas’s inherent concern for others and desire for justice makes him yearn to make changes in the community, both to awaken other people to the richness of life and to stop the casual cruelty that is practiced in the community. Jonas is also very determined, committing to a task fully when he believes in it and willing to risk his own life for the sake of the people he loves.

    Read More

  • The Perception of Jonas in Lois Lowry's The Giver

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Jonas In 'The Giver'

    803 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Memories In The Giver By Lois Lowry

    867 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jonas hates how his society decides to keep memories a secret from everyone. Jonas says: “The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared” (Lowry 154). Jonas feels that memories, whether it be good or bad, should be shared with everyone. Furthermore, memories allow the community to gain wisdom from remembering experiences of the past. As for The Giver, The Giver disagrees with how the community runs things. He believes that memories should be experienced by everyone as well, because life is meaningless without memories. The Giver says: “There are so many things I could tell them; things I wish they would change. But they don’t want change. Life here is so orderly, so predictable–so painless. It’s what they’ve chosen [...] It’s just that… without memories, it’s all meaningless. They gave that burden to me” (Lowry 103). The Giver is burdened with the responsibility to not share memories even though that is what he feels the community deserves. In addition, he believes the community lives a very monotonous life where nothing ever changes. Everything is meaningless without memories because the community does not know what it is like to be human without feelings. Overall, Jonas and The Giver’s outlooks on their “utopian” society change as they realize that without

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Giver Book by Lois Lowry

    1492 Words  | 3 Pages

    However, as Jason’s training teaches him, this is not the case. His teacher, the Receiver of Memory, who tells Jonas to call him the Giver, transmits memories of the distant past to him. It is through these memories that Jonas discovers the meaning of snow, war, pain and love. The Giver tells him that these things existed before the people chose to go to “Sameness”. Ever since, they gave up those things in exchange for a world free of discrimination, crime and pain. However, realising the importance of wisdom gained through experience, they chose the Receiver to bear the burden of all the memories for them. Overwhelmed by all this information and being forbidden to share it with anyone, Jonas grows increasingly embittered against hi...

    Read More

  • The Giver Book Report

    565 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jonas plans to change the community by escaping and releasing all of the memories to the community. Jonas thinks for himself he will accomplish escaping and giving himself a chance to go to elsewhere. Jonas hopes to accomplish change throughout the community by releasing the memories if he left so everyone could gain wisdom. In the book Giver says this a way to change the community. Jonas wanted to go to elsewhere and see snow as like he did in the memory. Giver also said the memories had to be shared so leaving would share the memories with the rest of the

    Read More

  • Essay On The Giver By Lois Lowry

    461 Words  | 1 Pages

    In The Giver, Lois Lowry uses Jonas, The Giver, and Gabe to develop the theme that memories are essential to human life. The author uses Jonas to show that memories are needed for human life. To be able to have happiness, and wisdom the memories of the past are essential. Jonas says, “‘I liked the feeling of love,’ he confessed. He glanced nervously at the speaker on the wall, reassuring himself that no one was listening.

    Read More

  • Jonas Characteristics In The Giver

    456 Words  | 1 Pages

    Since Jonas was selected to be the Receiver of Memory, the Giver game him the memory of the rainbow. As you can see Jonas has accomplished many things throughout his journey. Jonas has changed by the end of the story. Jonas has changed because before he became the Receiver of Memory he was terrified of what his job would be like. Jonas got tougher by using the memories that the Giver gave him.

    Read More

  • The Giver Knowledge Vs Ignorance

    632 Words  | 2 Pages

    He later decides to leave the community. This matters because since that knowledge caused Jonas to be the catalyst of change. Therefore, it was very important, and without it, the change to actually being a human instead of a robot never would have been made, and the community would have never known emotion. Basically, the memory of love brought about the change that was the solution to the conflict of the whole story. In this case, knowledge is definitely better than

    Read More

More about Jonas Decisions In Lois Lowry's The Giver

Open Document