Symbolism In The Giver By Lois Lowry

The Giver by Lois Lowry uses the literary device, symbolism to give the readers a better understanding of the community. Symbols play a big role in The Giver because each symbol makes Jonas grow as a character throughout the book.The community is held back from feelings and of memories of the past. In the world we live in, we have choices from picking our own clothing to picking our leader. In Jonas community, family members, lovers, jobs and clothing is chosen for all the citizens. Lois Lowry uses the sled, pale eyes, Gabriel, the color red, apple and memories to represent feelings and emotions that the community has given up for comfort and sameness.

What comes to mind when we think about the color of red? How can we describe red? Red

symbolizes love, passion, intensity, pain and danger. The first time Jonas sees the color red is in the beginning of the book “ In our society today, giving a girl a red rose symbolizes love and yellow rose symbolizes friendship. Jonas sees the color red in Fiona's hair which symbolizes his attraction towards Fiona. The Giver gives Jonas the memory of an elephant killed by poachers. Red can also symbolize pain as Jonas sees the blood flowing from the elephants wounds. Jonas sees the color red in the Givers books, which represents knowledge being denied to the community. He also see’s the color red for the first time when he and Asher are playing catch with an apple. “The apple had changed. Just for an instant. It had changed in mid-air”(Lowry 24). The apple in this scene symbolizes that Jonas life was going to change. In the Garden of Eden, when Eve sins and takes a bite from the forbidden fruit, it symbolizes loss of innocence. Jonah would awaken and desire understanding of “Elsewhere”. The author uses the apple to to make us aware and question society and not be blindly obedient to the rules of society.
The first memory Jonas receives is riding a red sled down a snow covered hill.

The sled represents a gateway to elsewhere and he realizes that there is another world where everything is not the same. Jonas dreams of the hill and feels the need "to reach the something that waited in the distance"(Lowry 88) . He asks the giver why sleds and snow does not exist. Giver responds by saying that the community gave up pleasures to make life easier. Community has climate control because snow causes cold weather that would make others sick and it was hard to transport goods. Jonas learns that the community removed pleasures that resulted in both joy and pain. Jonas receives another memory of going down the hill on the sled and falling of and fracturing his arm. The memory that caused him so much joy, can cause so much pain. He learns that painful experiences are needs to appreciate and enjoy the pleasurable experiences. The sameness community can not distinguish pain, joy or sadness because they have not felt either of those emotions. Without one, the other cannot exist. We see the same sled at the end of the book, as he and Gabriel go down the hill. The author leaves us wondering if they made it to elsewhere, hallucinating or died. In Lowry Newbery Acceptance speech she states “I decided they made it to the past. I decided their past was our world and their future was their world. It was parallel worlds” (Lowry 7). The sled lead them to the elsewhere Jonah was earning for. He leaves his sameness community and hopefully found a community where he is able to make choices and to feel love, pain and

sadness.
There is a relationship between people with light and dark eyes in the book. Lowry uses artistic device to show that the color of Jonas, Giver and gabriel eyes create a special bond. Also shows that the community does not have complete power over hereditary traits. That those with light eyes are able to see color and are selected to be Receivers. The community leader states “ Jonas has the capacity to see beyond”(Lowry63). He is able to see what others cannot see and perceives the world differently. Jonas is able to transfer the memory of a sailboat rocking in the water to Gabriel but could not transmit color to Asher. Hence the author distinguishes Jonas eyes from the rest of the community.
Gabriel becomes Jonas reason to escape the community even earlier than the planned day that both the Giver and him agreed to. Gabriel is a baby who is brought to live with Jonas family for a year due to him not being able to sleep in the nurturing center. Jonas and his family sign a form to not be attached to Gabriel once he leaves. Jonas becomes attached because Gabriel symbolizes hope and purity because he is a baby and is free from the community influence at the moment . Jonas is able to share memories with Gabriel and able to feel emotions such as love. Gabriel has not been affected by the sameness community and in danger of being released.“When will he be released?” “First thing tomorrow morning. We have to start our preparations for the naming ceremony, so we thought we’d get this taken care of right away” (Lowry 165).Gabriel was going to get released the next morning so if Jonas didn’t take him on the trip he would have been “release” or killed. Gabriel gives Jonas courage to continue the journey and his memories give him strength. “ Did he still have the strength to give? Could Gabriel receive? He pressed his hands onto Gabriel’s back and tried to remember sunshine” (Lowry 175). Jonas is able to give Gabriel his memories, with this skill he keep Gabriel warm. Gabriel gives Jonas the will or the hope to move on through all the struggles along his journey.
In conclusion Lowry uses symbolism to make the readers aware of living in a comfortable society threatens one's individuality. Sameness community goal is to create a perfect society which does not have poverty, unemployment, and class divisions. Communities leaders were protecting their citizens from making wrong choices and controlling them through precision of language and social accustomation.