The Giver Literary Analysis

In The Giver, a narrative by Lois Lowry, Jonas’s father illustrates his feelings during his Ceremony of Twelve and Jonas tells about his own feelings concerning the forthcoming event. In the text it states, “‘But to be honest, Jonas,’ his father said, ‘for me there was not the element of suspense that there is with your ceremony. Because I was already fairly certain of what my Assignment was to be,’”(Lowry, paragraph 3). This segment of text elucidates the reason of Jonas’s father’s lack of surprise of his Assignment. As stated above, Jonas’s father was already certain of his Assignment, which he continues to explain to be a Nurturer. Jonas’s father explains that as a result of the love he showed all the Newchildren and the time he spent at

the Nurturing Center made it an obvious decision for the elders. The text then states, “Jonas was surprised. There was no way, really, to know in advance. It was a secret selection, made by the leaders of the community, the Committee of Elders, who took responsibility so seriously that there were never even any jokes made about assignments,”(Lowry, paragraph 4). This text explains Jonas’s reaction to his father’s lack of surprise for his assignment. Jonas is astonished at how his father was not apprehensive before his Ceremony of Twelve. Jonas himself os feeling a lot of suspense about what his assignment is to be and is not relieved to hear his father’s account of his own experience. Overall, Jonas and his father have very different experiences of the Ceremony of Twelve with the father feeling confident and Jonas feeling nervous.