The Giver Quote Analysis

At the end of “The Giver” Jonas finds a small village in elsewhere, however, many people are skeptical that this is true.. On page 166 of “The Giver” the author wrote, “Using his final strength, and a special knowledge that was deep inside him, Jonas found the sled that was waiting for him on top of the hill.” Some people believe that he actually found the sled and others believe that he was hallucinating because he was freezing to death in the cold. I believe that Jonas was hallucinating from the cold because it seems more practical. My justifications for this belief are first, his state of being, second, it can be hypothesized from the quote, “His entire concentration now had to be on moving his feet, warming Gabriel and himself, and going forward” which is found on page 165, and finally this theory could be proven by looking at the descriptions of the memories given to him versus what

he thought was reality.

The author wrote, “Using his final strength, and a special knowledge that was deep inside him, Jonas found the sled that was waiting for him on top of the hill.” which can be found on page 179.

This sentence tells us that he was weak and could have possibly been close to dying. According to some of the descriptions found in this part of the book he is starving, most likely dehydrated and could quite possibly have hypothermia.

On page 165 the author wrote, “His entire concentration now had to be on moving his feet, warming Gabriel and himself and going forward.” This quote shows us how he was determined to save him and Gabriel. It shows that he is already very cold and close to not being able to physically move forward any longer. This supports hallucination from freezing.

The third reason this theory could be is that the ending almost perfectly matches the description of the memories he received. This leads me to believe he was seeing what he wanted to see rather than what was really there. If it were reality there should be some differences from the memories given to

him.

According to the quote “end-Of-life dreams and visions are typically comforting, realistic, and often very meaningful.” found in the article “Deathbed Visions: What Do People See When They Die?” written by Ben Hanson. This quote is important because it tells us that when we are dying we start seeing things. Things such as memories that are realistic and comforting. Based off of this idea, we can infer that Jonas could have just been having end-of-life dreams. If this is true he could have also died in the next few minutes, hours, or days.

In conclusion instead of actually having found the sled, the house and possibly people he was just hallucinating. My justifications for this belief are first, his state of being., second it can be hypothesized from the quote, “His entire concentration now had to be on moving his feet, warming Gabriel and himself, and going forward” which is found on page 165, and finally this theory could be that the ending almost perfectly matches the description of the memories he received.