THE GIVER Plot Summary The story is about a boy named Jonas. Jonas lives in a community where everything is perfect, everything is the same and no one is allowed to brake the rules imposed by the Elders. The Elders are in charge of creating all the rules and basically ruled everyone’s lives. Jonas lives with his parents and one sister. His parents were allowed to have only two children, a boy and a girl. It was one of the many community rules that couldn’t be broken. Every year, the community gets together to celebrate the birthdays of the children. They call it the celebration of the two’s, three’s, four’s, etc. until the age of 11. At every age the children must do the chore that was chosen for them. Also, they …show more content…
Jonas wanted to live a different life. In his journey, Jonas travels with Gabriel, the child that was being nurtured by his family. He needed to saved him from being “released”. Together they faced danger and fear but it was just the beginning of a new life in the land of Elsewhere. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TITLE: “THE GIVER” A “giver” is someone who gives something to someone else. Besides material things you can also give knowledge and advise. The “giver” must be willing to give without expecting anything in return. In the story, the wise old man is the Giver. The Giver’s mind is filled with good and bad memories. He is in charge of holding the memories from the community to avoid pain or suffering. He is the only one that is allowed to break certain rules. His power cannot be “given” to anyone except for a special person selected by the Elders. Jonas is that special person, he is the “receiver of memory”. So, the giver’s mission is to “give” Jonas the power of receiving all the memories. Also, he must share all his knowledge with Jonas so he can become the new “giver” in the community. SETTING, GENRE, TIME PERIOD…. Setting: The setting of The Giver takes place in a fictional community known as the “Sameness”. Life here is supposed to be "perfect" because there is no pain or suffering. They don’t have to take
Jonas is the protagonist of the novel and a third-person narrator tells the entire story from Jonas perception of things. He is intelligent, curious, caring, and his thought process is very mature for being 11-13 years old. A good quote portraying both his matureness and his intellect is “If everything's the same, then there aren't any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things”(97). This is also one of the first signs that he is displeased with the community. Another quote showing his courage and curiosity is "It hurt a lot," Jonas said, "but I'm glad you gave it to me. It was interesting. And now I understand better. What it meant, that there would be
Imagine a world with no feelings, no color, no choice; a world where individuality and freedom are exchanged for security and sameness. This type of world is a reality for Jonas, the protagonist in Lois Lowry’s The Giver. After being assigned the next Receiver of Memories in the community, where he has the capacity to see beyond. As he begins his works, he gains wisdom and through that wisdom, learned that protecting the community from the memories, their lives lacked understanding and feelings. Jonas goes on an archetypal hero’s journey and chooses to risk everything to restore memories and wisdom to everyone in the community. Throughout this novel, Jonas is represented as a hero considering he demonstrates integrity despite living in a
Jonas is helping his family take care of a problem newborn. His name is Gabriel, he had problems sleeping at the Nurturing Center. Jonas helps Gabriel sleep by transmitting memories to Gabriel. They become really close. Jonas finds out that Gabriel is in danger of being released. He talks to The Giver and finds out that release means the same thing as death. Jonas gets really mad knowing that his father killed the babies. That was his father’s job. Jonas wants to create a plan to change the community forever.
In the novel “The Giver,” written by Lois Lowry, Jonas is a boy who follows the rules, spends time with friends and family, goes to school, and at the Twelves Ceremony is given the job as the Receiver of Memory. At the end of the novel, Jonas learns information that makes him leave the community to save the people he loves. As Jonas becomes older, he acknowledges that he is different from his family and the people surrounded by him. Once Jonas got his assignment as the Receiver of Memory, his maturity became inconsistent throughout the novel.
Jonas accepting his society because he's unaware of emotions of the other people in his community. Jonas follows the rule of having the share your feelings everyday. Not telling
The Giver is considered as a dystopian society because everyone is under the illusion that there is freedom. An example of this is when the text states, “you're ready for the pills, that's all. That’s the treatment for the stirrings.” They can't even have independent thoughts. Medication is given to prevent
Jonas starts out with a very low understanding of what it means to be mature. He has no knowledge of pain, love, or any other emotion. He proves this by acting like a normal child. He plays with his friends after volunteer hours. He attends school on a regular basis. Jonas is a stickler for the rules. He has been told that it is wrong to not follow rules and that there
The novel, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is an everlasting story that shows the importance of individuality. This novel is about a young boy named Jonas who was elected as the Receiver of Memories, a person who is given the memories from the world that existed before their current society, Sameness. In this society there is no individualism. People can not choose who to marry, or what they want to do for a living. Over time Jonas becomes more and more wise, and realizes that the supposedly perfect community actually has some very dark and negative aspects. The author, Lois Lowry is a 76-year-old writer who focuses her writing on helping struggling teenagers become individuals. Lowry had a very tragic childhood. After both of her parents were
In The Giver the authorities aim at achieving “Sameness” which means all people must be equal and the same. Lois Lowry describes a world of “sameness” where the lack of differences allows all members of the community to have predetermined roles and to follow an enforced set of rules. The Elders depict sameness in a way that makes it sound absolutely necessary, and without it, the whole world may fall apart. In the community of The Giver people accept everything as it is because they do not know any difference: “Our people made that choice, the choice to go to Sameness. Before my time, before the previous time … we relinquished sunshine and did away with difference” (Lowry, Giver 95). This sameness is terrifying and further imposes conformity on all people. So the community of The Giver is a uniformed society. People wear the same clothes; eat the same food; their houses are the same; and most of them look the same as well. By the age of ten, they all have the same short hair style: “females lost their braids at Ten, and males, too, relinquished their long childish hair took on the more manly style which exposed their ears” (Lowry, Giver 46). In The Giver the purpose of sameness is to protect people from wrong choices and to achieve safety for them.
Individuality is one of the key components of reaching the utopian standard. However, in The Giver, the community rejects the idea of individuality and instead focuses on developing Sameness, therefore initiating a form of control by allowing them to not express their own personality to shine, and alternately forcing them to contort into these soft putty-shaped beings with zero individuality at all. Conversations between Jonas and The Giver that occur throughout the novel informs the audience that the community lacks a sense of uniqueness and results in an absence of options to choose from.
The theme conveyed through the Giver is that individuality should be valued. The story takes place in a utopian society where everything is the same. There are no choices, no color, and no love in the Community of Sameness. The novel starts out a month before the Ceremony of Twelve, where the 12 year olds each get assigned a job. Jonas gets the assignment of the Receiver of Memory, and he soon finds out that lying is permitted, and receives several memories of the past without sameness, with pain too. He has the ability to see beyond, and finds out that he and the Giver are the only people in the Community that have the ability to see, as well as hear beyond. Similar to the phenomenon of an apple changing quality and his friend Fiona’s hair doing the same
Jonas lives with his father who is a Nurturer of new children, his mother, and his seven-year-old sister Lily. At the beginning of the novel, he is apprehensive about the upcoming Ceremony of Twelve, when he will be given his job that cannot be altered or changed, which officially presents him as a new adult member of the community. He doesn’t have a single
Jonas lives in a perfect society where everyone is equal and there is no war, pain, or fear. Sounds great right? But not for long. When Jonas reaches the age of 12 he recieves his assignment or career, just like everybody else. But Jonas's assignment is different. Jonas is selected to be the reciever of memories. He will recieve the memories of what life used to be from the giver. He starts out with happy memories, but soon learns about war and pain. But it is hard for the giver too, to give memories to sombody else, when he knows the pain and suffering they bring. And he is still hurt by the memories he hasn't given yet. After awhile Jonas and the giver realize that life isn't the way it's supposed to be in the society, so they plan for Jonas to escape. When he does he brings along gabriel, an infant that his family has been taking care of, and that jonas has grown to love. And together they discover the wonders and fears of the real
In, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, Jonas arrives at Elsewhere. Jonas has a sudden surge coursing through his body providing warmth and hope as he gets to safety. In the book, the Giver gives a memory of love to Jonas. This memory makes Jonas want grandparents. When Jonas sees all the lights and laughter, Jonas perceives that this place is waiting in expectation for him and Gabriel. Jonas has hope which gives him enough strength to get to a home and ask for food, warm clothes, shelter, etc. Which is on page 179-180: “Suddenly he was aware with certainty and joy that below, ahead, they were waiting for him; and that they were waiting, too, for the baby.” Secondly, Jonas experiences hope and confidence, giving Jonas the strength to sled down the hill
To begin, the elders set apart Jonas and give him the prestigious job of “Receiver of Memory.”