How Is Memories Important In The Giver

One of the themes portrayed is that of memory. Jonas’s people do not have memory, because some time ago, memory was eliminated as a result of the pain and regret that memories are associated with. As a part of the community’s “utopia” plan, memories had to be ousted from the community (Lit Charts). Memory is also eliminated because the community wanted to stop people from making bad choices.

    The story in The Giver by Lois Lowry takes place in a community that is not normal. People cannot see color, it is an offense for somebody to touch others, and the community assigns people jobs and children. This unnamed community shown through Jonas’ eye, the main character in this novel, is a perfect society. There is no war, crime, and hunger. Most readers might take it for granted that the community in The Giver differs from the real society. However, there are several affinities between the society in present day and that in this fiction: estrangement of elderly people, suffering of surrogate mothers, and wanting of euthanasia.

Jonas begins to receive painful memories from the giver and he finally understands why the community would want to avoid such painful experiences. If people had these memories it would create choices, which can lead to many mistakes (Lowry 98). People could choose the wrong mate, the wrong job, and people could get angry which can lead to war. The elders, from a time long ago, did not want to worry about incidences like those happening; therefore they created a community with no memories or choices. So they gave all of their collective memories to a receiver of memory. Jonas, after a year of training

“’Memories are forever”’ (Lowry). People make new memories every day without even realizing it. Some good some bad, that’s just the way of life, but in The Giver nobody knows what happened before them. People barley remember what their childhood was like, they don’t understand the importance of memory and that memories are forever. Aspects of life, rules, and prosperities between our world and Jonas’ world are very different yet have some similarities. Things that are crucial to the characters in The Giver are not as meaningful to the people in our world.

Imagine waking up one day, and all your choices are stripped away from you. You can no longer choice blue or red, up or down, one or two. Everything has been picked out for you whether you like it or not. The community in the Giver is a utopian society. All members have a clear-cut set of rules they must follow. The rules were made to get rid of pain and fix society’s problems. On the occasion of when the truth is revealed Jonas, a unique boy, questions society, and its motives. Personal choice is one of the most important things, even in the event that it may cause pain or suffering. Individuals within the community should have a right to pick their spouse, have their own children, and pick their careers.

At the beginning of “The Giver”, the reader is to believe that the community Jonas lives in is a utopia. It’s later revealed that this is quite the opposite of what it really is. A dystopia. Along with Jonas, the reader finds out how in Jonas’s community they they give the elderly and newborns lethal injections, constrict feelings, and prevent any form of decision making. When Jonas discovers these things through memories, he is distraught, and he has the right to be. He wants to show everyone what has been taken away from them, and what they are being lied to about. This is why I believe it was completely justified for Jonas to leave the community.

If the citizens in the community were to hold their own memories, it would make The Giver and Jonas receive less stress. They would not have to worry about keeping the pain, joy, melancholy, memories that they get to experience each day a secret. The Giver and Jonas would be able to share what they learn and they would be able to teach others as well. “ The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.” (p.193). The Giver and Jonas would not be the only ones who get to see color and feel love and emotions. They would be able to talk to people about what they discovered or what had happened in their memories. The Giver and Jonas would not be alone.

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.

If you were given the chance to be Receiver of Memory and be able to lie, feel emotions, and have the highest honor of the community given to you, would you take it? In the book The Giver it’s a community where everything is the same no one can be better than anyone else know this might sound like a good idea but it's not. The book is based on a kid named Jonas, he is a 11 year old boy who doesn't know what to expect as a job for the ceremony of 12. In the ceremony of 12 you are given a job, you do not get to choose a job you are given one. The chief of elders is the one who gets to decide what job you get assigned. Jonas doesn't know what he wants to be he likes most of the jobs but he feels like they don't suit him very well. So they cheif of elders decided to assign the job of Receiver of Memory for Jonas. The Receiver of Memory is the person who hold all the memories of what the world used to be like before all the sameness.

Memories can be very valuable. Whatever happens, the memories will never be forgotten. “Memories are forever.” - The Giver. In this science fiction novel, Giver, Lois Lowry demonstrates that even though Jonas world was perfect, he knew something was missing. Everyone in the story was polite to Jonas. Once the Giver gave him lots of memories of love, happiness, and kindness, he knew how to bring back memories to the people. In the beginning of Giver, Jonas had a sickening feeling that something terrible is gonna happen. This perspective changed Jonas during the novel. The message of the novel, The Giver, is memories can bring you back to the old days. Memories can be unique in different types of ways.

At the start of the story Jonas is feeling nervous about the ceremony of twelve's, where the children are given their assignment. This is where for the first time in the children's life, they will be doing something different then every other person in the community. Jonas is given the very special occupation, which isn’t really an occupation at all, of Receiver of Memory. He is the only one that can have memories of what life was like before sameness. The memories are given to him by The Giver, who was the current Receiver of Memory. The Giver must transmit all memories of history (the good,

Despite the fact that he could be killed if he was caught. Jonas also wanted to release the memories into the community to make it a better place. Jonas looked to The Giver for advice, and The Giver was almost like a father to him. Jonas normally followed the rules of the community for what was right and what was wrong except when he ran away. Jonas learned that the rules of the community were harsh, once he had his knowledge he got from The Giver, he kind of made his own rules. The Giver shows lots of moral courage because he helped Jonas run away despite the potential consequences of getting released. Also the Giver took the risk of giving Jonas the memories when the previous receiver ran away because the memories were too much and then those memories were lost. The Giver has all the knowledge from the previous generations so he uses that to decide what is right and

This is shown in my first quote which is when Jonas says, “ The worst part of holding memories isn’t the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared” ( Lowry, The Giver, pg 154). In response the Giver says there might be a way to share the memories. After seeing a baby be released, Jonas decides he want s to flee the city with Gabriel.

When Jonas and the Giver decided on their plan for escape to Elsewhere they knew that Jonas could,“ never return… It was the terrifying part" (194). This quote shows just how little the people of the Community know about Elsewhere. It also points out how reluctant Jonas was to leave the Community. Once Jonas leaves the community he faces many challenges. The most terrifying one was the planes, “when the planes came he wished that he could have received the [memories of] courage" (211). Jonas was afraid of the planes because he knew that if the planes captured him he would be killed. The planes searching for Jonas also signify how important the Receiver of Memory’s job is to the Community. Although Jonas was afraid, his fear that the Community would stay the same, was the only emotion that kept him going on his long journey to

The giver is a fictional novel authorised by Louis Lowry dedicated to informing readers about the devastating impact of extreme conformity on a community. As we progress throughout the book we start to realise and learn all these new things about the giver's community, such as creating and trying to maintain a perfect community, that comes beyond our abilities, while the givers society is having a huge impact on the individuality and individual choices on the members of the community. We learn that the inhabitants of the society had a hard time handling all the different memories, in a sudden event. All hints and evidence to these statements above are hidden and presented throughout the book.