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Jonas In The Giver By Lois Lowry

Good Essays

In the book, The Giver, the main character is Jonas. Throughout the novel, Jonas was chosen to be The Receiver. The Receiver is a person who receives the memories from all over the globe that is outside of their community. In order to receive these memories, Jonas had to go to The Giver. The Giver is located at the Annex behind the House of the Old. So far in the book, the author describes Jonas as selfless, rule breaker, and compassion. The Author, Lois Lowry describes Jonas as Selfless. In the text, the author said, “But I haven’t suffered, Giver. Not really.” Jonas smiled. “Oh, I remember the sunburn you gave me on the very first day. But that wasn’t so terrible. What is it that makes you suffer so much? If you gave some of it to me, maybe …show more content…

He is a rule breaker because Jonas said, “Asher,” Jonas said one morning, “look at those flowers very carefully.” They were standing beside a bed of geraniums planted near the Hall of Open Records. He put his hands on Asher’s shoulders, and concentrated on the red of the petals, trying to hold it as long as he could, and trying at the same time to transmit the awareness of red to his friend.” (Chapter thirteen, page ninety-nine.) In this quote, Jonas is trying to give Asher, his friend to see the color red, but yet Asher couldn’t be able to see it. This is a rule breaking because first, he is touching a person other than his family member and second, he is trying to give his knowledge to someone else and you are not allowed to give or talk about your work. Along with this, Jonas tries to break a rule again, for example, “Jonas went and sat beside them while his father untied Lily’s hair ribbons and combed her hair. He placed one hand on each of their shoulders. With all of his being he tried to give each of them a piece of memory:not the tortured cry of the elephant, but the being of the elephant, of the towering, immense creature and the meticulous touch with which it had tended its friend at the end. But his father had continued to comb Lily’s long hair, and Lily, impatient, had finally wiggled under her brother’s touch.”(Chapter thirteen, page one-hundred and one,) Jonas is a rule breaker again because he …show more content…

Jonas shows compassion because in Chapter fourteen page one-hundred and seventeen the author said, “He was not aware of giving the memory; but suddenly he realized that it was becoming dimmer, that it was sliding through his hand into the being of the new child. Gabriel became quiet. Startled, Jonas pulled back what was left of the memory with a burst of will. He removed his hand from the little back and stood quietly beside the crib.” This shows compassion because he is giving the good memory to Gabriel to calm him down and to put him back to sleep. Jonas is helping Gabriel by giving him the needs of a good memory for him to sleep. A further example is, “ Once more, toward dawn, the new child woke and cried out. Again Jonas went to him. This time he quite deliberately placed his hands firmly on Gabriel’s back, and released the rest of the calming day on the lake. Again, Gabriel slept.” (Chapter fourteen page one-hundred and seventeen to eighteen.) You see, Jonas is helping Gabriel to sleep soundly. Jonas is showing compassion for Gabriel because he was one of the misfortunes as in he is not quite like the other babies. In a brief summary, Jonas is Compassionate because he helps people who are misfortuned from others such as Gabriel, the

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