Memory In The Giver

Jonas goes through a lot while receiving the memories from The Giver. He first gets happy memories such as the sled, but then The Giver has to give him painful memories. He first receives the memory of physical pain from sunburn (Lowry 86). The pain is minimal compared to the memory of a broken leg (Lowry 109) and an injured arm during a war. During the war memory, he sees death (Lowry 119, 121). He experiences grief when he receives the memory the shot elephant (Lowry 100). Most haunting of all are the memories of the release of old and the part his father plays in the release of new born (Lowry 150). These trials at first horrify Jonas but he learns to deal with the

“’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.

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.

Starting the story, Jonas receives his assignment at the Ceremony of 12. He was chosen to be the receiver of memory. Jumping forward to his training, an old man named,¨The Giver¨ transmits memories for Jonas to cherish. He was told he will experience joy, happiness, loneliness and most importantly, pain. Beginning his training, Jonas lays on a couch for The Giver to lay his hand on his back to transmit Jonas´s first memory. It was very joyful. As an

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.

The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is a dystopian narrative about a boy who lives in a “utopia” where there is order and, everything is controlled. He alone must contain memories of the past. Unfortunately, many of these memories are traumatic and disturbing. Jonas can do nothing beyond withstanding the pain. Because that is how it had always been in the community. As often paraphrased by the Giver, who is the one giving Jonas the memories, "And back and back and back.”(62) This quote shows how there is nothing that The Giver or Jonas can do apart from accept tradition.

The Giver is a story about a city that is cut off from all memories from the past and is strictly controlled by the government or the so-called “Elders”. There is only one person in the community called the “Receiver of Memory” who has the role of holding all the memories of the past and giving advice to the government when they need it. When Jonas gets chosen for the Receiver of Memory position, he realizes that there is and was much more to this world than the people in the community know about. Jonas soon starts to see colors(which only the person who had the memories could see) and comes to the conclusion that the other people need to know about and have the memories. He goes to the Giver(the person who gives Jonas the memories) and asked him for a way he could return all the memories to the citizens. The Giver said he was proud of the courage that Jonas had; that he was proud he had the courage to rebel against the government to get what he thinks is right. The Giver gives Jonas more memories of courage so that he will be able to survive through the harsh conditions outside the city. Jonas goes to the outside of the city and is faced by many harsh conditions and also troops from the government. But he doesn’t give up. He has the courage to get what he wants. In the end, Jonas makes it to the Boundary of Memory and releases all the memories to every citizen in the city. Therefore, courage can be

Being the receiver of memory was a very important job in the community, however the citizens have no idea what the receiver actually does. While citizens have a very simple life with nothing to worry about, the receiver and giver of memory take on a very emotional life filled with pain. They have so much knowledge from memories that they can’t share with anyone, and this can be painful in itself. The Giver tell Jonas, “The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared” (Lowry 33). This pain comes from living a meaningful life, so it can be considered beautiful compared to others in the dystopia who feel nothing, nevertheless it still hurts as shown by the

Throughout the movie, it’s obvious that memories are a soul theme. First off, the memories of the people are removed and erased. Memories of war, love, music, excitement, sadness, and the happiness are all removed. There are only two memory fulfilled people, the Giver, who gives the memories to the chosen one, and, the only other person with memories who is also the main character, Jonas. Memories are a sacred and important aspect of life. The loss of memories is a very extreme adversity. The deletion of memories is also used as a controlling agent. The government can use this memory loss to control its people and put false information into their minds. The Giver’s society removed memories to eliminate pain from every person’s life. Today, memories are not erased by the government, but by a disease, Alzheimer's or another form of dementia. These diseases change a person. People with memory loss have no grasp of pain, physical or emotional. It is as if the person has never felt pain. As known already the Giver removes memories, which also puts a censorship over everyone. Without the ability of remembering how they felt towards an certain subject, they can't put forth their opinion or thoughts. Along with that words are largely censored, a example of words that are censored are words that have emotion to them. The word love is forbidden to say since it has emotion to it. Also inappropriate words are restricted to be said, to keep unintentional lies to be said. Besides words being censored, knowledge and info are controlled too. In reality we have multiple ways of receiving info or knowledge without it being handled by the government. In the giver the only way you receive any info at all is coming straight from the government. Who are also

A topic I learned more of this semester in regards to the older population was dementia. Some loss in memory function is an inevitable consequence of aging, and as one ages, it takes more time to process information and retrieve memories. However, "Dementia is a general term that refers to progressive, degenerative brain dysfunction, including deterioration in memory, concentration, language skills, visuospatial skills, and reasoning, that interferes with a person's daily functioning" (Mauk, 2014, p. 377). This loss of mental skills affects the ability to function over time, causing problems with memory and how one thinks, impacting these individual's overall quality of life.

The first memory the Giver transfers to Jonas, the main character, is one memory of going down a hill of snow on a sled. The sled also shows up at the end of the story during his escape from the old community to the new community where emotion and color existed and not just in dreams. The sled

To illustrate, The Giver says, “ If I go with you, and together we take away all their protection from the memories, Jonas, the community will be left with no one to help them. They’ll be thrown into chaos. They’ll destroy themselves” (Lowry 156). This shows that without memories or past experience, the community is forced to be dependent on someone who has wisdom. Overall, with

Theodor Seuss Geisel once said, “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” History contains both good and bad events, but it seems that more of the bad events, or memories, have been documented. The reason for this is to prevent society from repeating these same bad actions. I too have had both good and bad memories. One good memory for me was doing loops in an old biplane with my dad. A bad, or sad, memory is one that I did not experience first-hand. It is remembering how the Jewish people were treated in the Holocaust as read from The Diary of Anne Frank. In The Giver, Jonas, the Receiver of Memory, received both good memories and lamentable ones. Both types of memories are valuable, and necessary,

“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared. (Lowry, Goodreads). In other words it’s saying the pain Jonas is feeling is mental and emotional but not physical. The giver is making Jonas feel these memories and they're coming back to his head. And by sharing memories it lets you get help or makes you feel good because people can help you. My Thesis is comparing and contrasting modern day to the Giver.

The Giver is a morally driven and thought-provoking story about a young boy called Jonas who lives in a society free of crime, sadness, pain, death, music, color and love. The story follows Jonas as he receives the memories of the past, good and bad, from the current Receiver, who is called the Giver. The Giver transfers memories by placing his hands on Jonas 's forearms. The first memory he receives is of a thrilling sled ride, which he will remake in the end of the movie. Jonas discovers the dangerous truths of his community 's secret past. Armed with the power of knowledge, which he knew about from memories (Ways of Knowledge), Jonas realizes that he must release all the memories to the community to allow them to feel