The Giver By Lois Lowry: Character Analysis

The character in the story that I was most fascinated by was the Giver. This character has many admirable qualities. He is resilient against the painful and hard memories he has seen and he is loving. He and Jonas are the only two characters in the story that are even capable of loving. While reading this story, I felt as though the Giver and Jonas were lucky because they get to understand and feel love, but on the other end of the spectrum, they experience pain and great sadness. The other characters in the story get to be blissfully unaware of the pain and suffering of the past. The first trait that I mentioned above, resilience, is why I like the Giver’s character so much. The quote that exemplifies this is, “The worst part of holding memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.” “I’ve shared them with you,” Jonas said, trying to cheer him up. “That’s true. And having you here with me over the past year has made me realize that things must change. For years I’ve felt that they should, but it seemed so hopeless. “Now for the first time I think there might be a way (Lowry 1993 Ch. 20 p. 154-155 para. 9-11).” This shows the Giver’s resilience. He has been lonely because he had these memories, some that were very painful, and no one with which to share them. He saw pain and love and somehow lived with the burden of this knowledge. He continued to carry the burden of being the Receiver while

In The Giver, on page 64, it says,¨You´ve been greatly honored Jonas. Greatly honored.¨ This illustrates the way the community realizes and knows about the past, in helping Jonas out in realizing how honored he is, leading up to future tools and events.On page 81 in The Giver, it states, “‘Honor,’ he said firmly. ‘I have great honor. So will you. But you will find that it is not the same as power.’” Jonas believes he has omnipotent power, but the Giver sees his and Jonas’s extraordinary honor in this assignment. He sees how far Jonas will go within. The Chief Elder, on page 57 in The Giver, says, ¨Such a selection is very, very rare.¨The Chief Elder tells Jonas about the pain, but uses strong, accelerating words from within her heart to cheer Jonas up and make him feel confident in himself. She knows the pain within Jonas will experience. She knows pain turns to honor all in the end. In page 58, it states, “Alone? Apart? Jonas listened with increasing unease.¨ Jonas fears being alone, so what he thinks is he won’t see anyone ever again. The truth is, he has the Giver on his side, his family on his side, and Gabe on his side. He still sees them, because he is home almost every night. Just because he can’t discuss his training, doesn’t mean he’s

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

Imagine living in a perfect society, and hearing that someone has been selected for the most important job. There is extreme pain to go with this job, but pain is something never felt before. The assignment of being the communities next Receiver is a punishment, not an honor. While being the new Receiver of Memory, Jonas receives a large amount of pain from different experiences in his memories. Jonas realizes that his training for being the new Receiver is going to be very lonely and he is worried if he is going to be able to hang out with his friends. Jonas now realizes that his life will now be different from what his life was before.

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

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.

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

As Jonas receives memories from the Giver, he realizes that knowledge is useless without them. For example, the Giver explains his role with the Committee of Elders, “‘...when they are

Additionally, in the middle of the book, Jonas is upset when he sees Asher playing with a group of kids, a game, that he himself had played in the past. However, after training to be the next receiver, Jonas only then sees the true meaning behind the game. “It was a game he had often played with the other children...He had never recognized it before as a game of war...In his mind, Jonas saw again the face of the boy who had lain dying on a field and had begged him for water” (Lowry 167). As Jonas receives more memories, he begins to realize deeper meanings and is unable able to overlook events so easily. He himself sees the true significance and is frustrated when everyone else is deceived, only seeing what is on the outside. Near the end of the book, Jonas and the Giver watch a newborn child being released by Jonas’s

It's an honor if they are the only ones that hold this knowledge and responsibility. After the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas’ mom says, “You’ve been honored, Jonas. Greatly honored,” (85). She is talking about how important of a job the Receiver of Memory is and how honored it is. This shows that honor is part of the Receiver's job and that having respect is part of the honor that the Receiver has.

Connecting the Dots by:McKinley Munk “It would work. They could make it work, Jonas told himself again and again throughout the day”(Lowry 204). In The Giver by Lois Lowry, a boy named Jonas is picked as the next Receiver of Memory. During his training, he is given memories from the past. With those memories he sees frightening and rejoicing times.

From there he goes to see the Receiver of Memory to get the memories from him. Some memories are about love and peace but others are about pain and sadness. Therefore Jonas is the true giver, because he gives many people memories.

Once Jonas turned twelve, during the ceremony he was singled out and given the most important role in their community by the elders. (who are in control of their society) To receive special training from the Giver. The Giver alone is the only one who holds the past memories of all the pain, fear and joy there is to behold. Now its Jonas’s task to receive the painful truth.

Jonas begins “The Giver” feeling uneasy about the upcoming ceremony of twelve, where he will receive the assignment that determines his vocation for the rest of his working life. That night, at the nightly sharing of feelings, after his sister, father, and mother discuss their emotions, his parents comfort him about his worries. They remind him that his life will change after the ceremony, but they reassure him that the committee of elders has been watching him closely and will give him an appropriate assignment.