The Giver's 'Jonas': Chapter Summary

Set in a community with no climate, emotions, choices, or memories Lois Lowry tells the tale of Jonas in The Giver. Jonas is selected to be the receiver of memory, which means the memories of generations past, before the community was created, will all be transferred to him to hold. As Jonas receives memories his concept of the world around him drastically changes. Jonas starts out as twelve-year-old boy with perceptions different from those around him, he then begins to see the community for what it really is, and he makes a plan to change it.

At the first impression of Jonas one would decide that he is not a trustable character. In the story, each night every family is required to tell their feelings and what happened throughout their day to make them feel this way. The book states “Who wants to be the first tonight, for feelings? Jonas’s father asked, at the conclusion of their evening meal” (Lowry,5). Asking if Jonas could be trusted is automatically a no, for each day he explains his feelings and why he felt that way. If he did not then he would be lying, which is breaking the rules of his town. If one was to tell Jonas something special, the odds of him telling his parents are very high due to the fact they discuss every night. Jonas being a kid that sticks to the rules, will

1) Although Jonas father isn’t one of the main characters in the story (like Jonas, the Giver) his character is one of the more complex and interesting in the novel. Jonas’s father is a Nurturer in the community. Jonas understands that his father’s job is of great importance but Jonas shows little interest in it. Information about Jonas father is provided through his interactions with Jonas and talked about by Jonas, beginning in the first chapter.

This starts making Jonas wonder why his dad was going to release a newborn twin, Jonas realizes that release means they kill them. Then 2 days later his father said they were going to release Gabriel and now that Jonas knew what happens in a release he takes Gabriel and runs from the community. Many people have said that Jonas did the right decision and left so that people can have feelings for each other and not just kill cause that what they were taught to do.

The Giver is written from Jonas’s confusion, excitement, glory, and discoveries. Jonas is a twelve-year-old boy living in a futuristic civilization that has eliminated all pain, fear, love, and free will. There is no chauvinism, since everyone looks and acts basically the same, and there are no “important” choices to be made, also, everyone is consistently polite. The “perfect” society Jonas lives in has also abolished choice: At age twelve every member of the community is assigned a job based on his or her abilities and interests. Citizens can apply for compatible spouses, who are assigned to them based on interests and jobs and each couple is allowed to receive exactly two children each. (Notice that I said receive, not give birth to.) In addition to that, spouses don’t show any signs of love or affection, just the word love, even when pointed at their children, makes them burst in laughter and explanations! Citizens who break rules or fail to adapt properly to the society’s codes of behavior are “released”. Everything is planned and organized so that life is as convenient and pleasant as possible, or so they think.

Jonas perspective was different from Asher’s perspective because they don’t have the same life and some things they can’t relate to. Jonas had more problems in his life then Asher. Jonas have a selection but don’t know what it’s meant for and in that perspective of his he have to find out what that’s meant for. On the other hand Asher doesn’t have a selection yet so he don’t know exactly how Jonas takes things. So Asher and Fiona helps Jonas figure out what he needs to know about his selection.

In the complex argument of whether Jonas dies or lives, it is clear that he had fallen into the grave. The text states that Jonas saw a light and felt warmth: “But somewhere ahead, through the blinding storm, he knew there was warmth and light.” The glowing in which Jonas sees is the luminous heaven and the warmth in which he feels is just the embrace of dying and drifting off to the afterlife. The text also states that Jonas was beginning to feel weak and faint, “Using his final strength, and a special knowledge that was deep inside him, Jonas found the sled that was waiting for them at the top of the hill. Numbly his hands fumbled for the rope.” He didn't have any strength left which means that Jonas could not get up and keep moving forward

Maturity if often defined as wisdom, numerous experiences, or sophistication during particular events. Maturity can be considered the state of mind a person is in when making decisions, speaking, or simply the way they carry themselves throughout their life. Being mature is not related to a person’s age, but rather how they move throughout the world.

Jonas’s father is who performs releases and does not question about it, it’s what's he’s told to do. The Giver states,“It’s what he was told to do, and he knows nothing else.” (pg.153) Jonas’s community chooses Sameness rather than valuing individual expression. At one time in the past, the people in Jonas’s community intended to create a perfect society; they thought preventing people from making wrong choices, the community would be safe. People became controlled and were manipulated. The expression “love” is considered “too general.” Jonas asks his parents if they love him, his mother states, “Your father means that you a very generalized word, so meaningless that it’s become obsolete.” In Jonas’s community people accept all rules and customs.

He heard people singing. Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. but perhaps it was only an echo. Jonas got up off the sled and followed the sound he had heard, it led him and Gabriel to the doorstep of the house with the shining lights through the window. He felt filled with joy as he stood at the front door with Gabriel in his arms. He couldn't find himself to knock on the door, he was afraid of not getting accepted in their life. That's all he wanted, to get accepted into their life. The life with emotions. The life he wanted, he couldn't picture himself in life without emotions anymore. He could never go back into the world he lived in before. He thought to himself,

I believe that the people in Jonas’ community are not truly happy because they don’t know how to be. I feel as if the people in the community are content with themselves and how they live their everyday lives, but since they don’t know how to feel feelings, I don’t think that they are happy. In The Giver, it stated, “He found that he was often angry, now: irrationally angry with his groupmates, that they were satisfied with their lives which had none of the vibrance his own was taking on.” This shows that Jonas’ also feel that the people in his community and his fellow classmates aren’t able to feel any true joy or feel substantial sadness. Focusing on particular people, I feel that Jonas himself is not happy. Even though he is one of the

Lois Lowry offers readers a clear insight into each of the characters internal feelings, since the film can not describe how each of the characters are feeling in depth as the book does, this is sorely missed in the film adaption. The director changes how characters feel about each other, in particular how Fiona feels about Jonas. The novel details Jonas feeling “stirrings” for Fiona, but he never acts on them, in contrast in the movie he does act on them and it leads him to a makeshift sled ride, a kissing scene, and also Fiona facing release for breaking the rules on several occasions including when she helps Jonas and Gabe escape. 'He felt such love for Asher and for Fiona. But they could not feel it back, without the memories.' Compared to Noyces version were Fiona knows she feels something, but not quiet what this leads her to she asks Jonas 'what was that' after he kisses her and then in return when she helps Jonas and Gabe escape she says 'wait' and kisses him as

Jonas’s father was acting kind before he released the twins. Some evidence of this is when he helped lily when she was angry at the children from the other group. Lily was angry at the other children because they did not follow the rules. Lily talked with her mother and father about the other children. Jonas’s father helped Lily realize that the other children were probably scared, and did not understand the rules of the playground. A second instance when Jonas’s father was a good person is when he cared about Gabe. On page 12, Jonas’s father said “It was right there in the office, and I looked up number thirty-six — that’s the little guy I’ve been concerned about—because it occurred to me that it might enhance his nurturing if I could

Back at Jonas’s dwelling, Lily is excited about getting a bike, and Gabriel has learned how to walk. The Ceremony of Nine, when all the Nines get their bikes, is coming soon. It is almost December, almost a year since Jonas became the Receiver. Jonas’s father has to sleep early because the twins are being born tomorrow, and he has to decide which one to keep and which one to send to Elsewhere. Jonas asks his father if he actually takes it to Elsewhere. His father explains that he has to make a selection, weighs them, hands the larger one to a Nurturer standing by, and gets the smaller one “all cleaned up and comfy”. He then performs the Ceremony of Release. Jonas asks if someone from Elsewhere comes to get the baby. His father answers yes.

This book is divided into 3 different parts, Before, Between, Beyond. In before Claire which is the main character, She starts to give birth. The birth doesn’t go as planned and she gets resigned from her birthmother job because she got hurt during her birth. So she got reassigned to a Fish Hatchery.