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Essay on The Perception of Jonas in Lois Lowry's The Giver

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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. Even as a child Jonas was unusually perceptive, this is characterized through his pale eyes which appear deeper than the other children’s dark eyes. While he gets along well with his …show more content…

Jonas feels the warmth of the sun, the joy of sledding, and love of a family. He also begins to see color and soon the color transfers over from the memories to his everyday vision. Jonas, already a curious boy, wonders why the elders would want to take away such wonderful experiences. He thinks everybody should experience these extraordinary emotions and senses. Jonas’ passion soon overwhelms his actions. He tries to allow the people close to him to see and feel what he does. He asks his parents if they love him but they say love is a meaningless word, that instead they enjoy him. Jonas also tries to discuss things with his friends, only they do not understand the things he says. Jonas does find someone to share his memories with though, Gabriel. He helps Gabriel sleep by transmitting peaceful memories to him. 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

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