The Giver
Lois Lowry
created by: Larissa Jarrett
Summary
Jonas is an eleven year old boy who lives in a rigidly controlled society sometime in the future. In his "community," there is no suffering, hunger, war, and no color, music, or love. Everything is controlled by "the Elders," right down to who you will marry, who you receive as children, and what you will be "assigned" as a job.
Jonas is almost twelve; it's almost time for him to get assigned a profession. There's a big ceremony at which the decisions are announced. Jonas watches all his friends get their jobs but then he's skipped over. The Chief Elder finishes the ceremony and explains that Jonas has been "selected" to be The Receiver of Memory, which is a big deal now that Jonas has been selected to be Receiver; he gets a list of rules. They tell him that he isn't allowed to discuss his Receiver "training" with anyone, that he's allowed to lie, and that he can ask anyone any questions he wants, even if it's rude or nice.
Jonas starts his training, which consists of receiving a series of memories from the old Receiver, who is now referred to as The Giver. The old man is passing on to Jonas all the memories of humanity, going way back. The memories are from before their community was established, back when there was color and love and music and emotions and hills and snow and sunshine, all of which are particularly absent from Jonas's world. The very first memory he receives is that of sledding down a hill in the snow. While Jonas gets to experience lots of fun things like Christmas and birthday parties, he also has to deal with the bad memories, like sunburn, loss, death, and warfare.
This completely changes the way Jonas looks at his world. He realizes that no one around him has ever felt any real emotions at all. A year into his training, Jonas discovers that the process of "release," which is performed on people who break the rules, babies who are sick, and people who are very old. He learns they get ejected with a needle until death.
He didn’t take this information very well. He and The Giver make a plan that Jonas will fake his own death and run away to Elsewhere. Once Jonas leaves, the memories which The Giver has passed to him will be released to the general community, at which point they'll all just have to deal with the pain.
While he's getting ready for the big escape night, Jonas finds out that the little baby with light eyes, Gabriel, is going to be "released" the next morning. He has to make an unprepared, fast-paced, and exciting bicycle escape, taking the baby with him.
Weeks later, Jonas is still biking away from the community with Gabriel. They're basically starving to death. Jonas keeps trying to transmit memories to Gabriel, memories of sunshine, etc, in order to keep them going. Finally, it starts snowing and Jonas gets to the base of a familiar-looking hill. He ditches the bike and walks up with Gabriel, still trying to cling on to pleasant memories.
When he gets to the top, the sled is waiting for him. He climbs into it and pushes off down the hill, fully convinced that at the bottom are Elsewhere and a whole group of people waiting to greet them.
Main Character : Jonas
Jonas – he is the eleven year old hero in “The Giver”. Sensitive and intelligent, with strange powers of perception that he doesn’t understand. Jonas is chosen to be the new Receiver of Memory for his community when he turns twelve. Even before his training, Jonas is unusually thoughtful, expresses great concern for his friends and family, and thinks it would be nice to be closer to other people. After his training begins, Jonas’s universe widens dramatically. His new awareness of strong emotions, beautiful colors, and great suffering makes him extremely passionate about the world around him and the welfare of the people he loves, though on the whole he remains level-headed and thoughtful.He encounters a couple of challenges such as hunger after he escapes with the new born Gabriel.
Other Important Characters : Fiona
Fiona is the same age as Jonas. She was assigned to be a Caretaker of the Old, and Jonas is upset to learn that she has been thoroughly trained to do releasing. She is cheerful and eager to help old people at the Home, and is also Jonas and Asher's best friend, since they are the same age and were in the same class at school. Jonas also realizes that Fiona is the main subject of his Stirrings. She has dark eyes like the rest of the Community. She has red hair, which looked odd to Jonas when he first began to see colors.
Other Important Characters : The giver
The Receiver has the access to all the memories of the past. The Receiver, later called 'The Giver' by Jonas, has similarly pale eyes like those of Jonas and of Gabriel. He trains Jonas to succeed him as the next Receiver of Memories. He is an old, grave man who has been wearied by the burden of carrying alone the sorrow and the pain that memories bring. Jonas makes him realize that the community needs to change, and he agrees to a plan that will make everyone have access to the memories of the past. To Jonas who is often confused and frustrated as a result of his training, The Giver is a paternal figure who provides guidance as well as wisdom.
Other Important Characters : Asher
Asher is Jonas's best friend. He is clumsy, careless, and imprecise with words, but cheerful and good-humored. When he becomes a Twelve, Asher receives the Assignment of Assistant Director of Recreation. He and Jonas gradually grow distant as Jonas receives training and begins to understand the truth about the community.
“For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. 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.” ― Lois Lowry, The Giver
Teacher like question #1
What is the rule about family units?
Teacher like question #2
What happens to the Nines at a Ceremony?
Teacher like question #3
Describe the life of a Birth mother
Teacher like questions #4
What is the treatment for Stirrings?
Teacher like questions #5
What is Asher's assignment?