The Giver
Author: Lowis Lowry, Summary By: Robert Steward
Summary
Jonas is a boy who lives in a community where everything is controlled and kept under close observation, there is no choice, conflict, inequality, and injustice in the community. When Jonas attends the yearly ceremonies, this year the Ceremony of Twelve, he will receive his life assignment which was predetermined by the Committee of Elders. Instead though, Jonas was skipped, but later after all the life assignments were given it was announced that Jonas was chosen to be the next Receiver of Memory, a very honorable position. Jonas, the Receiver, now would be trained by The Giver. Jonas, after going through more than year's worth of training, has now received many good, bad, joyful, and painful memories, he now sees color, which previously before receiving the memories he could not see. Jonas also has learned many things from the past which only him and The Giver know about in the community. After learning about climate control, sameness, release, and many of the factors that lead to what his community is today Jonas is furious and sad because he wants to release all the memories he has received from The Giver to all the people in his community. The Giver and Jonas then spend a whole night creating a daring daring plan for Jonas to escape his community under the cover of night. The evening before Jonas' escape, he learns that Gabriel, a small child that has been living with his family and he has been secretly transmitting memories to, will be released the next morning, which in other words means Gabriel will be killed. That night Jonas escapes and takes Gabriel with him, and all night until dawn Jonas travels on his bike the furthest he can get from the community because once the sun comes out search planes with heat detectors will fly out in search for him and Gabriel. Several days pass and no longer are there any search planes trying to find Jonas, now Jonas needs to survive and care for Gabriel on his own.
Jonas... And A Little About Him
Jonas is the main character in The Giver. He is a teenager who recently received his life assignment as The Receiver. He has a sister named Lily, a mom, a dad, but also a new child named Gabriel staying in his dwelling due to growing issues. Jonas is very curious, intelligent, courageous, clever, and has integrity, he faces a lot of challenges though too. A challenge he faced throughout most of this novel is him not being able to share or discuss what he has been doing in his training, this was very difficult for him. Also, a major challenge he faced was successfully escaping the community without being seen/caught, and to make sure he still wasn't caught by the search planes. Lastly, Jonas' training isn't always having to be transmitted with good and joyful memories, he also has to be transmitted painful and bad memories, and some of these memories cause him stress and anger.
Other Important Characters
The Giver
The Giver, an elderly man with a beard and pale eyes like Jonas', is the current Receiver of Memory. He carries the burden of the memories of the world, and suffers from the pain contained within the memories. The Giver is unable to share his work with anyone in the community (because they would never understand),and therefore he is lonely. His life is totally different from the lives of other citizens in the community. He lives in rooms called the Annex. He can lock his door and turn off the speaker, he has walls lined with shelves from top to bottom, holding thousands of books. These things isolate The Giver from other people living in the community. The Giver possesses a lot of wisdom, and he is very intelligent.
Asher
Asher is Jonas' best friend. He is a cheerful, friendly boy who makes a game out of everything. Asher has always had trouble following the rules. He is often late for school and, as a result, has had to make numerous public apologies. The people in the community easily forgive Asher for his imperfections, because they like and enjoy him. At the Ceremony of Twelve, Asher was assigned to be Assistant Director of Recreation.
Gabriel
Gabriel is the new child that was staying with Jonas' family due to growing issues. Gabriel wouldn't meet the growth standards and therefore he needed extra care so Jonas' dad, a nurturer, took him to their dwelling. What's important about Gabriel is that Jonas transmitted a few soothing memories to Gabriel secretly to calm him down. Also when Jonas learns that Gabriel will be released on the day Jonas escapes, Jonas takes him and survives with Gabriel on the journey.
"Memories are forever.” - Lois Lowry, The Giver
Teacher-Like Questions
- What was the purpose of Climate Control and Sameness?
- What really happens when somebody is released from the community?
- Since the people in the community cannot see color what gadget do the pilots on the search planes use to find people?
- What was the first memory The Giver transmitted to Jonas? Describe it.
- What happened to Rosemary 10 years ago?
Overall Rating
My overall rating of this book would be 4 out of 5 stars. I think the novel did not deserve 5 stars because I thought the novel was slow-paced and the events took forever to come. Also there very few exciting events, this novel didn't really keep me on the edge of my seat. The author though, Lowis Lowry, did write this book very well, I liked how descriptive she was. There was also a lot of dialogue and interaction between characters which I like. All i really didn't like about this novel was that it was that there weren't many exciting events.