Giver Essay Agustin Fitipaldi Bervejillo In the book The Giver, by Lois Lowry. The main character Jonas is not like others in his utopian community. He is a normal 12 year old boy and is living in the same old community of sameness. Until one day he gets selected to be the Receiver of Memory and begins to experience things on a different way because of the memories being transmitted to him. As the changes become more evident, Jonas begins to see flaws in his seemed to be perfect world. Throughout the book, you see how Jonas is a dynamic character and changes in his thoughts, feelings and actions. “A mistake. She had made a mistake. But Jonas knew, even as he had the thought, that she hadn’t. The Chief Elder made no mistakes. Not at the Ceremony of Twelve.”(Lowry, p 57). In the beginning, Jonas is like any other person under the influence of sameness, he does not lie, he thinks that the Chief Elder makes no mistakes, and does not know that there is a real world out there waiting for him. This all changes when he is selected to be the next Receiver of Memory, “Jonas bowed his head and searched through his mind. What had he done wrong?”(Lowry, p 58). Jonas thinks he is not ready for it, and believes that they have chosen the wrong person. But little does he know, that when he accepts that job, there will be no turning back from what he is about to face. “For a moment he froze,
Change is inevitable no matter what difference is made. The Giver by author Lois Lowry is the story of a utopian community that has adopted sameness that actually seems more dystopian later on. The Giver’s protagonist is a boy, Jonas, who is chosen and honored to take the assignment of being the Receiver of Memories. Jonas as the new Receiver of Memories is trained by the previous Receiver of Memories who Jonas calls The Giver. This causes many joys and pains for Jonas, but a curiousness to every new memory that is given. The setting is set in a community that has gained the culture to be a strict community that is controlled by The Elders. Before meeting the Giver, Jonas began as an outcast,later as he met his mentor Jonas was brave, and as he became more mature he became determined.
At the start of the story Jonas is feeling nervous about the ceremony of twelve's, where the children are given their assignment. This is where for the first time in the children's life, they will be doing something different then every other person in the community. Jonas is given the very special occupation, which isn’t really an occupation at all, of Receiver of Memory. He is the only one that can have memories of what life was like before sameness. The memories are given to him by The Giver, who was the current Receiver of Memory. The Giver must transmit all memories of history (the good,
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.
Everyone is burden with pain. No one can escape emotional, physical or mental misery because it is part of what makes us human. Without pain we would live in a world of sameness. Although there is no way we can escape this reality, what if there existed a utopian society in which everyone could live peacefully without the burden of pain? Would everyone be better off or would living in ignorance be a burden for someone else? Lois Lowry gives us a glimpse into what life would be like in a world where conflict does not exist and shows us what this type of world would do to our humanity. In The Giver, she introduces us to Jonas, an eleven-year-old boy who starts off as an oblivious member of his
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
Through our society we are all raised up to be independent and unique individuals such as being ourselves and expressing who each of us are to the world. However, in the book The Giver by Lois Lowry, everyone is raised to count on one another and everyone must look and act the same. Our society differs from Jonas’s in many ways, such as the family units, birthdays, and the way we each learn about our past.
Elvis Presley once said, “Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain 't goin ' away.” Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave relates to this quote by focusing on the truths of reality that humans do not comprehend. We think that we understand what we are seeing in our world, but we really just perceive shadows of the true forms of the things that make up the world. We are ignorant about the true nature of reality. The novel, The Giver, by Lois Lowry also involves these concepts. The main character, Jonas, lives in a community of conformity and conflict. When he begins to spend time and train with The Giver, an old man who is the only keeper of the community 's memories, Jonas discovers the unsafe truths of his community 's secret past. Once Jonas discovers the reality about his community, it constantly pesters him until he makes an important decision. Jonas realizes that he must escape from his world in order to make a long needed change for his community. As the prisoner from The Allegory of the Cave seeks knowledge outside of the cave, Jonas from The Giver discovers dark and deadly truths of his community’s secret past that will change his life forever.
In the novel, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, the topic of life occurs throughout the story. Jonas lives in a community based on conformity and sameness. Jonas is chosen as the receiver of memory. As he is trained he learns that change is needed in the community. At the end of the book, Jonas tries to go elsewhere to return the memories back to the community. In The Giver, the author uses the characters, plot, and conflict to develop the theme that life can not be taken for granted.
"It wasn't a practical thing, so it became obsolete when we went to the Sameness.” (84) The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is from the perspective of a twelve year old boy named Jonas growing up in a Utopia. At the Ceremony of Twelve, where every person that turns twelve receives their life-long “job”, Jonas finds out he has been selected to be the Receiver of Memory, the most honored of elders. The current Receiver of memory, who Jonas calls the Giver, transfers memories of color and feelings like pain and joy to him. As he receives each memory, he learns of a life outside of the utopia. This book proves that being perfect and the same as everyone else is not as great as it sounds. The Utopian society of sameness in
In the book The Giver, it tells the story of a perfect world. Everyone there is happy and feels no pain. As the story progresses, the society appears more and more dystopian as the main goal of the society is revealed, which is sameness.() The community is constantly observed and controlled by every aspect in their lives. The committee assigns jobs, housing, husbands, wives, and children. If found breaking any of these laws, people are “released”, an indirect term for murdering. When Jonas is 12 years old, he 's chosen to be the community 's Receiver of Memory. Once he enters into training with an old man called 'The Giver ', he begins to receive memories of the real world that the rest of the community is hidden from. As the giver begins to show Jonas the important memories, he learns not only of love and family, but also of pain, war, and all the unhappy
The book The Giver by Lois Lowry takes place in a very futuristic society where there's no pain, war, concern or hate. Their society has eliminated memory all at once. Jonas, the eleven year old protagonist of the book, he is intelligent and sensitive. He has weird powers of perception that he does not perceive. Jonas is chosen to be the new receiver of memory once he turns twelve. Even before Jonas starts his coaching to become the receiver, he's thoughtful and has abundant concern for his family and friends. When he begins his coaching, Jonas’s universe becomes more advanced. His new awareness of lovely colors, robust emotions, and suffering makes him terribly addicted to the globe around him and also the happiness of individuals he loves. Jonas experiences emotional growth as a result of the memories he receives from the Giver, however that very same emotional growth makes him feel anxious and angry.
Jonas goes through a lot while receiving the memories from The Giver. He first gets happy memories such as the sled, but then The Giver has to give him painful memories. He first receives the memory of physical pain from sunburn (Lowry 86). The pain is minimal compared to the memory of a broken leg (Lowry 109) and an injured arm during a war. During the war memory, he sees death (Lowry 119, 121). He experiences grief when he receives the memory the shot elephant (Lowry 100). Most haunting of all are the memories of the release of old and the part his father plays in the release of new born (Lowry 150). These trials at first horrify Jonas but he learns to deal with the
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
Jonas lives in a perfect society where everyone is equal and there is no war, pain, or fear. Sounds great right? But not for long. When Jonas reaches the age of 12 he recieves his assignment or career, just like everybody else. But Jonas's assignment is different. Jonas is selected to be the reciever of memories. He will recieve the memories of what life used to be from the giver. He starts out with happy memories, but soon learns about war and pain. But it is hard for the giver too, to give memories to sombody else, when he knows the pain and suffering they bring. And he is still hurt by the memories he hasn't given yet. After awhile Jonas and the giver realize that life isn't the way it's supposed to be in the society, so they plan for Jonas to escape. When he does he brings along gabriel, an infant that his family has been taking care of, and that jonas has grown to love. And together they discover the wonders and fears of the real
The dystopian novel, The Giver by Lois Lowry is about a boy called Jonas becoming the new Receiver-of-Memories. Throughout the novel, the protagonist, Jonas matures as knowledge is gained, and begins to understand the deepest, and darkest secrets of the community he lives in that is seemly 'perfect'. The author has successfully analysed a variety of social issues present in today's modern world in the novel. Some issues implied are: lack of individuality which allows for easy control, the abandonment of emotions and the importance of memories.