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The giver thematic essay
Analysis of themes of the novel the giver by lois lowry
The giver novel summary
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Importance of Memory
In the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry, a pronounced theme is truth drives determination.
One example of this theme is when the Giver transfers the memory of war to Jonas. He receives pain. After he receives the memory, “Jonas did not want to go back. He didn’t want the memories, didn't want the horror, didn’t want the wisdom, didn’t want the pain. He wanted his childhood again, his scraped knees and ball games”(121). In this quote, Jonas has been given an unpleasant memory. He is on the battlefield and there are dead horses and men; he is in tremendous pain. Jonas wants to go back to his life before they choose him to be the receiver of memory. At the same time, Jonas knows about the goodness of memories, and wants to spread that with everybody. The only way
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He is determined. He has made it so far to spread the truth and greatness of memories, he cannot stop now. “For a moment he thought how easy it would be to drop beside it himself, to let himself and Gabriel slide into the softness of snow, the darkness of night, the warm comfort of sleep. But he had come this far. He must try to go on” (175). This shows that Jonas is determined to get the memories out that he will not stop at any cost. Jonas draws his strength from the memories that the Giver transmits to him during his training. He leaves the comfort of his own community and family to bring back life before sameness. He knows that if he would be caught, he would be released or as Jonas learns that release is killing someone. He decides to save Gabe, who is at risk of release. In this quote Jonas and Gabe are traveling to the border or Elsewhere, with little supplies, and warmth. They are walking through cold snow, and are struggling to stay warm. Jonas thinks how easy it would be to just drop into the snow, but they have made it so far to release the memories, they can’t quit
This book was published in 1981 with an immense elaboration of media hype. This is a story of a young Mexican American who felt disgusted of being pointed out as a minority and was unhappy with affirmative action programs although he had gained advantages from them. He acknowledged the gap that was created between him and his parents as the penalty immigrants ought to pay to develop and grow into American culture. And he confessed that he got bewildered to see other Hispanic teachers and students determined to preserve their ethnicity and traditions by asking for such issues to be dealt with as departments of Chicano studies and minority literature classes. A lot of critics criticized him as a defector of his heritage, but there are a few who believed him to be a sober vote in opposition to the political intemperance of the 1960s and 1970s.
Throughout his training, the Giver gifts Jonas with many good memories to offset some of the horrific memories. The memory of war in particular is too traumatizing for Jonas to handle, no matter how many good memories the Giver can entrust to him. For example, the passage describes, “From the distance. Jonas could hear the thud if cannons. Overwhelmed by pain, he lay there in the fearsome stench for hours, listened to men and animals die, and learned what warfare meant.
Jonas decides to leave and change the lives of his people so that they can experience the truth. “The Giver rubbed Jonas’s hunched shoulders… We’ll make a plan” (155). Their plan involves leaving sameness and heading to Elsewhere, where Jonas knows the memories can be released to the people. He has a connection with Gabe, a special child who has experienced the memories, unlike the rest of the community. Jonas has a strong love for Gabe, and he longs to give him a better life. “We’re almost there, Gabriel” (178). Even with a sprained ankle, Jonas keeps pushing forward because he wants everyone to experience what The Giver has given him. He wants them to have a life where the truth is exposed. His determination allows him to make a change for a greater future in his community. This proves that Jonas has the strength to change his community for the
When he turns twelve, his job for the rest of his life is decided as the Receiver. His job is to receive all the memories the previous Receiver has held on to. While this is beneficial for Jonas as he is able to leave the society and his job of the Receiver behind and gets freedom, the community is left without someone to take the memories from The Giver. This is an example of conformity because a few of the Receivers before Jonas had left the community due to the things they were learning and finding out about the community, which changed the way they viewed the society. They then realized that they do not want to do this for the rest of their life, and for their job to sit around and hold memories as no one else is capable of knowing them is not something they want to do. To conclude, Jonas’s action to run away from the society follows in the footsteps of the others, and if others follow Jonas, there may never be a Receiver for the Jonas’s
Jonas is eleven years old at the beginning of the book. His twelfth birthday is coming up. All the children have their birthday on the same day. It is held at a ceremony. When they turn twelve, they are assigned jobs. Jonas is assigned the job of Receiver of Memory. Receiver of Memory is a very honored job. The Receiver has to keep the community’s memory. When the community went over to Sameness, what they are now, it eliminated all the memories of pain, war, and emotion. The memories didn’t disappear totally, someone had to keep them, and that would be Jonas’ new job.
Love and other deep emotions are not worth giving up for safety. Jonas’ own mother doesn’t love him, she doesn’t know what love means. “Do you love me… So meaningless that it has become almost obsolete” (pg127). Jonas refused to live where your parents don’t know what the meaning of love is. So he left. He took a stand. Jonas found out that his father was going to kill his stepbrother, Gabe and he was furious. His father doesn’t even know what the word kill means. His father honestly thought he was helping Gabe by releasing him, just because he didn’t sleep soundly through the night. If he knew the emotions of love, empathy and hope he might have known that release is a bad thing. But they chose to not have feelings because they were afraid of heartbreaks,
Jonas said “I gave him memories along the way to let him survive, but he’s cold.” The giver had started to give Jonas and Gabe memories to keep them warm and alive. Jonas felt the memory of him sitting next to a campfire and it was as hot as a hot bathing room in the house of the old. Jonas had remembered about his friends Fiona and Asher and asked the giver. “Where is Fiona and Asher.”
Jonas thinks the community can help benefit Jonas by taking the memories. Jonas can barely sustain the pain of the memories. He thinks that the community can rely on one another to get through the hardship that is the memories. This is because
“I did,” Jonas whispers back. Jonas didn’t want anyone to have the memories he held because he didn’t care for it anymore, but he had hoped that Gabriel will start a new and better world that what they in today. During the time Jonas is processing his thoughts he turns his attention to the Giver, as he just entered the door and sat in the chair where they do releasing, for traitors. Before the Nurturer puts the strong, needle-pointed stainless steel syringe, he says his last
He receives so many horrible memories that attack his emotional state. On page 189, it says, “Jonas felt a ripping sensation inside himself, the feeling of terrible pain clawing its way forward to emerge in a cry.” This quote shows how much pressure and suffering Jonas was put through. He doesn’t know how to handle all of the pressure that the receiver of memory has on
“Don’t look back, you’re not going that way.” I think that quote goes best with The Giver because when The Giver gave him all of the memories of hurt and love and told him things he didn’t know he wanted to give up. But Jonas keep going and didn’t give up. In the end of “The Giver,” Jonas and Gabriel died because when they were laying in the snow Jonas was living in his memories. I think that because he was imagining the music and people singing then he might be in his memories and the giver gave him those memories.
In The Giver, memories would scare everyone due to the protection of the people for the longest time. As for the quote "It hurt a lot," Jonas said, "but I'm glad you gave it to me. It was interesting. And now I understand better. What it meant, that there would be pain." he knew feelings would give him pain, but he was glad about it. He finally knew about the history and facts. To know colors, and had memories of a lake in the sunny sky that he had given to Gabe when he took him. In our society, people know many memories of life and death. But for ...
Jonas misses the way it was before he had memories where there was no pain or feeling, because everything was innocent. But he understands that although there was innocence nobody feels true happiness.Jonas thinks: “But he knew he couldn’t go back to that world of no feelings that he had lived in so long” (Lowry 131). Jonas wishes he could go back when everything was innocent and when he had no burden of pain, but although there was innocence the bad memories were stripped away to avoid the feeling of pain but also leaves everyone emotionless. But he knows it can never be the same again because of all the knowledge he gained from memories. He learns that memoires need to be valued, even the painful ones. Jonas feels that his community can change and things could be different. He thinks they should live in a world with memories. Jonas says: “Things could be different. I don’t know how, but there must be some way for things to be different. There could be colours [...] and everybody would have memories [...] There could be love” (Lowry 128). Jonas wishes that they could all have memories because everyone would be able to experience love. Love is one of the most important things in human life. He knows that there are bad memories, but without them, he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the good ones. Eventually, with his feelings
This is strange to Jonas because him community practices “sameness” and “climate control”, so there is no hills, temperature, or color. Later in the book, Jonas insists on painful memories; The Giver gives him memories of broken bones, starvation, and war. Jonas grows curious about what “release” is, so The Giver shows Jonas a tape of Jonas's father releasing an underdeveloped infant by injecting and euthanizing him. Jonas becomes disgusted that Sameness has abolished independence, love and the value of life. The Giver agrees with this realization, and they develop a plan for Jonas to run away; this will release the memories to the
Jonas always tells his dreams. He always was there for chastisement. He always shared his feelings at the evening meal. He also always took his pill every morning. “Now he swallowed the pill his mother handed him.”(Page 38). By the end of the book Jonas is rebellious. He stops taking pills for emotions that he is supposed to take everyday. Jonas stays at the Giver’s house when he sees his father kill a baby. Jonas also tries to escape from the community when Giver creates a plan to escape from the community which Jonas barely follows because of Gabe’s release. “But your role now is to escape.” (Page 162). This means that Jonas has to escape and the Giver must stay to help the community after he is gone.