The Giver's Courage In The Pearl By Lois Lowry

In all the books we have read, many of the characters demonstrate courage at some point in the story. Sometimes, when they demonstrate courage, they often have to make sacrifices or overcome obstacles with their life, some someone else’s life.
For instance, in The Pearl by John Steinbeck, Kino tests his courage when he stands up to the pearl buyers. When he stands up to the buyers, the pearl buyers do not take it very well and when kino was going home, “He saw a little glow ahead of him, and then without interval a tall flame leaped up in the dark with a crackling roar, and a tall edifice of fire lighted the pathway. Kino broke into a run; it was his brush house, he knew” (#). This signaled that his normal life was slowly disintegrating. Also, when Kino was going to get the gun from the hunters, it cost him his only child, Coyotito. When Kino was sneaking towards the gun, a hunter woke up because he heard a noise in the distance. Then he told the other hunters that “If it’s a coyote, this will stop it” (86) as he raised a gun towards the baby.

The main character Jonas decides to leave his town which is against the rules, and takes Gabe, a baby who he got really attached to and wanted to save from being killed. This cost him his life as well as the people regaining very disturbing memories of war and pain. When Jonas want the Giver to come with him and leave the people to bear the memories on their own, the Giver tells Jonas that he must stay and help the people cope with the memories they were soon to gain otherwise “Their attention would turn to the overwhelming task of bearing the memories themselves”