What would you do if you lived in a world without color, feelings; a place without memories? Jonas is a boy that just became a Twelve, who lives in a world without these things. Being a Twelve is an important in the community because that is when they acquire their jobs. Being the Receiver of Memory becomes Jonas’ job; one of the most important positions in the community. After Jonas receives memories of the world before the community was made, his personality starts to change Before he became the Receiver of memory, Jonas was dependent on his community, but because of his job, the memories, and his relationship with Gabe, he became more and more independent. To start, Jonas became more independent when he chosen as receiver of …show more content…
So, the fact that he is not able to share anything to anyone else makes him more independent. Also, in his job he meets the Giver who helps him see color which contributed to his independence. The colors first appeared when he played catch with Asher using a apple. Suddenly the apple “changed”. Jonas didn’t know what happened so he consulted the Giver and figured out that he was seeing the color red. In the book it states “He put his hands on Asher’s shoulders, and concentrated on the red of the petals, trying to hold it as long as he could, and trying at the same time to transmit the awareness of red to his friend. ‘What’s the matter?’ Asher asked uneasily. ‘Is something wrong?’” (Page 100) This means that the people other than the people with pale eyes cannot see memories or color by transmission. Jonas is forced to be independent because only he and the Giver can see colors and no one else can see or understand
Jonas, the protagonist, is assigned the job of holding memories for the community. This is so that not everyone has to experience sad or painful memories. The Giver's job is to transmit these memories to Jonas and, in doing so, reveals the wonders of love, and family, and pain, and sorrow to this young boy. Jonas begins to resent the rules of sameness and wants to share these joys with his community. After receiving his first memory, Jonas says, "I wish we had those things, still." (p. 84)
Without memories, nobody can make the right decision, which will lead to a bad choice. Without memories, one cannot shape his or her future. In addition, when Jonas describes the pain he feel when experiencing a sunburn when, “‘It hurts a lot,’ Jonas said, ‘but I’m glad you gave it to me. It was interesting,”(Lowry 86). This quote show that Jonas does not understand
This first becomes evident when Lily tells him that the newchild Gabriel had pale eyes like his own while “almost every citizen in the community had dark eyes (Lowry 25).” Later, while playing catch with Asher using an apple, the apple changes for an instant, but Jonas is the only one who sees the change. The purpose for these differences is revealed when Jonas is “selected to be [the] new Receiver of Memory (Lowry 76).” There is only one Receiver of Memory, so the person selected must be unique from the others to perfectly fit the
That piece of fruit had- well… the apple had changed.” (Page 24) Jonas had started to see color, in the apple. No one else in the community could do this-see color. Other than The Giver.
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
He starts to believe that a world of sameness where no one can decide or make choices for themselves is boring. Lois Lowry is warning readers that living in a world of sameness is not something to create as it is boring and dull, but if the world follows conformity and does not value diversity and difference enough, society could become that of Jonas’s. 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 get freedom, the community is left without someone to take the memories from The Giver.
Once Jonas begins his training with the Giver, however, the tendencies he showed in his earlier life—his sensitivity, his heightened perceptual powers, his kindness to and interest in people, his curiosity about new experiences, his honesty, and his high intelligence—make him extremely absorbed in the memories the Giver has to transmit. In turn, the memories, with their rich sensory and emotional experiences, enhance all of Jonas’s unusual qualities. Within a year of training, he becomes extremely sensitive to beauty, pleasure, and suffering, deeply loving toward his family and the Giver, and fiercely passionate about his new beliefs and feelings. Things about the community that used to be mildly perplexing or troubling are now intensely frustrating or depressing, and Jonas’s inherent concern for others and desire for justice makes him yearn to make changes in the community, both to awaken other people to the richness of life and to stop the casual cruelty that is practiced in the community. Jonas is also very determined, committing to a task fully when he believes in it and willing to risk his own life for the sake of the people he loves.
...with running from something. Jonas leaves behinds everything he has every known in hopes that community with better from it.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Jonas knocked on the door. A tall shadowed figure came to the door, it was the giver. He let them in and put them on a bed. Jonas started to ask questions to the giver, “Where are we.”
You know everything about the past and the present from your life, but the citizens of Jonas’ community don’t. Everything is hidden from them, except for Jonas and The Giver, who have all
The sincere awareness of colors is not only forgotten, but dismissed into mere memories, and consigned into oblivion. Jonas, after gaining the awareness of colors, comes to the conclusion of wanting the choices that he could make in his daily routine. “I want to decide things! A blue tunic, or a red one?” (97). After The Giver asks Jonas why it is not fair that nothing has color, Jonas realizes that, for him, color is not just an nature. It also represents a level of individual freedom and choice that he has never known in his rigidly controlled society. This forces Jonas to face the disadvantages of living in such a community where self-expression is stifled. Jonas is talking about the sameness in the community and how he has to wear the same, old gray tunic. The Giver points out that choice is at the heart of the matter; when you can’t choose, it makes life very dull. “It’s the choosing that’s important” (98). Because the world in which Jonas has grown up has no color, the appearance of color in the story is important and meaningful. Color represents Jonas’s want for more individual expression. Colors brighten in a special way and Jonas, coming fro...
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
Jonas has always been an inquisitive and curious person, even more so when he obtains the role of Receiver of Memory. One example of this important trait occurs after the Ceremony of Twelve. Jonas was still confused about his role, but he was anxious to learn about the incident involving the previous girl who was supposed to take the position of the
Community Jonas lives could be described as a perfect society. The move starts in black and white, making everyone look the same, and confirming that differences were not allowed. There were no losers or winners and words like fear, pain, envy, and
Jonas plans to change the community by escaping and releasing all of the memories to the community. Jonas thinks for himself he will accomplish escaping and giving himself a chance to go to elsewhere. Jonas hopes to accomplish change throughout the community by releasing the memories if he left so everyone could gain wisdom. In the book Giver says this a way to change the community. Jonas wanted to go to elsewhere and see snow as like he did in the memory. Giver also said the memories had to be shared so leaving would share the memories with the rest of the