What is it, an honor or punishment? An honor is “Respect that is given to someone who is admired” according to webster's dictionary. Being honored is more than just being admired, honor is acquired by a person who shows admiration, esteem, and intuition. In the world of “The Giver” Jonas gets a very honorable job of being the new receiver.Or could it be a punishment? A punishment is “To make (someone) suffer for a crime or for bad behavior” according to webster's dictionary. In the case of the giver Jonas is told that the job of being receiver can bring great pain and suffering, but however this is depicting that the job of being receiver will not all be enjoyable and he may not be able to have a normal life again. This is comparable to the book and movie series of the hunger games, when Katniss Everdeen’s sister Primrose was chosen but instead Katniss voluntarily filled in for her sister; this was a huge honor because no one ever volunteered to take place in the hunger games and if you did you had a huge chance of being killed. But it could be a punishment because when the hunger games started Katniss was bruised and wounded from the weapons. The reason being the new receiver is so important and honorable is …show more content…
In Chapter 8, when Jonas was announced he would be the “Receiver of Memory” many people said he could not handle it. Later on in the book, Jonas is given many painful, excruciating memories of warfare, blood, loneliness, and death, but on many occasions the giver does not have the ability to transmit memories because the pain of the past overcomes him and he is put in deep despair. Another reason being the new receiver could be a punishment is because he could be lonely, although he can apply to have a family he would not be able to share the pain. Eventually, Jonas leaves the community for good because he feels that “The Receiver” should not keep the secrets from his community and he wants to give them
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)
What are memories to you? In the book The Giver, by Lois Lowry. There is a boy his name is Jonas. He is the Receiver of Memories. Jonas experiences the memories over the course of the book. Memories help us understand there are consequences to your actions. Although some readers may believe that memories are not important. The memories Jonas had helped him with the journey at the end of the book.
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
During Jonas’s selection to become the next Receiver of Memory, the Chief Elder states that the previous selection was a failure. When Jonas questions his parents about the results of the previous selection, they inform him that “[they] never saw her again (Lowry 85)” and they do not know what happened to her. As well as being informed of a failure in the past, Jonas’s rules state that he is not allowed to apply for medication related to his training or release. These clues hint that Jonas will suffer to the point that he may want to apply for release or there is a chance that he will fail. Later in his training, Jonas experiences memories of pain and suffering, such as injury, war, and hunger.
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.
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
Honor is having pride in one’s family name or self and having courage. Honor can be a blessing in some cases, but in other cases it can be a curse. Some people use honor to make themselves better, but others use honor to make others feel bad. The theme of honor is shown throughout American literature especially in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, and Chinese Cinderella. Honor was first introduced in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
In an early discussion with the Giver, Jonas concludes that "`We really have to protect people from wrong choices... [It's] much safer'" (99). However, it is with the progression of his training as Receiver of Memories that Jonas learns the impact of the sacrifices his community makes. After receiving a memory of a family celebrating together, Jonas speculates with the Giver about the emotional potential of the situation. He contemplates "`The family in the memory seemed... complete...
The day arrived for the Ceremony of Twelve, which Jonas had been waiting for. As Jonas watched his friends receive their assignments, he realized that he was skipped over. Although he knew that he got skipped over, he waited until the end of ceremony in order to show respect. Therefore, he is a good role model to his community. Later, at the end of the ceremony, the Elders explained that Jonas has been selected as the Receiver. “In a firm, commanding voice she announced, Jonas has been selected to be our next Receiver of Memory (pg 60).” “He has shown all of the qualities that a Receiver must have (pg 62).” The Elders believed that Jonas had the qualities for the task, which includes intelligence, integrity, courage, wisdom, and the capacity to see beyond. As a Receiver, he had rules to follow: he could ask any questions, he was not allowed to discuss his trainings to family and friends, he was not allowed to share his dreams, he could not apply medication to training injuries, he could not ask to be released, and he can
Anderson lays a pretty solid foundation of the population control side of the giver and encourages young readers to question what society tells them. Anderson ststes that Lowery is questioning the politically correctness of children’s books, and redefining the industries skepticism of a government body being an all-powerful body in complete control. He states, the aspect that the book The Giver is a top seller ranking 63rd on the list of best child’s books of all time. He notes however her book is also one of the most challenged books as well.
The apple in The Giver symbolizes change. In Jonas’s visions he “had noticed, following the path of the apple through the air with this eyes, that the piece of fruit had-well, this was the part he couldn't adequately understand - the apple had changed. Just for an instant.” (21-22) This shows Jonas has the power to see beyond, he is experiencing the color red. Change may happen even by accident but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad. Such as in this case where changing continuously allowed Jonas to help others constantly by taking the burden of all the pain in the world because of a mistake in genetic engineering. As you can tell sameness, precision, and indistinguishable people doesn’t mean perfection. Change is necessary to allow everyone a chance to grow, to experience, to grow as a person and in their jobs, to be unique, and different. That way
We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others” (97). In the book The Giver by Lois Lowry, no one has seen a rainbow after a storm, no one knew what colors were; what choosing was; what it meant to be an individual. Everyone lived in complete Sameness, and never learned what it meant to be an individual. By eliminating as much self expression as possible in Sameness and society, Jonas's community has rejected the individuality of a society where people are free to move society forward. In The Giver individuality is represented by colors, memories, and pale eyes.
Jonas hates how his society decides to keep memories a secret from everyone. Jonas says: “The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared” (Lowry 154). Jonas feels that memories, whether it be good or bad, should be shared with everyone. Furthermore, memories allow the community to gain wisdom from remembering experiences of the past. As for The Giver, The Giver disagrees with how the community runs things. He believes that memories should be experienced by everyone as well, because life is meaningless without memories. The Giver says: “There are so many things I could tell them; things I wish they would change. But they don’t want change. Life here is so orderly, so predictable–so painless. It’s what they’ve chosen [...] It’s just that… without memories, it’s all meaningless. They gave that burden to me” (Lowry 103). The Giver is burdened with the responsibility to not share memories even though that is what he feels the community deserves. In addition, he believes the community lives a very monotonous life where nothing ever changes. Everything is meaningless without memories because the community does not know what it is like to be human without feelings. Overall, Jonas and The Giver’s outlooks on their “utopian” society change as they realize that without
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
What is honor? For some, it is a high respect that is earned through cumulative deeds and reputation. For others, striving for honor is in itself narcissistic and dishonorable. Honor is present just as much today as it was in William Shakespeare’s day. The word honor has become dangerous and emotive due to those who seek attention from others by playing the hero of the day. Especially to those who would go to great lengths in acquiring honor for themselves? People love to be recognized and rewarded for their good deeds or works, but should they get honored for doing a good deed? Should it not come from the good of their hearts? Many examples from our world history has demonstrated the desire for praise and recognition in exchange in doing good deeds for others. It’s no longer honor if you seek to attain the regard of others. In essence he describes the word honor as something not worth dying for. After all, in that word honor is just air? Is it not?