The Giver THE Giver Summary - The Federalist Papers PDF

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THE GIVER SUMMARY Meet Jonas, an eleven-year-old boy who lives in a rigidly controlled society some time in the future. In his "community," there is no suffering, hunger, war, and, as you will soon see, no color, sex, music, or love. Everything is controlled by "the Elders," right down to who you will marry, who you receive as children, and what you will be "assigned" as a job. Individual identity has gone the way of cassette tapes, and everyone is essentially just like everyone else. It seems that no one has really left the area, except to visit other neighboring communities. To get "released" is a big deal. It only happens to sick infants or really old people, or to people who break the rules. In short… this world is a terrible place to hang out. Because Jonas is almost twelve, it's almost time for him to get assigned a profession. There's a big ceremony at which the decisions are announced. Jonas watches all his friends get their jobs (Recreation Director, Caretaker for the Old), but then he's skipped over. The Chief Elder finishes the ceremony and explains that Jonas has been "selected" to be The Receiver of Memory, which is a big deal. Jonas looks over at the current Receiver, an old man who, like Jonas, has light eyes. This is also a big deal; Jonas is one of very few people in the community with light eyes. Speaking of light eyes, Jonas's family has been taking care of a sick baby named Gabriel with this same unusual characteristic. If the baby doesn't get better within a year or two, he's going to be released from the community. Okay, so now that Jonas has been selected to be Receiver, he gets a list of rules. They tell him that he isn't allowed to discuss his Receiver "training" with anyone, that he's allowed to lie (!), and that he can ask anyone any questions he wants, even if it's rude. Nice. And then Jonas starts his training, which consists of receiving a series of memories from the old Receiver, who is now referred to as The Giver. These aren't just any old personal memories; rather, the old man is passing on to Jonas all the memories of humanity, going way back. The memories are from before their community was established, back when there was color and sex and love and music and emotions and hills and snow and sunshine, all of which are notably absent from Jonas's world. The very first memory he receives is that of sledding down a hill in the snow. While Jonas gets to experience lots of fun things like Christmas and birthday parties, he also has to deal with the bad memories, like sunburn, loss, death, and warfare. Needless to say, this completely changes the way Jonas looks at his world. He realizes that no one around him has ever felt any real emotions at all. A year into his training, Jonas discovers that the process of "release," which is performed on people who break the rules, babies who are sick, and folks who are very old, is really nothing more than a lethal injection.

This doesn't go over too well. He and The Giver devise a plan: Jonas will fake his own death and run away to Elsewhere, a.k.a. the land outside the communities, which is, for all intents and purposes, very similar to our world (in other words, it has music and color and joy, but also violence and poverty). Once Jonas leaves, the memories which The Giver has passed to him will be released to the general community, at which point they'll all just have to deal with the pain. Oh, and also they'll be free, because they'll understand what it means to have choices. Great. Sounds like a plan. Except it doesn't work. While he's getting ready for the big escape night, Jonas finds out that the little baby with light eyes, Gabriel, is going to be "released" the next morning. He has to make an improvised, fast-paced, and thrilling bicycle escape, taking the baby with him. Weeks later, Jonas is still biking away from the community with Gabriel. They're basically starving to death. Jonas keeps trying to transmit memories to the little tyke, memories of sunshine and, you know, not starvation, in order to keep them going. Finally, it starts snowing and Jonas gets to the base of a familiar-looking hill. He ditches the bike and walks up with Gabriel, still trying to cling on to pleasant memories. When he gets to the top, the sled (from the first memory he received from the Giver) is waiting for him. He climbs into it and pushes off down the hill, fully convinced that at the bottom is Elsewhere, and a whole group of people waiting to greet them.

THE GIVER THEMES THEME OF MEMORY AND THE PAST In The Giver, memories are a source of wisdom, but also of pain. We learn that the latter is the cost of the former. We learn from mistakes, and without the memory of those mistakes, we cannot actively make decisions about the future. The novel also argues that memories are meant to be shared; there is a value in the collective knowledge of a generation, and in the way that knowledge is passed on to others. Without the sharing of memories, the memories themselves are of no use.

THEME OF RULES AND ORDER Because The Giver is an anti-utopian novel, rules and orders are negatively portrayed. They are used to take away freedom, choice, and individuality. The citizens of the novel's overlycontrolled "community" aren't even aware that they've lost their freedom. To them, the rules are a good thing; they make life easy, predictable, and manageable. It is this lack of free will that readers tend to find the most terrifying about rules and order in The Giver.

THEME OF CHOICES In The Giver, we learn that choices about the future cannot be made without knowledge of the past. Because the characters in the novel have no memory, they can not actively decide anything. Instead, they are governed by a strict set of rules which doesn't allow for free will. With little individuality and no freedom, choice is a foreign concept. The argument for such a system is that choice is inherently dangerous. Indeed, the novel says, this is true—but isn't free will worth the risks that come with choice?

THEME OF LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION In the highly-controlled society featured in The Giver, the rules govern a strict "precision of language." The irony comes in when the reader realizes that, in a world with no real depth of emotion, many words have become hollow and meaningless. "Love," for example, has no use in this world. Terms like "apology" and "feelings," as well as specific reactions of "anger" or "jealousy" are used daily, though in reality they don't reflect those actions or emotions.

THEME OF ISOLATION In The Giver, certain duties necessitate isolation. To gain knowledge and wisdom, for example, is to separate oneself from those without such abilities. This is in part because learning requires solitary reflection, and in part because it's hard to identify with anyone who doesn't share the same wisdom. Being isolated also increases the pain of suffering; with no one to share the weight, the burden is that much greater.

THEME OF SUFFERING In The Giver, we see examples of both physical and emotional suffering. Both types are memories of a distant past since, in this futuristic world, neither exists any longer. The novel argues that suffering, while horrible and painful, is an integral part of the human experience. Without it, we can't hope to learn from the past and make informed decisions to better the future.

THEME OF OLD AGE In the controlled society depicted in The Giver, old age is seemingly treated with respect. When we look closer, though, it becomes clear that the wisdom which the elderly have to offer is wasted. They are treated as children, rather than as knowledgeable individuals, and are basically taken care of until they're killed off. When dealing with the elderly, ritual masks reality, as it does in much of this novel.

THEME OF TRADITION AND CUSTOMS Much like rules and laws, traditions and customs are used to control in The Giver. They often disguise the reality of a situation; ritual chanting hides the pain of death. Ritual tellings give meaning to lives that have been lived without individuality or choice. Perhaps more dangerous to freedom than strict laws, traditions control people emotionally, not just behaviorally, in this novel.

THE GIVER CHARACTERS JONAS Wide Receiver Jonas, our main character and hero, is pretty dang impressive for a twelve-year-old guy. He's contemplative, careful, pensive, mature, compassionate, and composed. He can take care of an infant. He's selfless. He seems to have no qualms about volunteering to bathe super-old people. He treats The Giver with respect and bears pain without complaining. Wow, huh? That being said, he's still twelve, and we all know what that feels like. He wants to hang out with his friends, so it frustrates him (at least at first) that his job seems to leave no time for doing so. He gets the hots for Fiona which, again, is par for the twelve-year-old course. His little sister makes him roll his eyes, his friends get jealous when he's singled out—this all seems like normal stuff.

Wise Guy This is really just more of the cool normal-but-weird set-up we see everywhere in The Giver. We recognize what's going on. It feels familiar. But it's infused with a dose of futuristic oddball stuff that makes us super uncomfortable. For example, Jonas is actually wiser than most of the adults in his life. He knows more than they do. In fact, he knows more than they ever will: Now Jonas had a thought that he had never had before. This new thought was frightening. What if others – adults – had, upon becoming Twelves, received in their instructions the same terrifying sentence? What if they had all been instructed: You may lie? His mind reeled. Now, empowered to ask questions of utmost rudeness – and promised answers – he could, conceivably (though it was almost unimaginable), ask someone, some adult, his father perhaps: "Do you lie?" (9.45-47)

This is part of what makes him so unique: he's literally a twelve-year-old with the knowledge and wisdom of a very old man. Er, make that the knowledge and wisdom of most of humanity for generations and generations. That's quite the cross to bear. So it's no surprise that Jonas flips out a little bit by the end of the novel, particularly when he realizes that his Father has been lying to him for as long as he's been able to speak English. His raging reaction is totally justified, and his decision to run away with Gabriel is heroic to say the least. Where Jonas really gets tested, as a person and as a hero, is at the end of The Giver. It's easy to say, "I'm for freedom! I'm for individuality!" in words, but it's another thing to prove those beliefs with your actions. Jonas has to come to grips with the fact that, yes, freedom is dangerous: "Oh." Jonas was silent for a minute. "Oh, I see what you mean. It wouldn't matter for a newchild's toy. But later it does matter, doesn't it? We don't dare to let people make choices of their own." "Not safe?" The Giver suggested. "Definitely not safe," Jonas said with certainty. "What if they were allowed to choose their own mate? And chose wrong?" (13.15-17) But he also realizes that freedom's worth more than make up for its dangers. Yes, he may have made the wrong choice—but, dangit, he walks up that snowy hill anyway. It's a Rockymoment. It's a slaying-Voldemort moment. It's his version of the Hunger Games salute. What we mean to say is, Jonas gets clear hero status in our book, while at the same time being vulnerable enough to seem human. And that's exactly why we're rooting for him every step of the way.

THE GIVER Um, Can We Return This Gift For Credit? The Giver is a little bit of a mystery man. Scratch that—at the beginning of the book he's totallya mystery man. And not a suave James Bond-type, either. A weird old dude with a bunch of books and more haunting imagery rattling around in his brainpan than Edgar Allan Poe. He's a bunch of contradictions rolled into one. Mr. Giver appears older than he really is... because of the weight of the memories that he keeps. He seems completely isolated... but we find out he had an intense emotional connection to the girl he calls his "daughter," Rosemary. To Jonas, he is a strange mix of mentor, grandfather, friend, and even accomplice. It's this "accomplice" bit that's particularly interesting to look at when we talk about The Giver. The Giver seems for the most part resigned to his role: "But why can't everyone have the memories? I think it would seem a little easier if the memories were shared. You and I wouldn't have to bear so much by ourselves, if everyone took a part."

The Giver sighed, "You're right," he said, "But then everyone would be burdened and pained. They don't want that. And that's the real reason The Receiver is so vital to them, and so honored. They selected me – and you – to lift that burden from themselves." (14.46-47) He's accepted that his job is to bear the memories, deal with the suffering, live in isolation, and, for the most part, be unable to change anything significant in the community. So, when he suddenly decides to help Jonas run away and bring the power back to the people, so to speak, we're a little bit surprised.

Hot To Plot Whether or not this little switcheroo is warranted is a solid question to ask when talking about The Giver. Does it feel like The Giver really is capable of such a decision, or does it feel like Lowry had to do something radical to move the plot along, and this was as good as any? In the text, The Giver seems to have a sudden "What if?" moment when Jonas suggests that he could help the citizens through the pain of the memories. It looks like The Giver's hesitation until now has been due to compassion and concern. He knows how much the memories hurt, and he doesn't want to inflict that pain on the community. But Jonas suggests that the old man has the power to heal the pain that the memories would cause. He can bring choice and freedom to the community without cutting off its ability to function. This convinces The Giver to give it a shot. Or maybe it really was a shameless plot device. You can be the critic here.

JONAS'S FATHER Daddy Dearest Of all the creepy occupational titles in The Giver, we think Jonas' dad's is the most sickening. He's a Nurturer, which means he takes care of babies... and by "takes care of," we mean "occasionally kills them:" As he continued to watch, the newchild, no longer crying, moved his arms and legs in a jerking motion. Then he went limp. His head fell to the side, his eyes half open. Then he was still. With an odd, shocked feeling, Jonas recognized the gestures and posture and expression. They were familiar. He had seen them before. But he couldn't remember where. (19.45-46) What's so hard to understand about Jonas' Father is how he can be so caring and nurturing—look at the pains he takes to help Gabriel, after all—and at the same time be so casual about unnecessary death. But the fact is, Jonas's Father is the product of his environment. He's been trained to think that death is no biggie, just as Jonas has been trained to understand that it is, in fact, a biggie.When he tells his son that his job at the release is to make the baby "cozy and comfortable," this isn't necessarily at odds with his perception of the whole

event. In his opinion, lethal injection probably is cozy and comfortable. With no real understanding of pain, and no sense of the value of a human life, killing a baby is just like checking a box on his list of to-do's. Still, it's easy to see why Jonas reacts the way that he does. Not only is his Father a murderer, but he's been lying to his son for most of his life. Jonas's rage at his father is also his rage at the entire community, for its ignorance and its disrespect for human life.

ANALYSIS: SETTING An Isolated "Community" Sometime In The Future Yeah, our description is pretty vague... but so is the setting in The Giver. We can't be sure when the story goes down, but since the memories of a distant past correspond to our world today, we conclude that it is, in fact, some time in the future. Lowry has created in The Giver an entire world, unique from what we know but with certain similarities. There's enough to make it familiar to us, but elements that make us uncomfortable, too. For instance, Jonas has sexual urges just like we do (normal), but he has to take a pill to make his go away (weird). He has a family, with parents and a little sister (normal), but they're all selected by a committee to form a family unit (weird). This strange dichotomy is what makes The Giver so enticing.

ANALYSIS: NARRATOR POINT OF VIEW Third Person (Limited Omniscient) The Giver is told in the third person, but focuses exclusively on Jonas. We know what he's thinking and feeling, and we don't enter into anyone else's head. The narrative often just goes into telling mode, giving us the background info we need about the way things work in the community, but just as often we get the info in a contrived, "Jonas is thinking about this" sort of way. So it's not the most elegant device in the world, but it gets the job done. As far as Jonas being our protagonist, this is a great choice of narrative voice, since it really gets the reader invested in the novel's hero. ...