When the day of the Ceremonies arrives, Jonas discovers that he has been selected to be the next Receiver
of Memory, the position with the highest honor in the community. Ten years before, a girl named Rosemary
was chosen, but she failed to live up to expectations. Jonas learns that it is now forbidden to even speak her
name aloud. He learns that his training will involve great pain, but that the current Receiver is sure that
Jonas is strong enough to endure it. Jonas receives a sheet of instructions informing him that he is not
allowed to discuss his training with anyone. He is also exempt from the rules regarding rudeness; he is
allowed to ask a
question of anyone and receive an answer. He is also permitted to lie. Jonas is both proud and afraid to have
been chosen for such an honorable role.
The current Receiver, now known as the Giver (since Jonas is the new Receiver), must transmit the memories
of the whole world to Jonas. The Receiver's chief role is to use the wisdom these memories give him in order
to advise the committee in shaping future policy for the community. Through these memories, Jonas comes
to experience the deepest sufferings and the deepest joys of the past. He learns that the community
eliminated things such as snow, color, and love long ago in order to make itself into a utopia. Over time,
Jonas becomes increasingly alienated from his community because he sees a rainbow of colors where they
see nothing but shades of gray. Their emotions are only a shadow of what he experiences through his
memories. He begins to question whether it was worth it to sacrifice so much to create a utopian community.
Meanwhile, he learns that a Birthmother is due to have identical twins and that his father will have to choose
which of the newborns to "release." The Giver allows Jonas to watch a videotape of the Ceremony of
Release. Jonas is horrified to discover that "release" is a euphemism for killing.
The Giver explains that Rosemary was unable to deal with the painful memories she was expected to receive.
She chose to "release" herself rather than continue her training. When she died, the memories she had
received were released into the community, causing chaos until they were assimilated. The Giver has also
long questioned the community's values. He and Jonas develop a plan to force the community to share the
burden of the memories. If Jonas can escape the community, the memories he has received will be released.
The Giver will stay behind to help the community cope with the shock. Because there is no appropriate
replacement old enough to take Jonas' place, the community will also be forced to receive the memories of
humanity's past from the Giver. Soon after this discussion, Jonas learns that the committee has decided to
release Gabriel because he has failed to develop properly. Jonas decides to flee earlier than he had planned,
taking Gabriel with him. For days, he and Gabriel elude the search planes until they reach Elsewhere. Jonas,
half-starved and exhausted, climbs to the top of a steep hill in a snowstorm where he finds a sled. Cradling
Gabriel, he rides down the hill on the sled. He thinks he can see lights shining through windows in the
distance.
In the Giver by Lois Lowry there was a young man by the name of Jonas who lived in a very different
world from ours. He lived in this place that was called a community. In this community there was no
color, people were all treated the same, and most of all they never experienced real hurt like a lost in the
family or heart break. They didn't have any feelings at all. This book was very interesting to me.
In the Giver there were ceremonies held every year for the kids turning one through twelve. These
ceremonies were suppose to be like there birthdays. In the community no one really cared when you
were born. The only thing that they really cared about was the ceremonie. But the most important
ceremonie of all was the ceremonie of twelves. In this ceremonie the kids turning twelve would receive
the assignment of what there future careers would be.
In this community people weren't allowed to make decisions like that. As a matter of fact woman weren't
even allowed to give birth to their own children. The woman who had the children were the women who
the committee thought weren't any good in the community. After they had the children, the women were
to work as laboreres. The children would then go to proper families when they were healthy enough and
were able to walk.
The assignment Jonas got was to be the Receiver. The Receiver was to receive all the memories of the
past so that if the committee ever had any trouble trying to make a decision they would just ask the
Receiver to help them make this decision by telling them of the past.
This was a very difficult job because the Receiver was to be in pain all the time because the memories of
hurt would just keep coming into it's head. I admired Jonas for being very brave because he has never
ever really felt real pain. No matter how bad things got he keeped on going right up until the end when
he found out what it really meant to be released. Right up until that moment Jonas thougt that to be
released meant to go live in a different community. He didn't know that to be released was to be killed.
When he found out he got so mad that he escaped from his community. Jonas did not relax until he
knew he was safe away from that awful community. He knew if he got caught he could be in an awful lot
of trouble. As a matter of fact he could of gotten released himself.
The Giver was a very interesting book. I suggest that children should read this book so that they can
be able to learn a few things about life. As a matter of fact adults should read it to. Reading this book I
got to learn alot of things. Like for example you haven't actually lived life until you have experienced
real hurt and pain.
The Giver is about a boy named Jonas who lives in the future in an almost perfect community. Jonas is
chosen to be the person who carries all the memories of the past, given to him by the giver. It is by Lois
Lowry. There are many good and bad things in the Giver. Some good things are that hardly anyone gets
hurt. When people do get hurt they take a pill and the pain goes right away. No one ever breaks bones or
anything. There are no criminals, and there are no locks on any homes or buildings. Another good thing is
that everyone knows who everyone else is and it's a very small community with only a few hundred people.
There are hardly ever any visitors from outside the community. Sometimes kids from other communities go
play with the kids in the book's community. All the people are provided with homes, jobs, and food. A bad
thing about the giver's community is release. When a person breaks a major rule, is too old, or isn't right as a
baby they get released. Release is killing. In the book there are twins and the smaller one has to be released.
His father turned and opened the cupboard. He took out a syringe and a small bottle. Very carefully he
inserted the needle into the bottle and began to fill the syringe with a clear liquid. Jonas winced
sympathetically. He had forgotten that newchildren had to get shots. He hated shots himself, though he
knew they were necessary. To his surprise, his father began very carefully to direct the needle into the top
of the newchild's forehead, puncturing the place where the fragile skin pulsed. The newborn squirmed and
wailed faintly "Why's he-" "Shhh," The giver said sharply. His father was talking, and Jonas realized that he
was hearing the answer to the question he had started to ask. Still in the special voice, his father was saying,
"I know, I know. It hurts, little guy. But I have to use a vein, and the veins in your arm are still too teeny-
weeny." He pushed the plunger very slowly, injecting the liquid into the scalp vein until the syringe was
empty. "All done. ! That wasn't so bad, was it?" Jonas heard his father say cheerfully. He turned aside and
dropped the syringe into a waste receptacle. Now he cleans him up and makes him comfy, Jonas said to
himself, aware that the giver didn't want to talk during the little ceremony. 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.
Jonas stared at the screen, waiting for something to happen. But nothing did. The little twin lay motionless.
His father was putting things away. Folding the blanket. Closing the cupboard. Once again, as he had on the
playing field, he felt the choking sensation. Once again he saw the face of the light haired, bloodied soldier
as life left his eyes.
The memory came back. He killed it! My father killed it! Jonas said to himself, stunned at what he was
realizing. He continued to stare at the screen numbly. His father tidied the room. Then he picked up a small
carton that lay waiting on the floor, set it on the bed, and lifted the limp body into it. He placed the lid on
tightly. He picked up the carton and carried it to the other side of the room. He opened a small door in the
wall Jonas could see darkness behind the door. It seemed to be the same sort of chute into which trash was
deposited at school. His father loaded the carton containing the body into the chute and gave it a shove.
"Bye-bye, little guy," Jonas heard his father say before he left the room.
Some more bad things are that there are lots of rules and none of them can be broken or else whoever broke
it is punished or released. Only the reciever knows anything about the past. They get all the memories from
the previous reciever. They are memories of things like war, love, starvation, climate, and lots of other good
and bad things. Another bad thing is that they can't love anyone. Their spouses are picked for them and
they consider the word "love" improper English. They take pills so they don't love anyone. No one sees
color except the reciever because the memories are in color. The Giver's community is a stupid, boring place.
Nothing ever happens there very interesting. There are lots of pointless rules. The way things are today is
much better.
The Giver Review
By Will Jackson
The story of The Giver takes place in an isolated
village in a fictional world. In this village nobody
can see colors and nobody has memories. This
community has given their memories up to have peace
and harmony. They use pills to take their memories
away. Jonas, the main character, is a young boy
turning twelve. The Giver is training Jonas for his
life job to be the receiver of memories. As he
receives these memories Jonas is learning the truth of
the community and is thinking it is wrong. The moral
of the story is that peace and harmony may not be
worth the cost.
I really liked to read this story. It had a totally
different life than ours. They lived in a black and
white world without colors. Jonas was very different
and out of the ordinary. I do not know what I would
do if I were in Jonas’ shoes. In the story there are
a lot of hints of what is going to happen. I like to
try to predict what will happen next. The story has a
lot of surprises and flashbacks. What the releasings
were about surprised me.
I enjoyed the author’s writing. There were a lot of
new words for me. Like accumulates or exhilarating.
In The Giver there are more grownup phrases than in
most of the books that I read. For example Lois Lowry
used “his throbbing leg” instead of “his hurt leg”. I
also liked her phase “he knew abruptly” where I would
have written, “he knew quickly”. Another example is
“Jonas’s arms were immobilized with pain”. There were
a lot of places that made you think and then the
author later told you what it meant. You think, “that
makes sense”. I really liked those times when it
makes you think.
If you liked the movie Pleasantville, you would like
this book. The movie Pleasantville has a lot of
characteristics similar to The Giver. Pleasantville is
a black and white TV world where everything happens
again and again. The people have given up all their
strong emotions and have a certain fate. The Giver
community has the same concepts as Pleasantville. Two
children come to Pleasantville and cause the villagers
to have strong emotions and this turns the world from
black and white to color. In The Giver, Jonas receives
everyone’s memories, colors, and emotions and this
changes him. The authors did not copy each other but
they had pretty similar ideas. I really enjoyed the
thoughts the author put into this book.
Drew's review
The story starts at the coming of age ceremony where the new 12s get there different jobs.
Jonas became the Reciever of Memories. His trainer was the Giver. The giver gives Jonas a lot
of different memories. Some of them include sunburns, a broken legs, deaths, love, happiness,
sledding in snow and war. Jonas decides to runaway from his community and goes into a new
community on the way jonas falls on the bike that he stole from his father. At the top of the
snow covered hill Jonas and Gab ind a sled. Suddenly memories flood back to Jonas from his
old live. His sled picks up speed and flys down the hill. Jonas in the end goes into elsewhere.
Kyle’s Review
Jonas lives in a community were everything is laid out for him. When he goes to the ceremony of
12 (the ceremony of 12 is like a birthday, everybody has the same birthday and it is celebrated
at the same time the other 12s are) his number for his assignment is skipped. Everyone there
was confused and worried. At the end when all the other 12’s were given their assignments, the
head elder called Jonas up to the stage and gave him his assignment, the greatest honor, the
Receiver of Memory (the person who keeps all of the memories). At first he is proud of his
assignment, but as the months pass on the memories that are given to Jonas change from joy to
pain, sorrow, war, and unhappiness. The Giver and Jonas come up with a plan to release
Jonas’s memories to the community by going to Elsewhere (to another place). Even though it is
all planned out Jonas has to leave early because a young friend is about to be released (put to
sleep), so he brings him with him. As they ride away losing track of the memories as they are
riding by night, sleeping by day. The community is tracking Jonas and Gabriel with searchplanes.
By Matthew Colleen
Jonas lives in a community were everything is laid out for him. When he goes to the ceremony of
12 his number for his job is skipped. Everyone there was confused and worried. At the end
when all the other 12’s were given their jobs the head elder called Jonas up and gave him his
job, the highest honor, the Receiver of Memory. At first he is proud, but as the months wear on
and the memories that are given turn from joy to pain, sorrow, war, and unhappiness. He and
The Giver come up with a plan to release Jonas’s memories by going to Elsewhere. Even
though it is all planned out Jonas has to leave early because a young friend is about to be
released so he brings him with him. As they ride away covered by the blanket of darkness.
Riding by night sleeping by day. Jonas and Gab are being tracked by the community and are
losing track of the memories the plan is working! They work their way up to a hillside covered
with snow. Jonas was so weak that he took Gab out of the bike and dropped it. He slowly
drudged up the hill and found a sled waiting for him. He got on with gab and slid down into
Elsewhere.
