Individual Text Feature: The Giver

For my final project, I will be dealing with The Giver by Lois Lowry. The book, told from a third-person omniscient narrator, centers around a boy named Jonas. He lives in a future society that is so heavily controlled that at one point, when a pilot flies by, he is brought down and then “released” from the compound, which is basically a form of capital punishment in their society. The people around Jonas are extremely concerned with the language they use and actions they make. They stress telling the truth all the time, as well as using precise diction to pinpoint their exact feelings about a situation. At the beginning of the book, Jonas is described as feeling “apprehensive.” He is eleven years old, and will soon participate in the “Ceremony of the Twelve,” in which he will find out what his permanent profession will be.

It’s at this point that the reader learns the details of Jonas’s society. Every year, 50 babies are born and distributed to families. Each family is allowed one boy and one girl, no more and no less. As children grow, the celebrate ceremonies each year in a communal birthday party of sorts—meaning every child celebrates their birthday on the same day as everyone else. There is little room for individuality within this society, something we later learn Jonas has trouble with. The society is filled with specific rules set by the Elders and another leader, a mysterious person called The Receiver. The Elders watch the youth closely and decide what their jobs should be. After they are assigned, it’s off to work, with little to no time for personal concerns.

Jonas’s father is a Nurturer, meaning he looks after newborn babies. One in particular may have to be “released” because he’s showing signs of sickness. Jonas’s father brings the baby, named Gabriel, home for some extra nurturing. The baby, like Jonas, has light eyes, an oddity in a community of dark-eyed people. Later, Jonas recalls another instance in which he felt different than others: when he was tossing around an apple and saw it “change.” Lowry leaves it at that for the time being. The story shifts to Jonas putting in volunteer hours with his friends Asher and Fiona at the old folks home. While at the home, Jonas talks with a woman named Larissa about a “release” of an old man that happened earlier that day. The two question the rules of the release ceremony and Larissa describes the man as looking happy to be released.

As the novel continues, Jonas notes more and more oddities in his community. One example comes in his dreams. When he has a sexually-charged dream about Fiona, he is given a pill to forget it. Jonas notes that he doesn’t really want to take the pill.

Finally, the time has come for his ceremony. After waiting through all the rest of the ceremonies, Jonas eagerly steps up to receive his assignment and is shocked when his name is skipped in the order of assignments. Finally, the Elder conducting the ceremony comes back to Jonas at the end and declares that he will be the next Receiver. He notes that the current Receiver has light eyes, too. The changing apple is finally explained: apparently Jonas has something called the “capacity to see beyond.” Jonas nervously accepts his assignment. After the ceremony, Jonas learns the last person they chose to replace the Receiver was a “failure,” so much so that her name isn’t used anymore. Jonas also receives his training instructions: where to go, what his schedule is, and the added perks of being able to be rude to people, withhold his dreams, and lie. All of these things are very odd in a society of rigid rules.

Jonas reports to training, where he learns that he will be Receiving memories from the whole world from the current Receiver. He will be a keeper of all things: of history, memory, pain, joy, etc. Jonas gets the memory of snow and sunshine and sunburn. The old Receiver has now become the Giver. As Jonas gains memories of colors and events and individualism, he wonders why all of those things were cut out. The Giver explains that the people in charge gave up pretty things like color and diversity in exchange for control and “sameness.” Jonas feels frustrated because of the lack of choice in their society, which the Giver claims is in place to protect people from making the wrong choices. As Jonas acquires more memories, he learns more about society. He learns of the failed Receiver who’s memories were released into the world. We learn the Giver’s primary purpose is to suffer on the behalf of the rest of society.

Jonas gains more painful memories, like hunger and war. He wonders about Elsewhere (the place people go when “released”). The more memories he gets, the more he questions his society. Meanwhile, Gabriel get healthier—although Jonas accidentally transmits a memory to him. As Jonas learns more about an old way of life filled with big families, love, choices, and colors, he tells Jonas he wishes things were still that way. He realizes people around him have never experienced emotions, which upsets him. A year of training goes by, during which Jonas realizes “release” is synonymous with “lethal injection.” He and the Giver devise a plan for him to fake his death and run away to Elsewhere, allowing his memories to be released to society, thus restoring choice and emotion to the world. As he is about to leave, he learns Gabriel is going to be released, so he takes the baby with him to Elsewhere. After a long journey fraught with cold and hunger, Jonas and Gabriel reach Elsewhere, where people are waiting to see them as the book closes.

This book looks at a myriad of themes and subjects in adolescent literature. Some of the most prominent are death, sexual freedom, individualism, oppressive systems, and diversity. I think the most compelling topic presented by The Giver is the idea of total equality. Jonas lives in an entirely homogenous society, with little to no room for individualism. “Finding oneself” or becoming an individual is often associated with a child “coming of age.” Throughout the novel, Jonas finds small pieces of his own humanity in the communal memories he gains from the Giver. As he grows and learns about society, he begins to question it. He realizes he has been living as a piece in the system for many years and desires to not only break himself out, but play the hero and break out society as a whole. I am interested in exploring the idea of personal and societal power structures and patterns of adolescents breaking out of these structures. I think this text also highlights the need for diversity and the harm that can come from removing diversity from society. I would like to further examine that and relate it back to the theme of individuality.