essay about the giver

Introduction to The Giver

The Giver is a dystopian story by Lois Lowry , an American writer. It first appeared in the United States in 1993 and became an instant hit on account of the unusual story it presents. The story comprises a boy, Jonas, who experiences disenchantment with the living style of his community based on the sameness and ordinariness through the community’s own decision-making process. Recognized quite later in life, The Giver won Newbery Medal in 1994. It was later adapted into a movie in 2014.

Summary of The Giver

The story starts with a 12 year old boy living in a seemingly ‘perfect’ community with no war, hatred, hunger, poverty and crime. The community is established to spread sameness among all of its members for justice and fair play . Jonas, the boy, sees that the community elder, the Chief Elder, has assigned a specific role to every infant he is going to assume in the future after he grows up. Jonas’ father works as a Nurturer, while his mother works in the Justice Department in the community. When his Ceremony of Twelve, a ceremony to allot roles to each 12-year old person, arrives, he is rather shocked but seeks no guidance from his parents. They assure him that the Elders never commit a mistake.

On that day, all of his classmates receive orders to stand in the order of their birthday dates during the ceremony presided over by the Chief Elder. Jonas becomes surprised when he comes to know about his assigned role of getting training as the Receiver of Memory, a high official, who sits beside the Chief Elder during ceremonies. Despite his initial jubilation for having status and position in the community later, he finds himself isolated at this stage even from his childhood friends. He gets further instructions about the secrecy of his job and training with orders not to reveal details even to his close family members.

The main task of the Receiver of Memory is that they should have the collective memory of his community not only of the present but also of the past generations. Once the training starts, he becomes happy that at least he is the Receiver of Memory, having everything at his fingertips tips. The current Receiver of Memory, ‘the Giver’, trains and instructs him how to store vast data in his mind. The very first lesson in memory retention techniques is of the sliding down which surprises him that such a simple task receives such as high confidentiality merely for the sake of sameness, a plan that involves that involves uniform geography, climate and discouraging individuality including skin color. Sameness involves eliminating choice, emotions which could possibly lead to happiness or pain in turn causing war-like situations. As the time passes, he learns about colors, human nature, war, and several other such things strange and bizarre to him. Although he tries to learn about Rosemary, the former student of the Giver but does not get any information about her.

Soon his father informs about his worry about a fragile child in his custody at the Nurturing Center. He has won permission to take him home to improve his health. Eventually, Gabriel, the same boy, grows into a healthy child. His pale eyes, like that of Jonas, attract his attention toward the boy who finds him similar to himself, having the capability of retaining memories. However, it also transpires to him that if Gabriel does not become strong, he will be “released” soon to reach Elsewhere, a concept equal to death and graveyard. The Community has rules to send all such persons including the former student, Rosemary, to Elsewhere where they live in peace.

The Giver further informs Jonas about such things through a video camera in which he sees his father, the Nurturer, sending two boys to Elsewhere through a poisonous injection. This video rather shocks his morality after watching his father killing two children. Also, his friend Fiona is being trained in the fine art of ‘released’. However, the argument of the Giver to justify this action falls on deaf ears. He tries to explain that his father and people like who are being trained for this job do not know this is evil since feeling are not part of the life. He informs him that Rosemary has released herself. The ensuing polemic wins Jonas a place in the heart of the Giver who acquiesces to his argument that they must do something to change the Community and join hands in this venture. Jonas’s idea is that he can do it by leaving the community early, providing the Giver an opportunity to help the people to manage memories.

Feeling the intense need for such an operation, the Giver devises a plan, helping Jonas escape the Community, showing the Community that he has been drowned. However, Jonas comes to know that Gabriel is going to be released prematurely at which he has to amend his plan and take Gabriel with him.

During the hard journey, Jonas ponders if he has made the right choice since the bike journey becomes even more difficult and experience starvation for the first time. But later realizes that if he had stayed back he’d have starved for the feelings and most importantly Gabriel would have not been alive. He dwells upon the risk of making a ‘choice’ has consequences but concludes that ‘physical hunger is less destructive than emotional one’. He feared for the life of Gabriel than his own expressing compassion, love which was never felt by his community.

After many hardships and travelling in the snow , both of them reach near Elsewhere where he comes across the same sled riding that he sees in his first experience as the Receiver of Memory Both ride a sled and see colorful lights with a Christmas tree, hears music for the first time and while experiencing the symptoms of hypothermia.

Major Themes in The Giver

• Individual and Freedom: The Giver demonstrates the theme of individuals and their freedom through the character of Jonas as well as Gabriel, the child that his father brings home to save from the likely release. Even Jonas experiences restrictions once his ceremony of twelve is held and he later comes to know that he is going to be the new Receiver of Memory after the departure of the Giver. When both realize their role in molding the Community into sameness, they plan to release the memories to revive the community. However, coincidently, Gabriel is released too early at which Jonas has to drop his plan and move ahead with his plan earlier than the fixed time. It shows that an individual has no freedom and choice of freedom except to merge with the community.
• Threats of Stability: As the Community requires stability, it is decided by the Chief Elders of all the communities that sameness must be applied at all levels. However, this sameness has its own risks; it does not make all the people same, it robs the people of their individual qualities, and it forces them to adapt to the sameness forced upon them. It happens with Jonas despite his being unable to follow it. He feels disgusted toward his father when he releases two kids to Elsewhere. When his plan fails and he releases his memories, the attempts of the sameness cause threat to the stability rather than vice versa .
• Human Emotion: The novel highlights the theme of human emotions through the character of the Nurturer, Jonas’s father, Jonas as well as Rosemary. When Jonas is inducted into the memory retention department as the Receiver of Memory by the Giver, he feels as if he has been alienated from his close and childhood friends. Almost the same goes with his father when he sees him through a video camera, showing him releasing two innocent kids with poisonous injections. He feels the same situation of having no human emotions in the Community when he hears the tale of the death of Rosemary, the daughter of the Giver.
• Memory and Wisdom: The Giver shows the relationship between memory and wisdom through the character of Jonas and his selection for being the Receiver of Memory. That is why the position of the Giver is significant, for the Committee of Elders turns to him to have the sane advice after he reviews the whole history where such instances might have caused disruption or havoc on account of the destabilizing roles such incidents might have played. It is stated that although Jonas has no wisdom having practical value for the Community. Yet as the retainer of the memory, he would be playing a positive role as the successor of the Giver. So, memory and wisdom have been shown going together.
• Dystopia : Despite having initial signs and symbols of building a utopia , the ultimate community that comes into existence is a dystopia where the craziness for the individual sameness takes not only the lives of individuals but also robs them of the natural human emotions. Jonas is surprised at his selection as well as forced isolation that he is not permitted to meet even his childhood friends. He is also horrified to learn that his father, the Nurturer, is involved in the murder of the kids not able to live for adaptation. He also feels for Rosemary who has committed suicide after she is unable to cope with the memory retention task. These developments have made the Community a dystopia instead of a utopia.
• Isolation: The novel also shows the theme of isolation through the Giver as well as Rosemary, for each of them experiences extreme isolation and becomes the victim of its consequential impacts. For example, the Giver experiences it as his own daughter has become the victim of his obsession with memory retention after she commits suicide. She herself experiences the torture from the looming isolation and resultant alienation. This is almost the same isolation that Jonas experiences and comes to the point to spread or release memories to make the Community return to its normality.
• Death: The theme of death occurs in the meanings of release from the Community that initially Jonas does not understand but becomes familiar with it during the anecdote of Pilot-in-Training. Soon he comes to know that release is used to make the Old people, kids, and those who do not fit into the Community, leave it for Elsewhere.
• Individual and Society: The novel shows the significance of individuals and society and their interdependence through Jonas, Rosemary, and Gabriel as well as the Community in which they live. The storyline, activities of Jonas, and death of Rosemary show that individuals suffer because of the demands of the Community to transform it into utopia but their interdependence continues.
• Rules: The novel shows the reverse use of rules not to facilitate individuals and society but to create a new experimental society based on individuals already trained to live in that society. This distortion of rules has been shown through the elders, their sameness, and Elsewhere.

Major Characters in The Giver

• Jonas: Jonas is the central character and the protagonist of the story. He’s12-year-old, who has to join the professional life of the Community by becoming an intern of the Giver as the Receiver of Memory. Yet he soon becomes disenchanted after reviewing two events: first his father’s act of sending two kids to Elsewhere by injecting them poison and second the death of Rosemary, the daughter of the Giver. His work of acquiring and keeping memories expands with his intimate relations with the Giver who also joins him to plan their release into Elsewhere after spreading their memories to make the Community properly humane. However, it happens that his father brings Gabriel who is to be released earlier. After this, he prematurely leaves the Community causing the release of memories earlier than the planned time after which both Jonas and Gabriel freezes to death. However, his perceptual power , his wisdom, and his intelligence won him laurels from the readers on account of his struggle to pull the Community out of the clutches of the autocratic dystopian government.
• The Giver: Despite his being a significant character, the Giver does not stand tall before the young and little Jonas with his ancientness likening to Tiresias of the Grecian plays. His worldly wisdom seems to surpass his memory acquisition job, the reason that he tolerates the suicide of his daughter, Rosemary, and continues working as the Giver. The weight of the memories of the entire Community and his responsibility of making decisions on the behalf of all makes him crumble down before Jonas after which both of them plan to release all the memories. It could be that he gives way to Jonas’s energetic efforts to bring transformation in the Community by making people independent and humane instead of making individuals the same.
• Father: Working as a Nurturer in the Community, Jonas’s father takes care of the toddlers and dedicates his life to them, yet he does not believe in love as he states it clearly to his wife. Although when releasing two kids with poisonous injections he does not feel anything, yet his concern for Gabriel makes his family members feel the transformation in him, though, he is to live in the system and perform as per his duties. So, his character stays flat until the end of the story.
• Mother: Jonas’s mother is an ambitious and career-oriented woman who has killed all of her emotions for her progress in the justice department where she punishes the rule-breakers of the Community. The training that she imparts to Jonas and other children shows her qualities akin to Lady Macbeth in resolution , yet she joins her son to deride the sentimentality of her husband when he fondles with his daughter, Lily. She becomes a model in society who wants societal ideals to be followed at every cost.
• Gabriel: The young toddler that the Nurturer intends to save at every cost, Gabriel becomes a lively child whom Jonas loves for his excellent memory and intelligence. As soon as he becomes dependent on Jonas for his sleep, his father resolves to send him to Elsewhere by releasing him. Although this premature action of his father disrupts Jonas’s plans, Gabriel causes a stir in society by releasing memories.
• Asher: Jonas’ childhood friend, Asher realizes others his discomfiture in such a Community due to the failure of the concept of Sameness. Although he does not seem capable of winning release from the Community, yet his foibles continue flabbergasting the people around him. Finally, both of them part ways after Jonas joins internship of the Giver and stops meeting him.
• Lily: Lily is Jonas’s sister shows great love for him nurtured by her father, the Nurturer when he fondles with her. She is a chatterbox and lively and takes care of Gabriel when her father brings him home.
• Fiona: Fiona has distinct red hair, and one for whom Jonas feels love. She joins a Caretaker to train herself to become one in the future to take care of the Old. As the story progresses, her character diminishes on account of the roles both of them choose to play.
• Rosemary: Rosemary is The Giver’s daughter, the incumbent Receiver of Memory, and commits suicide after she could not tolerate the pressure of the task.
• Chief Elder: The significance of the character of the Chief Elder lies in that she directs all the operations in the Community and decides the role allotted to every twelve-year-old teenager. This is called the Ceremony of Twelve that she presides to see how it goes along.
• Larissa: Her character is significant in the novel on account of her humor and chattiness. She informs Jonas about the release of Roberto.

Writing Style of The Giver

Lois Lowry has adopted a very euphemistic style in this novel, The Giver, using usual sentences but they are sometimes interspersed with run-on and broken sentences. The diction used in these sentences is twisted to suit the new context of the futuristic type of society where the Sameness has been implemented to achieve equality . Most of the diction is formal, though, at some places Lowry has used informal language. For literary devices , Lowry has relied on alliteration , consonance , metaphors , and similes.

Analysis of the Literary Devices in The Giver

• Action: The main action of the novel comprises the story of Jonas, the new Giver, who has become the Receiver of Memory until he releases himself prematurely. The rising action occurs when he becomes an intern of the Giver. The falling action occurs when Gabriel is released prematurely, and the plan of Jonas and the Giver has to be unfolded before its time.
• Anaphora : The below examples of anaphora are given below, i. Frightened meant that deep, sickening feeling of something terrible about to happen. Frightened was the way he had felt a year ago when an unidentified aircraft had overflown the community twice. He had seen it both times. (I) ii. Though Jonas had only become a Five the year that they acquired Lily and earned her name, he remembered the excitement, the conversations at home, wondering about her: how she would look, who she would be, how she would fit into their established family unit. (2) iii. His father smiled his gentle smile. (2) iv. A silence fell over the room. They looked at each other. Finally his mother, rising from the table, said, “You’ve been greatly honored, Jonas. Greatly honored.” (9) These examples show the repetitious use of “frightened”, “she would”, “smile” and “greatly honored.
• Allusions: The novel shows the use of allusions as given in the below sentences, i. Jonas had casually picked up an apple from the basket where the snacks were kept, and had thrown it to his friend. Asher had thrown it back, and they had begun a simple game of catch. (3) ii. There had been nothing special about it; it was an activity that he had performed countless times: throw, catch; throw, catch. It was effortless for Jonas, and even boring, though Asher enjoyed it, and playing catch was a required activity for Asher because it would improve his hand-eye coordination, which was not up to standards. (3) iii. Yes, I think I will,” Lily said. She knelt beside the basket. “What did you say his name is? Gabriel? Hello, Gabriel,” she said in a singsong voice . Then she giggled. “Ooops,” she whispered. “I think he’s asleep. (3) These examples show the use of allusion such as Jonas as Johana of the Bible, the apple as the allusion of the first apple, and Gabriel, the allusion of the angel .
• Antagonist : As there is no person who could make life difficult for Jonas, society itself is the obstacle in the way of every individual. Therefore, society is the antagonist of the novel, The Giver .
• Conflict : The novel shows the internal conflict as well as external conflict . The external conflict is going on between Jonas and the Community, while the internal or mental conflict is going on in the mind of Jonas due to his obligations to his position and his moral awakening.
• Characters: The novel shows dynamic as well as static characters . Jonas, the young boy, is a dynamic character as he witnesses a considerable transformation in his behavior and actions. However, all other characters are static characters such as his father, mother, Larissa, Lily, and Gabriel.
• Climax : The climax in the novel occurs when Jonas sees that his father has killed the boys which means he has released them from the Community.
• Hyperbole : Here are two examples of hyperboles from the book, i. For a moment he froze, consumed with despair. He didn’t have it, the whatever-she-had-said. (8) ii. A silence fell over the room. They looked at each other. Finally his mother, rising from the table, said, “You’ve been greatly honored, Jonas. Greatly honored.” (9) Both of these examples exaggerate things as a person does not actually freeze and that silence never actually falls.
• Imagery : The Giver’s imagery examples are given below, i. Jonas shrugged. He followed them inside. But he had been startled by the newchild’s eyes. Mirrors were rare in the community; they weren’t forbidden, but there was no real need of them, and Jonas had simply never bothered to look at himself very often even when he found himself in a location where a mirror existed. Now , seeing the newchild and its expression, he was reminded that the light eyes were not only a rarity but gave the one who had them a certain look— what was it? Depth, he decided; as if one were looking into the clear water of the river, down to the bottom, where things might lurk which hadn’t been discovered yet. He felt self-conscious, realizing that he, too, had that look.. (3) ii. Jonas nodded. “But it wasn’t really the same. There was a tub, in the dream . But only one. And the real bathing room has rows and rows of them. But the room in the dream was warm and damp. And I had taken off my tunic, but hadn’t put on the smock, so my chest was bare. I was perspiring, because it was so warm. And Fiona was there, the way she was yesterday. (5) iii. Jonas obeyed cheerfully. He closed his eyes, waiting, and felt the hands again; then he felt the warmth again, the sunshine again, coming from the sky of this other consciousness that was so new to him. This time, as he lay basking in the wonderful warmth, he felt the passage of time. His real self was aware that it was only a minute or two; but his other, memory-receiving self felt hours pass in the sun. His skin began to sting. Restlessly he moved one arm, bending it, and felt a sharp pain in the crease of his inner arm at the elbow. (10) These examples show images of feelings, sight, movement, and color.
• Irony : The examples of irony are given in below sentences, A committee was studying the idea. When something went to a committee for study, the people always joked about it. They said that the committee members would become Elders by the time the rule change was made. (2) These sentences show the irony in the word joke that people used to cut at the committee e members.
• Metaphor : The examples of metaphors are given in the sentences below, i. Many of the comfort objects , like Lily’s, were soft, stuffed, imaginary creatures. Jonas’s had been called a bear. (2) ii. Sometimes he awoke with a feeling of fragments afloat in his sleep, but he couldn’t seem to grasp them and put them together into something worthy of telling at the ritual. (5) iii. He sank back down into his chair, puzzled. (5) iv. The old man shrugged and gave a short laugh. “No,” he told Jonas. “It’s a very distant memory. That’s why it was so exhausting—I had to tug it forward from many generations back. It was given to me when I was a new Receiver, and the previous Receiver had to pull it through a long time period, too.” (10) These examples show that several things have been compared directly in the novel such as the first shows objects as creatures, the second shows feelings as ducks, the third shows chair as a lake and the fourth shows memory compared to some trolley.
• Mood : The novel shows very light and happy mood in the beginning but turns to dispassionate, sad as well as tragic during different events in the story of Jonas.
• Motif : Most important motifs of The Giver, are overtness, vision and release or death.
• Narrator : The novel is narrated from a third person omniscient point of view .
• Paradox : The below sentences are the examples of paradox , i. Jonas thought about it. The details were murky and vague. But the feelings were clear, and flooded him again now as he thought. (5) ii. This time the hands didn’t become cold, but instead began to feel warm on his body. They moistened a little. The warmth spread, extending across his shoulders, up his neck, onto the side of his face. (10) iii. “It’s just that I don’t know your name. I thought you were The Receiver, but you say that now I’m The Receiver. So I don’t know what to call you.” The man had sat back down in the comfortable upholstered chair. He moved his shoulders around as if to ease away an aching sensation. He seemed terribly weary. “Call me The Giver,” he told Jonas. (10) These examples show paradoxes as the first one shows two contradictory ideas of vague and clear, the second shows cold and warm, while the third shows receiver and giver given side by side in these sentences.
• Personification : The below sentences are good examples of personifications, i. “It took me many years. Maybe your wisdom will come much more quickly than mine.” (12) ii. And the strongest memory that came was hunger. It came from many generations back. Centuries back. The population had gotten so big that hunger was everywhere. Excruciating hunger and starvation. It was followed by warfare. (13) These examples show as if wisdom and memory have life and emotions of their own.
• Protagonist : The young boy, Jonas, is the protagonist of the novel. The novel starts with his entry into the story and ends with his plans to release memories in the Community.
• Repetition : The examples of repetitions are given in the below sentences, i. His father smiled his gentle smile. (2) ii. Almost every citizen in the community had dark eyes. His parents did, and Lily did, and so did all of his group members and friends. (3) iii. There had been nothing special about it; it was an activity that he had performed countless times: throw, catch; throw, catch. (3) iv. The prohibition of dream-telling, he thought, would not be a real problem. He dreamed so rarely that the dream-telling did not come easily to him anyway, and he was glad to be excused from it. (9) These examples show repetitions of different things and ideas such as of “gnawing”, “enjoyment” and “over and over.”
• Rhetorical Questions : The rhetorical questions are used at several places in the book. Two examples are given below, i. “Yes, I think I will,” Lily said. She knelt beside the basket. “What did you say his name is? Gabriel? Hello, Gabriel,” she said in a singsong voice. Then she giggled. “Ooops,” she whispered. “I think he’s asleep. (3) ii. Jonas was stunned. What would happen to his friendships? His mindless hours playing ball, or riding his bike along the river? Those had been happy and vital times for him. Were they to be completely taken from him, now? (9) This example shows the use of rhetorical questions posed but different characters not to elicit answers but to stress upon the underlined idea.
• Setting : The setting of The Giver is a fictional distant society called the Community.
• Simile : The below sentences are examples of similes from the book, i. Lily considered and shook her head. “I don’t know. They acted like … like…” “ Animals ?” Jonas suggested. He laughed. (2) ii. Look how tiny he is! And he has funny eyes like yours, Jonas!” Jonas glared at her. (3) iii. Then, as the angle of incline lessened, as the mound—the hill —flattened, nearing the bottom, the sled’s forward motion slowed. (10) iv. “It’s full of electrical impulses. It’s like a computer. If you stimulate one part of the brain with an electrode, it—” He stopped talking. He could see an odd look on The Giver’s face. (13) These similes show that things have been compared directly such as the first shows their action like that of animals, the second shows a comparison of the eyes of two persons, the third one shows a comparison of the sled and the hill, and the third one shows the comparison of electrical signals with a computer.

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Themes and Analysis

By lois lowry.

'The Giver' is, at times, a dark and disturbing novel, touching on themes of loss and control.

About the Book

Article written by Emma Baldwin

B.A. in English, B.F.A. in Fine Art, and B.A. in Art Histories from East Carolina University.

At the same time, it’s also a novel of hope , depicted through the beauty of colors seen for the first time and joys never before experienced. It’s a novel that ends with an image that alludes to the enduring nature of the human spirit and future possibilities.

The Giver Themes 

Memory .

It’s through memory in The Giver that the community leaders exert control over everyone else. Collective memory is a thing of the past. Wars, loves, hate, joy, and any remnant of the time before the community is lost. Lowry was interested in using this novel to explore what happens when all memories disappear. Does a happier community emerge when the dark parts of human history are lost?

Despite the community’s desire to leave their past behind, the elders also understood the age-old proverb that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. This meant that someone had to remember. The Giver plays the role, and Jonas was meant to take it up after him. He’s there to make sure that no one starts down a dangerous path that might lead to consequences known only to him. 

Free Will/Control 

Jonas’s community is nothing without control. The community leaders exert control by making everyone believe that total obedience is the only way to live. The rules are their lives, and there is no choice but to follow them. There are rules for every part of life, ensuring that free will is surprised and the individual. 

The Individual 

This final theme is tied directly to the other most prominent themes in the novel. There are moments in Lois Lowry’s novel where Jonas notes the individuality of his friends, family members, and most importantly himself. Jonas feels different than his friends do, and he knows he sees the world differently as well. This is something that proves to be correct when at the Ceremony of the Twelve, he’s singled out to be the new Receiver of Memory. It’s the first time in his life, and in the lives of the other children, that they’ve had their differences highlighted. Some are more suited for one job or another.

Jonas only becomes more of an individual, something the community doesn’t encourage, as the novel progresses. He’s given memories, something unique in his world.  One of the more powerful moments of the novel comes at the end when Jonas realizes that he’s making memories of his own, ones that belong only to him. 

Analysis of Key Moments in The Giver 

• Jonas sees an airplane, learning that there’s life outside the community. 
• His father brings Gabriel home. 
• Jonas feels the “stirrings.”  
• Jonas goes to the Ceremony of the Twelve and becomes the next Receiver of Memory. 
• Jonas meets the Giver and learns about good and bad experiences.  
• He gives Gabriel memories to calm him down. 
• Jonas starts to see colors. 
• He learns about the Giver’s daughter, the previous receiver of memory, and her release. 
• Jonas learns what “releasing” means . 
• The Giver and Jonas make a plan for him to escape the community. 
• Jonas runs away with Gabriel. 
• Jonas and Gabriel sled down the hill towards Elsewhere. 

Style, Literary Devices, and Tone in The Giver 

Lowry’s narrative style in The Giver is straightforward and clear. It comes across as a simple recitation of events, almost journalistic. The plot progresses from the beginning to the end of the story with very few exceptions. Lowry uses clear language that’s easy to understand throughout the book, solidifying her choice to direct this novel towards young adults. Additionally, the simple language helps describe the simple lives of Jonas, his family, and his friends. Everyone lives preplanned, organized lives, similar to how Lowry’s writing depicts them. This is also how one might describe the tone. It is direct in most parts of the novel and, as it progresses, becomes more emotional and distressed as Jonas learns more about his community. 

It’s not until the Giver comes into the narrative and starts relaying memories to Jonas that the style changes at all. The memories are moving, mysterious, and strange. This changes the way that Lowry writes and the images she creates. In these passages, and in all those in which Jonas is thinking about his world, Lowry uses rhetorical questions. These are questions to which the speaker does not expect an answer. Jonas is filled with them regarding every element of his life. 

Lowry makes use of several other literary devices in The Giver as well. These include euphemisms or phrases that stand-in for something uncomfortable or difficult. For example, “release” is used instead of kill. This is a great example of how the language Lowry selected for the community reveals something about them as much as it tries to hide the truth. When the families gather together to share their feelings, they’re doing the exact opposite. Lowry employs a cliff hanger at the end of the book when she chooses not to reveal what happens to Jonas and Gabe. 

Symbols in The Giver

The apple .

The apple is a symbol for all that’s missing in the community. Its red color, something that’s lost to everyone in the community except Jonas, represents freedom, human nature, and emotions. The red of the apple also appears in other parts of his life. It comes to represent desire when he sees it in Fiona’s hair, and then later. It features in the rainbow that the Giver shares with him. It reemphasizes the entire range of human experiences and emotions that Jonas, his friends, and family members are missing out on.

Gabriel 

Gabriel is different as Jonas is different . This is something that Jonas recognizes right away. He has pale eyes (later revealed to be blue, like Jonas’s), and Jonas can tell he’s far more thoughtful. The child represents innocence and acts as a powerful contrast to the emotionless community that chooses to kill him. For Jonas, Gabriel also represents hope. Hope for a better life, one filled with love, and one where a child can grow up without the threat of being “released.” 

Sled Ride 

The sled rid is the first memory that Jonas receives from the Giver. It’s one of pure joy, untouched by anything unpleasant. It’s a wonderful experience that does not prepare him for the terrible memories to follow. After receiving the memory, Jonas dreams about the sled ride and the unknown destination at the hill’s bottom. There’s something in the distance that he’s riding towards, but he doesn’t know what it is. It symbolizes his future and the new life that waits for him when he escapes the community at the end of the novel. 

About Emma Baldwin

Emma Baldwin, a graduate of East Carolina University, has a deep-rooted passion for literature. She serves as a key contributor to the Book Analysis team with years of experience.

Cite This Page

Baldwin, Emma " The Giver Themes and Analysis 📖 " Book Analysis , https://bookanalysis.com/lois-lowry/the-giver/analysis/ . Accessed 6 April 2024.

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• Literature Notes
• Major Themes in The Giver
• Book Summary
• About The Giver
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Chapters 1-2
• Chapters 3-5
• Chapters 6-8
• Chapters 9-10
• Chapters 11-12
• Chapters 13-15
• Chapters 16-17
• Chapters 18-20
• Chapters 21-23
• Lois Lowry Biography
• Critical Essays
• Style and Language in The Giver
• What Are Utopias and Dystopias?
• A Note about Infanticide and Euthanasia
• Full Glossary for The Giver
• Essay Questions
• Cite this Literature Note

Critical Essays Major Themes in The Giver

Many themes in The Giver demonstrate Lowry's concerns about society and humanity. For example, she concentrates on the tradeoffs involved when Jonas' community chooses Sameness rather than valuing individual expression. Certain themes in the book are familiar because they can be found in other novels by Lowry.

Throughout The Giver , Lowry attempts to awaken each and every reader to the dangers that exist when people opt for conformity over individuality and for unexamined security over freedom. At one time in the past, the people who inhabited Jonas' community intended to create a perfect society. They thought that by protecting the citizens from making wrong choices (by having no choices), the community would be safe. But the utopian ideals went awry, and people became controlled and manipulated through social conditioning and language. Now, even the expression "love" is an empty ideal. For example, when Jonas asks his parents if they love him, his mother scolds him for using imprecise language. She says that "love" is "a very generalized word, so meaningless that it's become almost obsolete." To Jonas, however, love is a very real feeling.

Lowry stresses the point that people must not be blindly obedient to the rules of society. They must be aware of and must question everything about their lives. In Jonas' community, the people passively accept all rules and customs. They never question the fact that they are killing certain babies simply because such babies are different, or that they are killing old people whom they determine are no longer productive to the community. The community members unquestioningly follow rules; over time, because killing has become a routine practice, horrible and senseless actions do not morally, emotionally, or ethically upset them. As The Giver says of Jonas' father's killing the lighter-weight twin male, "It's what he was told to do, and he knows nothing else."

Another important theme in The Giver is the value of the individual. Lowry points out that when people are unable to experience pain, their individuality is devalued. Memories are so vital because they oftentimes include pain, and pain is an individual reaction: What is painful to one person might not be painful to another person. Also, people learn from memories and gain wisdom from remembering past experiences.

Life in Jonas' community is very routine, predictable, and unchanging. So are most of the people who live in the community. These characters are uncomplicated and complacent. They are static, simple, one-dimensional characters. Because the majority of them do not change throughout the novel, we see only one part of their personalities — their surface appearances and actions. Nothing happens within static characters; things happen to them.

Most of the citizens in the community passively follow the rules of the community. They always do what they are told. Nothing has ever happened to them except when an earlier Receiver-in-training, Rosemary, asked for release because she no longer could tolerate living in the community. After her death, the people were in total chaos because they didn't know what to do with the memories that Rosemary had experienced. They were not accustomed to thinking for themselves. Experiencing Rosemary's memories was something that happened to the people. Afterward, they resumed their lives as before, so it is evident that nothing permanently changed within them.

Jonas, on the other hand, is a dynamic character. He changes during the course of the novel due to his experiences and actions. We know how Jonas changes because Lowry narrates The Giver in the third person, limited omniscient viewpoint in order to reveal Jonas' thoughts and feelings. When the novel begins, Jonas is as unconcerned as anyone else about how he is living. He has grown up with loudspeakers, rules, precise language, and a family that is not connected biologically, and he has accepted this way of life because he doesn't know any other type of existence. But as he receives The Giver's memories and wisdom, he learns the truth about his community, that it is a hypocrisy and that the people have voluntarily given up their individuality and freedom to live as robots. Jonas' character changes and becomes more complex. He experiences an inner conflict because he misses his old life, his childhood, and his innocence, but he can't return to his former way of life because he has learned too much about joy, color, and love. Lowry writes of Jonas toward the beginning of Chapter 17, "But he knew he couldn't go back to that world of no feelings that he had lived in so long."

Jonas also experiences an external conflict between himself and the community. He is frustrated and angry because he wants his fellow citizens to change and thereby give up Sameness. He knows that the community and each person's life will benefit if only they would — or could — reclaim their individuality. But the people can't change. Generations ago, they chose Sameness over freedom and individuality. Now, they know no other way of life.

Other themes in The Giver , such as family and home, friendships, acts of heroism, as well as the value of remembering the past, are familiar because they are themes in Lowry's previous novels also. Like Rabble in Rabble Starkey , Jonas has to leave the family that was created for him. Through the experience of leaving, both Jonas and Rabble learn to appreciate what it means to have a family and a home. And like Annemarie in Lowry's award-winning Number the Stars , Jonas lives in a repressed society in which he has no freedom. Both Jonas and Annemarie risk their lives in order to save people they love. Because the conclusion of The Giver is so ambiguous, we don't know how Jonas' experiences ultimately affect him or his community. We do know that he matures and that he feels excited and joyful as he and Gabe ride down the hill on the sled.

Lowry challenges her readers to reexamine their values and to be aware of the interdependence of all human beings with each other, their environment, and the world in which they live. When people are forced to live under an oppressive regime that controls every person's actions, meaningful relationships between people are threatened because they involve individual feelings and thoughts. Only by questioning the conditions under which we live, as Jonas does in The Giver , can we maintain and secure our freedom of expression.

Previous Lois Lowry Biography

Next Style and Language in The Giver

by Lois Lowry

The giver essay questions.

What does the ending of The Giver mean for our interpretation of the text?

Answer: Lowry has left the ending ambiguous. The more likely approach is to decide that Jonas did die and was merely hallucinating at the end of the novel, which could imply a pessimistic ending that completes our image of a dystopia that cannot provide its citizens with both safety and independence. Under this interpretation, we also see the difficulty of separating oneself from the collective; successful resistance requires more than just one or two people. One might decide instead that Jonas coincidentally finds the sled and Elsewhere at the conclusion of the novel. This development might suggest the ability of the human spirit to survive centuries of suppression and hint that Jonas's society will recover from the adverse effects of Sameness. It is important to note that in a later novel, Messenger , Lowry resolves the ambiguity by suggesting that Jonas survived, but this does not invalidate the possible interpretation that Jonas died.

What is the significance of snow in The Giver ?

Answer: Jonas's experiences with his memories are intimately connected with the idea of snow, from his first received transmission of sledding through snow on a hillside to his experience of a broken leg and finally to his real encounter with it at the novel's conclusion. As with many other things that have been eradicated through Sameness, snow involves the dangers that the community chose to end in its quest for safety. At the same time, however, it brings Jonas great joy, through his exhilaration in his first memory and in his apparent recognition of the existence of Elsewhere in the last chapter. Snow is neither good nor bad, but the novel implies that its absence takes some essential aspect away from the world. Removing a risk involves removing the benefits that could have resulted from taking the risk.

What meanings does the phrase "back and back and back" hold within the novel?

Answer: The phrase represents the traditional role of The Receiver within Jonas's community, and it gives a sense of history and continuity to the position of Receiver. Yet, as Jonas notes later in the novel, it also represents the burden and constraints that the society has given to The Receiver in the search for safety and Sameness. Whereas The Receiver is forced to remember "back and back and back" and understand all the pains of humanity, the rest of the community has no sense of history and thus loses both the positive and negative aspects of retaining a common history. For the community, the earlier times were times of hurt and danger, "backward" times that the people do not want to remember or relive.

How does The Giver's acquaintance with Jonas change The Giver's outlook on life?

Answer: Although most people read The Giver 's relationship to Jonas in terms of The Giver's teachings to Jonas--The Giver is in control, helping Jonas develop wisdom to augment his intelligence and courage--The Giver also gains some wisdom himself over the course of their relationship. Prior to meeting Jonas, The Giver had resigned himself to the stagnant nature of both the community and his role within the society, judging that the society was supreme and that he was powerless. However, by seeing the changes that his memories and teachings effect in Jonas, he learns that he also has the ability to teach others and perhaps reverse the oppression of individuals. By talking to Jonas about the problems of their society, he gains the resolve to make a difference and affect the society's future course.

Discuss how the idea of release is used in The Giver.

Answer: Because the nature of release is not revealed until very late in the novel--at a point that could be considered the climax of the plot--the continued references to the mysterious process of release unsettle us and lead us to suspect that it is intentionally hidden because of moral cracks in the society. The narrative introduces us to the idea of release in the first chapter as an apparently excessive punishment for a pilot's innocent mistake while indicating the presence of fear, which sets the tone for the rest of the novel. The novel then proceeds to both soothe and unnerve as it alternates examples of people who are happy to be released with those who are banished from the community for wrongdoing or for simply being weak. Considering that the Old are eventually released, it is not hard to figure out that being released means being euthanized. When the process of release is finally revealed, we are not surprised to see that it is lethal injection. The long period before the novel's revelation adds to its significance in revealing the problems in the community's structure. If the society has really done away with the troubles of this world, why do they still call euthanasia a release? Figuratively, people are being released from the bondage of the oppression in this tightly controlled society, but of course they do not see it in this way.

Discuss the role of family in The Giver .

Answer: Over the course of the novel, Jonas forms in a sense a second family. The first one consists of his family unit, and the second is a new family including Gabriel and perhaps also The Giver, who are joined to him by the transference of memories. The first unit serves as a foil for the second, as its apparent functionality is shown to be somewhat lacking in real love or permanent attachment. Most families are tightly controlled for the sake of the society (compare Plato's treatment of families in the Republic ). In contrast, Jonas's relations with The Giver and with Gabriel are more suggestive of the love that he feels in the memory of family and grandparents, and the novel suggests that their ability to feel true emotions such as love represents what is lacking in the rest of the community.

How do Asher and Fiona illuminate our understanding of Jonas's character?

Answer: Asher and Fiona serve as foils throughout the novel for Jonas. Initially, Asher's character description in particular highlights Jonas's characteristics of intelligence and thoughtfulness. Later in the novel, however, as Jonas's training begins to alienate him from the community, Asher's and Fiona's behavior during the war game shows the lack of understanding that results from their lack of historical awareness. The revelation that Fiona is training in release serves as a final indication of how Jonas has grown apart from the conventions and cruelties of his society.

Discuss the role of solitude or isolation in Jonas's experiences.

Answer: At one point in the novel, Lowry references the positive aspects of solitude as learned by Jonas through transmitted memories. However, for the most part, the effect of Jonas's role as Receiver-in-Training is to isolate him and make him experience the more negative aspects of his society. Because he has been trained to act always as a member of a group, he now learns that to honor The Receiver increases his burdens by adding the pain of loneliness to the weight of his memories. In his role as sage, he will always stand apart. He will develop his own sense of right and wrong, of good and evil, based on unique experiences that the regular society never has. His distanced vantage point allows him to critique the society more fully than he would have been able to do had he remained a normal member of the collective.

Write a second ending for The Giver that tells the fate of the community after Jonas's departure.

Answer: This question asks you to engage in a creative exercise. One might address the community's reaction to the loss of Jonas and what the people and The Giver are thinking as the people search for him. More importantly, one might consider the community's reaction to the return of their memories and about The Giver's attempt to help them. Such an ending could be written from the perspective of The Giver or the perspective of one of the members of the community, such as Jonas's sister Lily or his friend Asher. The narrative could then describe whether the community chose to reject or keep Sameness or what small risks the community began to take in order to appreciate individuality and the chance of developing a stronger, more free society.

How does Jonas's training as The Receiver of Memory serve as a coming-of-age story?

Answer: Jonas and his society proceed from the assumption that after the Ceremony of Twelve, all of the new Twelves are no longer mere children, although they stay with their family units and continue their schooling. However, Jonas's training reveals that after just twelve years of life, he has not acquired the wisdom necessary to approach his life as an adult. In his interactions with The Giver, he acquires this wisdom and mentally ages rapidly through his experiences of war, death, and starvation. This approach to development contrasts with that of Fiona and Asher, both of whom remain in a sense like children because their experiences do not grant them self-awareness and maturity.

The Giver Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Giver is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Should Jonas have asked them to stop playing the game of bad guys and good guys? CHAPTER 17

No, I don't think Jonas should ask them to stop playing. These kids cannot handle the emotional trauma  of forgetting their lunch let alone understanding emotions behind war and death. They simply would not comprehend what Jonas is talking...

Chapter 13-16

Jonas advocates choices, as well as real family units rather than created family units.

why didnt the game of good guys and bad guys that jonas's friends play seem harmless to jonas anymore? chapter 17

When he looks for Asher at the play area, he sees Tanya, an Eleven, being play-ambushed in a game by Asher. For the first time, Jonas recognizes this not only as a game of good guys and bad guys but also as a game of war. He watches the children...

Study Guide for The Giver

The Giver study guide contains a biography of Lois Lowry, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis of The Giver.

• About The Giver
• The Giver Summary
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• Character List

Essays for The Giver

The Giver essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Giver by Lois Lowry.

• The Cost of Security
• A Lonely Mind With a Heavy Burden: Hope in The Giver
• Is the Society of The Giver a Utopia?
• Reproductive Regulation and the Construction of Relationships for Populace Control in The Giver and “Pop Squad”

Lesson Plan for The Giver

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Giver
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Giver Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for The Giver

• Introduction
• Analysis of themes
• Literary significance and reception

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Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Chapters 13-15

Chapters 16-18

Chapters 19-21

Chapters 22-23

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Further Reading & Resources

Discussion Questions

What does it mean to be “released” from the community Jonas lives in? Name a few reasons people are released and explain how the act of releasing someone reflects the community’s values.

Receiver is described as a position of honor, while the Birthmother assignment is said to lack honor. Why is this the case? What might happen if the status of these roles were switched?

At several points in The Giver , Jonas expresses that having choices is dangerous. Why does he feel this way, and how does his opinion about choices change as the story unfolds?

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Giver — Themes of Memory and Mortality in “The Giver”

Themes of Memory and Mortality in "The Giver"

• Categories: Literary Devices The Giver

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Words: 830 |

Published: Feb 18, 2022

Words: 830 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Works Cited:

• Animal Equality. (2021). Animal Testing. https://animalequality.org/animal-testing/
• Bekoff, M. (2018). The Animal Manifesto: Six Reasons for Expanding Our Compassion Footprint. New World Library.
• Boka, J., & Garber, K. (2020). Ethical Issues in the Use of Animal Models for Tissue Engineering: Reflections on Legal and Regulatory Implications. Animal Experimentation and Ethics , 155-178.
• Chakraborty, S. (2018). Animal Experimentation: A Necessary Evil. Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics, 9(1), 1–2.
• Gruen, L. (2011). Ethics and Animals: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press.
• Lund, K. (2017). Animal Testing and Ethics. In Vitro and Alternative Methods, 53-60.
• PETA. (2021). Animal Testing 101. https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/animal-testing-101/
• Perry, L. (2016). Animal Welfare and Human Values. Routledge.
• Reese, L. A., & Orlans, F. B. (2016). Animal Welfare and Experimental Research. Springer.
• Shanks, N., & Greek, R. (2009). Animal Models in Light of Evolution. CRC Press.

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In Jonas's community, no one makes choices. All choices about the community were made in the distant past when Sameness was created, and any additional changes involve painfully slow bureaucratic procedures. Without choice, no one suffers the consequences that come from making wrong choices, but they also don't experience the joys that come with making right ones. By sacrificing the freedom of choice, community members are guaranteed a stable, painless life. Consequently, the people lead pleasant—but robotic—lives.

When Jonas discovers memory, he realizes that choice is essential to human happiness. Choice, he learns, is power. He makes the first real choice in his life when he decides to escape from the community and take Gabriel with him. In making this significant and dangerous choice, he gives a windfall of pleasure and pain to the people he leaves behind, and gives the freedom of choice back to the community.

Freedom and Choice ThemeTracker

Freedom and Choice Quotes in The Giver

The Giver Memory Essay

When The Giver told Jonas “Welcome Receiver of Memory,” on page 75, it was just part of the story. But now it’s, loaded with symbolism in this sentence. All the people in the story don’t get to know the history of the past, but this sentence shows that there is history in the book and that someone is going to find out all about the history and memories. The Giver, by Lois Lowry, has a theme of memory/history and three examples in the story , are Jonas, animals, and elsewhere. In this essay you will find why these are representing memory/history.

First Jonas is an example because he, shows history and memory for lots of good reasons. In the story the Chief Elder said, “Jonas has been selected to be our next Receiver of Memory. ” Meaning that Jonas is going to be the person who gets to hold the memories for the people , and help them to make important decisions for them that require more knowledge than the council already has. The Giver in the story said, “It’s the memories of the whole world. ” This means that there are memories in the story and that someone gets to have them, but not everyone gets to have them.

That is very important because it means generally that when Jonas gets all the memories no one but him will have them. When Jonas thought about the people never knowing pain, that meant no one in the community got to feel pain and he’s the only one that knows about it. In the part when Jonas said to Asher, “You had no way of knowing this. I didn’t know myself until recently. But it’s a cruel game. In the past there have been–” That is a part in the book where Jonas is trying to share the past with other people.

At the part in the book where Jonas was testing Asher with the flowers , it meant he was trying to see if anyone else could perform a memory at all. All of these reasons show that Jonas represents memory and history. Next the animals in The Giver help us understand the history and memories in the book , because they were always being used in memories of the past. When you reach the part where there were dead soldiers and horses everywhere, this shows that there are animals in Jonas’s visions of the past. The elephant in the story was killed in the past . So in the future there aren’t elephants, and in the past there were.

Elephants also are symbolised as wisdom and knowing, everyone in the book doesn’t have knowledge of the past. So it’s pretty f past. So it’s pretty funny that it was an elephant in the book. In the future of the book to when Jonas gets to know Gabe, everyone thinks Gabes stuffed animal is a hippo, but it’s really an elephant. These thoughts about elephants shows that the people in the Givers community don’t have knowledge over past animals . All in all animals were used to represent the past, because the majority of the people never knew about the animals from the past.

Lastly Elsewhere in the story represents history and memory. One reason why elsewhere represents the past is because people in the story could choose to go to elsewhere at any time. But in the book every time someone wants to do something they need to ask. They never really make there own decisions, without an influence from someone. But in the past everyone got to choose what to do.

In the book when they were watching someone get released to Elsewhere Jonas said, “He killed it! My father killed it! In the past, death was the word people used, but the community in the book used the word Elsewhere so in a way Elsewhere is death, so elsewhere has always been around therefore it is a memory and history. At one part in the story Larissa said, “This morning we celebrated the release of Roberto,” “It was wonderful. ” This simply means that a woman remembered this mornings release, but she said it was wonderful, so she really didn’t understand Elsewhere is death otherwise it wouldn’t have been wonderful. She didn’t know what death is either because she doesn’t have the memory of the past.

All in all the story the Giver has history and memory hrough Elsewhere for these reasons. In The Giver the overall symbolism for memory and history is that everyone in the story has memory of their own life, or peoples lives that tell them what there life is like. But they don’t have any memory of what society was like until the community was formed. However part of their community has been balanced through the help of someone with the memories and history of the world , this person is used as an adviser over the past. They get to learn more about the past through books. In The Giver Jonas and the Giver were the people who got to use the history of the world.

That’s how Jonas gets to represent history and memories. Animals get to represent history and memories in The Giver because there aren’t animals in the present time set in the book. So whenever they are talked about they are from history. Elsewhere shows history and memory because in the story elsewhere was equivalent to death, and death was a word used in the past so it means a past word. People in the story also get to remember people in their lifetime that got sent to elsewhere, so they had memories of the past elsewheres. All in all Jonas, animals, and Elsewhere all represented history and memory in the story The Giver.

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Matthew Goldstein covers Wall Street and white-collar crime and housing issues. More about Matthew Goldstein