By: Hugh G. Rection
The Giver 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 its 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 books community. All the people are provided with homes, jobs, and food. A bad thing about the givers community is release. When a person breaks a major rule, is too old, or isnt 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 newchilds forehead, puncturing the place where the fragile skin pulsed. The newborn squirmed and wailed faintly Whys 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 wasnt 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 didnt 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 couldnt 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 cant love anyone. Their spouses are picked for them and they consider the word love improper English.
They take pills so they dont love anyone. No one sees color except the reciever because the memories are in color. The Givers 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. In the book The Giver, by Lois Lowry the important part of the book is the community. Without the community the town would be lost. The community chooses what you would do in life, who you would marry, and when you would die. The community only allowed each family to have only two children.
People in the community had to apply for children. In the community you could not ask questions that were too personal. It was considered rude to ask people personal questions. In The Giver, Jonas is chosen to be the receiver of memory.
The giver is the only one to hold all the memories of the pain and pleasures of life. It was time for a new giver. It was time for Jonas to receive the truth about what life is really like. Once the Giver showed Jonas the memory, the memory the Giver has is gone. When Jonas started his training, he started with pleasant memories but later saw what could happen in war time and the feeling of extreme pain. The receiver before Jonas got scared and tried to run away from the town to Elsewhere.
The memories she received became lost in the town. The community has always depended on the receiver to hold their memories for them. The Giver and Jonas made a plan to leave town. Jonas is supposed to go to Elsewhere.
In Elsewhere the town is completely different from the town Jonas came from. When Jonas get to Elsewhere, it means that the community has to bear the burden themselves that Jonas was holding. Jonas went to Elsewhere with a baby named Gabriel. They went through the cold and were starving but finally in the end made it to Elsewhere.
The Giver had to stay to help the people cope with the memories they would receive. I agree with what Jonas did. People should be able to make their own decisions and live life the way they want to Jonas was starting to see the fighting of the wars, he didn't really liked that memory. Another memory that impacted me was when Joneas was in the top of the hill and saw, and felt the fresh snow and when he got into the slide and went of the snow, but then after he maked the planed to live and tried to make it, but after he left home he took Gabriel to go with him, but unfortionaly they both died in the way.
Word Count: 1235
