THE ESCAPE

THE ESCAPE

Gabriel and Jonas going down the sled

The bird Jonas saw while he headed towards
Elsewhere

       In chapters 18 through 23 in The Giver, Jonas and the elder plan an escape. Jonas has had enough with the rules and he wanted it all to end: the fake lives, the fake love,  and the fake feelings. Jonas wanted everyone to know the truth about memories and how there is so much more. He had recently just seen what a release of a baby twin brother really meant: death. Jonas was tired and just wanted a real normal life. He and the elder both make a plan to change the lives of other people and to bring back the memories. The plan was to go to Elsewhere and give back all the memories to the people. The day before Jonas escaped, he heard that his father was going to release Gabriel, so the day after (the day of the Ceremony) Jonas took the baby and escaped with him. During the escape, Jonas had encountered many drones looking for him while he headed towards Elsewhere, but he managed to hide in the bushes. On the way, Jonas ate the meals he saved but later on, he ran out of food and water. Before the escape, the Giver gave him many memories of courage and that helped Jonas a lot. While he got closer to his destination, Jonas saw many animals like birds and other things. As Jonas got closer to Elsewhere, it got colder and colder and Jonas has gotten weaker but he doesn't give up. Once he reaches the end, he finds a sled and gets on top. he pushes himself forward and starts just like the first memory the Giver gave to him. He gains velocity and finally hears music.

       The quote I chose from The Giver is on page 163, chapter 19. The quote says "He killed it! My father killed it! Jonas said to himself, stunned at what he was realising". This quote makes me feel very sad because in the community of Jonas, they kill babies and elders without realising what they have done. It is very disappointing to here that in the book, people choose who is to die. The second quote I chose from the Giver is on page 168, chapter 20. The quote say " It was possible, what they had planned. Barely possible. If it failed, he would likely be killed". I like how the author chose the words in this quote.  I like how the author instead of making Jonas say released, he said killed. I also like how she kind of put a tone to the quote.

       These were the last chapters of the book! Oh my gosh! The ending of this book was amazing. I loved how Lois Lowry made this book very predictable to the future. Who knows? Maybe this will happen in real life. Will the future that we hold be like the book? Or, will it be completely different? Well, I guess we'll see someday.

PREPARING FOR THE NEW LIFE

PREPARING FOR THE NEW LIFE

Baby Gabriel

        In the first six chapters of The Giver, the author explains to us how life is in Jonas' community. She explains the rules and how the people should act in order for people to live a "perfect" life. In the first six chapters, we all get informed about the life of Jonas. For example, his dwelling, his parents and their jobs, his little sister Lilly, his friends Asher and Fiona,where he usually does his volunteer hours, the dream telling, the stirrings, and baby Gabriel. These chapters explain how Jonas is preparing for The Ceremony of Twelves. He is nervous about the job that The Elders will assign to him, he explained in the feelings (a ritual that everyone has to do at the end of the day). Jonas' father and mother tell him that the elders make very carful and precise decisions and that he shouldn't be worried. During the six chapters, the author explains how Jonas' father is a Nurturer for the new born.   Jonas' father has been concerned of a baby named Gabriel in the Nurturing Center, and he had asked permition to the Committee for a temporary custody of the baby. Gabriel has been put in an area for babies who have not been doing things a normal new born should do; for example, sleeping and crying to much. If Gabriel keeps on doing the things that normal new born babies shouldn't do, he will be released to Elsewhere. This is why Jonas father is concerned for the baby, because it would be a terrible thing if this would happened.

      The quote that I chose from The Giver is from page 20, Chapter 3. The quote says, "No one mentioned such things; it was not a rule, but it was considered rude to call attention to things that were unsettling or different about individuals". This quote makes me think about how complicated Jonas' life is if he can not talk about differences. Another thing this brought to my mind is that no matter what, everyone will always be different from one another and you can't do anything about it. This quote makes me feel a little angry that the future society could be forcing people to be the same and have no differences. The other quote that I chose from The Giver is from page 48, Chapter 6. The quote says "how could someone not fit in? The community was so meticulously ordered, the choices so carefully made.". This quote makes me think about why would the Elders choose the future of the citizens. What makes them think that they could just look at what someone is good at and make them get specialised in that specific talent. This quote makes me feel very uncomfortable of the fact that in the book, no one can make choices for themselves and that they have to live a "fake" life.
 
      Now that I have read the first six chapters of The Giver, I can predict that by looking at the title of the book, Jonas is going to be assigned as the Giver. So, who knows what will happen next? Will Jonas be assigned as the Giver or will he be heading towards another future? In other words, I can't wait to see what happens next!
     
         

   

THE PAIN IN RECEIVING MEMORIES

THE PAIN IN RECEIVING MEMORIES

Family Dinner

War

       In chapter 12 through 18 in The Giver, Jonas had learned and experienced many different things. He learned to see colours and there names, he had experienced what real pain feels like, he learned about what love is, he learned about "the failure" ten years ago, and he has experienced weeks without the pills for the Stirrings. At first, Jonas was very clueless about the past, but now, he has much wisdom. The Giver had given many more memories to Jonas, and one of the many memories was war. This had been devastating to Jonas because he now had memory that shows him how real pain is like. The Giver feels very sad for Jonas and what he has encountered, so what the Giver does in order to keep Jonas from suffering is give him delightful memories. One of them was the Givers favourite, love. This memory was about a family with grandparents, parents, sons and daughters all on Christmas having a good time. This memory made Jonas and the Giver come into the discussion of "the failure" ten years ago of the older Receiver of Memory. The Giver explained how the name of "the failure" was Rosemary and how he also gave her a painful memory of loneliness. After that memory, Rosemary was very sad, but she wanted more because it was her duty. The Giver kept giving more painful memories until Rosemary was heartbroken and requested for permission to get release. This is the reason why one of the rules of becoming Receiver of Memory was to not request for release to Elsewhere. This made Jonas aware that he is very brave. At that time, Jonas had not been taking the pills for the Stirrings and had been having those dreams about Fiona again. Also, Gabriel was out in Jonas' room because in there, the baby slept soundly. The reason for this was because Jonas had been giving delightful memories to the baby which was making him sleep soundly.

The passing of Memories

       The first quote I chose from the Giver is on page 208, chapter 16. The quote say "I couldn't quite get the word for the whole feeling of it, the feeling that was so strong in the room. "love," The Giver told him." This quote makes me very surprised that something so important was erased from Jonas' community. It makes me think about how fake everyone is in the community. Fake jobs, fake parents, fake love, and much more things that could be fake. No one is real in the community except for the Giver and Jonas which must make them feel so alone and apart. The second quote I chose is on page 212, chapter 16. The quote says "Jonas nodded. "Yes, thank you, I do," he replied slowly. It was his first lie to his parents. This quote , strangely, makes me proud of Jonas for stepping up and lying. Obviously lying is bad, but Jonas was brave enough to do it even though it was against the community rules. This also make me proud because Jonas is now being different from the others in a good way.

       So what might happen next? I can predict that Jonas will get caught lying or might get caught not taking his pills. I think Jonas is going well and getting better at Receiving the memories and learning more about the past generations and back and back and back. So who knows what happens next? Until next time, we'll see.

THE RECEIVER OF MEMORY

THE RECEIVER OF MEMORY

       In the chapters 7 through 12 of The Giver, the author describes how Jonas got selected as the Receiver of Memory. At first, Jonas was very nervous to here about the selection because the Chief Elder explained that being the Receiver of Memory will be physically painful in a way that no one can describe it. This made Jonas very uncomfortable until he heard the four qualities that the Elders had been looking for in order to choose him as The Receiver of Memory, these were:intelligence,integrity, courage, and the capacity to see beyond. After the ceremony, everyone congratulated Jonas for being selected to one of the most honoured careers in the community. Even though Jonas got proudly selected to Receiver of Memory, he felt apartness, because this career was done alone with the Giver. When Jonas got home, he opened up the folder that the Chief elder gave to him and read the 8 rules of being The Receiver of Memory, which were: "Immediately go to training after school hours to the Annex room and present yourself to the attendant, immediately go to your dwelling after training hours, you may ask questions and you will receive answers, do not discuss training with anyone in the community, you are prohibited from dream telling, do not apply for any medication except for illness or injury, you are not permitted to apply for release, you may lie". The next day Jonas followed the rules and went straight to training after school. Once he got to the Annex room, he saw the elder that would give him his training. The elder gave him information about being the Receiver of Memory. He told Jonas about the pain he will encounter and the things he will learn that Jonas does not yet understand. After those discussions, the elder ordered Jonas to lay down in the bed, and to take off his tunic. Once Jonas has followed the instructions, the elder put his hands on Jonas' back, and gave him the memory of snow, a sled, and a hill. At first, Jonas did not know about all of those things, but the memory gave him the explanation automatically. Jonas was astounded at the end of the memory, but the elder told him that that was the beauty, but there was a lot of pain involved. As a matter of fact, the Giver gave him sunburn as a small painful memory. The next day, the Giver (the elder) and Jonas were talking about the capacity to see beyond and how that is happening to Jonas. Once both of them talked about "seeing beyond" and how Jonas sees strange things, the Giver gave him the memory of a rainbow and its colours.


       The quote I choose from the Giver is on page 58, chapter 7. The quote says "He hunched his shoulders and tried to make himself smaller in the seat. He wanted to disappear, to fade away, not exist". I like how the author chose the words in this quote, because the way Lois Lowry described how Jonas felt is very efficient. If I was in Jonas' state, I would react the same way she described it in the book. The other quote I chose from the Giver is on page 63, chapter 8. The author wrote "You will be faced, now, with pain of a magnitude that none of us here can comprehend because it is beyond our experience. The Receiver himself was not able to describe it, only to remind us that you will be faced with it, that you would need immense courage". This quote makes me wonder what the pain will be like. Will it be physical, emotional or mental? The way this quote makes me feel is surprised because one of the jobs in the community requires someone to have great pain.


       Now that I have read chapters 7 through 12, I can understand the book more clearly. Now I know that the world Jonas was living in, is colourless. I also now understand what the meaning of the title of the book is. I am very glad that Jonas got selected as the Receiver of Memory because it's the only career that is unique from the others.