Memories are one of the most important parts of life, there is no true happiness without the reminiscence of pain or love. This concept is portrayed in "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. The story tells of a 12-year old Jonas, who lives in a “utopian” society, where all bad memories are destroyed to avoid the feeling of pain. Jonas becomes the receiver, someone who receives good and bad memories, and he is transmitted memories of pain and pleasure from The Giver and is taught to keep the secret to himself. The author shows one should cherish memories, whether it be good or bad, as they are all of what is left of the past, and we should learn from it as to better ourselves in the future. The characters and conflicts reinforce the idea that if you do not learn from the mistakes you have made in the past, you can repeat them. To …show more content…
Jonas hates how his society decides to keep memories a secret from everyone. Jonas remarks: “The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared” (Lowry 154). Jonas feels that memories, whether it be good or bad, should be shared with everyone. Furthermore, memories allow the community to gain wisdom from remembering experiences of the past. Moreover, the Giver disagrees with how the community runs things. He believes that memories should be experienced by everyone as well, because life is meaningless without memories. The Giver states: “There are so many things I could tell them; things I wish they would change. But they
Lea Vilna Santos Mrs. English, 7th September 1st, 2015 The Giver, by: Lois Lowry Log Entry 4: Chapters 7-8: Question 2: In chapters 7 and 8, Jonas is assigned the job of Receiver of Memory and although the Chief Elder calls it the greatest honor,it might give him more hardship and pain than fortune. She explains that the selection is rare and his role is very important because there is only one Receiver and it takes integrity, intelligence, courage, wisdom, and the capacity to see beyond to be that person. At first he wants to tell he has no idea what she means and that he doesn’t have it until he notices a change in the crowd that was quick but he knows that he isn’t dreaming because it’s happened before but to his apple. Then he realizes
It was now that Jonas was informed of his duty as receiver of memories. Jonas was forced to leave his place of comfort and leave the safe world that he had been in up until this point.
But he realized that the choice wasn’t his. The giver repeatedly reminded Jonas that there are many good memories. After that, Jonas received another good memory, family. He learned many new things, both good and bad memories. Another example is that although after receiving the memories Jonas experienced the pain of loss and loneliness, he also experienced the joy of understanding solitude.
The Giver’s job is to show Jonas all the memories from the past and to teach him how to guide the Council of Elders using the memories that the Giver passes to him. Throughout the
Outline Imagine being chosen a job for a lifetime, but this job had a lot of pain, and loneliness. Well that what it was like for Jonas. Which makes Jonas being selected to be the receiver of memory is more like a punishment than an honor. Jonas has to deal with the pain that comes from the memories. He is missing out on things others can do.
Is Jonas’s society different than ours? Utopian (N) an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect. The key word there is ‘imagined’ as we haved learned in The Giver that not everything can be perfect; it 's just limiting the being of a human. By having such limitations, the people can’t hold their memories, can’t see color, and the government chooses their family. Jonas’s society is vastly different than ours in various ways.
However, The Giver has a memory of the past, color, and emotions. The Giver transmits these memories to Jonas, and the two of them are the only people in their community with this knowledge. In the novel, The Giver by Lois Lowry, the author proves that knowledge has the power to change a person's opinions, likes, and dislikes through the memories that The Giver bestowes upon Jonas. Once The Giver had given Jonas memories of the community's past, Jonas's opinions of how everyday life in the community should be changed. After The Giver had transmitted the memory of hills, sleds, and snow, Jonas immediately wanted to be able to get rid of Sameness.
I have read the novel, “The Giver”, written by the famous American writer Lois Lowry. This book was written under author’s impression after visiting her aging father in the hospital, who had lost his long term memory. The idea of the book is the importance of memory. The novel is set in a society which seems like utopian, in this society there is no hunger, sadness, or misery. However this utopian society is held from experiencing true emotions.
One memory change that. Jonas saw the Giver’s favorite memory. The memory was about Christmas. It showed love, warmth, and grandparents. At the end of the book Jonas became affectionate.
When Jonas experiences both painful and pleasurable memories, he becomes willing to accept pain and suffering in order to experience the fullness of life. He decides to leave, that he will no longer live within the constraints of his community, and that security is not worth the absence of freedom. The line between public safety and personal freedoms should be drawn where extreme harm can occur, and most freedoms are more essential than an orderly society. These freedoms include color and diversity, personal freedoms such as dress code, speech, and religion, and love and marriage.
Literary Analysis: The Giver Imagine a world where everything seems perfect but truly it is not as pleasant as it appears. In The Giver by Lois Lowry shows us a community in the future with no feelings at all. Jonas a twelve year old boy knows his life as it is and one evening he learns the truth about the community. Jonas set’s off into a adventure to change it all. Character,conflict,and symbolism makes the reader see thru the eyes of a twelve year old in a place of slavery disguised without anyone knowing it.
The Giver Literature essay I have read the dystopian novel “The Giver” (1993) which is written by the beloved American author Lois Lowry. “The Giver” is about a twelve-year-old boy with the name Jonas. Jonas lives a similar life as all the others in the community, until the Ceremony of Twelve when he got assigned the task as the Receiver of Memory. As The Receiver of Memory it is Jonas’ task to keep all the memories of the past so not everyone needs to keep this burden. Although Jonas received beautiful memories with a lot of colors and happiness he also felt grief, pain and anger.
Jonas thought that after they received their assignments, him and Asher, his best friend, he thought that they would grow apart and no longer be friends. Throughout the beginning of the book, Jonas kept worrying about how they might grow apart from each other. In the book Jonas thought to himself “...but what would become of me and Asher and the assignments we received”. Jonas did not want them to grow apart because they have been best friends since they were little. This was hard for him because he didn't know what would become of them and what would become of them.
Being responsible for all memories is a big burden. A quote from the Giver could show this: “His childhood, his friendships, his carefree sense of security-all of these things seemed to be slipping away. With his new, heightened feelings, he was overwhelmed by sadness at the way the others had laughed and shouted, playing at war, but he knew that they couldn’t understand why, without the memories. ”(Lowry, pg 135) Everybody’s memories and pain is a hard thing to hold and a big responsibility.
Memories allow us to have past knowledge so that we can better understand and relate to people. The New York Times article states “...Kate McLean, a psychologist at the University of Toronto in Mississauga. “This meaning-making capability — to talk about growth, to explain what something says about who I am — develops across adolescence.” (Benedict Carey). This backs up the point that through memories a person starts to more about their inner self.