The Giver Group

Question:

plzhelp
plzhelp
Student
High School - 9th Grade

Discuss the unsual ending of "The Giver" and what you think actually happened.

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Posted by plzhelp on Wednesday January 9, 2008 at 12:59 PM and tagged with characters, conclusion, ending, the giver, themes.

Answers:


  1. malibrarian Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    The optimistic part of me wants to believe that Jonas has managed to get Gabriel to a new town, where people's attitudes toward individualism and free-thinking is not so rigid as in the society they left.  I want to believe that the lights Jonas sees are in welcoming homes, filled with truly nurturing people who will take them in and care for them.

    Somehow, though, it also seems probable that Jonas has died trying to get Gabriel to safety, thus leading to Gabriel's death.  If that is the case, then the welcoming lights and music he hears would be indicative of heaven or some kind of gentle, good afterlife.

    It doesn't really matter, though.  The images of light and warmth, of music and happiness, tell us that Jonas and Gabriel are in a better place than the one they left.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/giver/summary

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    Posted by malibrarian on Wednesday January 9, 2008 at 2:29 PM


  2. brendawm Teacher
    High School - 9th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    As you said, the ending of The Giver is very ambiguous, allowing for the reader to make his or her own interpretation of what happens in the end. As Jonas and Gabriel make it to the bottom of the hill they hear singing, and see warmly lit homes that they know are filled with love and memories. The question and the ambiguity come into question when the reader realizes the peril of the situation the two boys were in--tired, hungry, and freezing. Did they survive to make it to the other side of Sameness; if so the ending was a happy one. If not, then they are delusional and freezing to death, in which case the ending is very sad and heartbreaking. You actually have two possible endings one thoroughly optimistic and one completely pessimistic; however, in my opinion, there is another way to view it. Jonas and Gabriel's end is happy to a certain extent either way because they have reached a happiness that neither has ever known before. In the end, they both know love, peace and happiness.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/giver/

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    Posted by brendawm on Saturday January 12, 2008 at 4:28 PM

  3. mylifeisasong
    mylifeisasong Student
    High School - 10th Grade

    I know that Jonas and Gabriel are not dead because they show up again in Messenger, the third book in this loose trilogy. However, if I did not know that, I would probably believe that they died. If Elsewhere really is a place where people "go" when they are released, maybe he has reached Elsewhere because he is dead. I'd like to think that he's found peace and happiness, wherever he is.

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    Posted by mylifeisasong on Tuesday March 17, 2009 at 9:39 PM

  4. andi5213
    andi5213 Teacher
    Middle School

    As someone else had mentioned Jonas and Gabriel are mentioned in the third novel The Messenger,  and are alive and well. But, based on the ending of The Giver alone, I would like to believe that it in a a loose way the "second coming" it is after all Christmas, and they are "waiting for Jonas and the child too.  And as we see in the Messenger, a new "wordl" is created.   I think Lowery meant it be an optimistic ending. 

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    Posted by andi5213 on Sunday March 22, 2009 at 4:38 PM

  5. brax1234
    brax1234 Student
    Graduate School

    I think my students might be able to answser this question.

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    Posted by brax1234 on Friday May 15, 2009 at 11:32 AM

  6. daddysgirl1437
    daddysgirl1437 Student

    In my opinion I think that Jonas is like falling unconcious to his death because of the cold and while this is happening Gabe and himself r being welcomed to a better place. So yeah, I think they died! 

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    Posted by daddysgirl1437 on Sunday May 17, 2009 at 5:55 PM