At the end of chapter 10, the Giver tries using a simile to explain his experience of memories. He stops when he realizes that many of the terms have no meaning to Jonas whatsoever; because of the nature of their community, those terms have been stripped from the existence of ordinary citizens. Thus, the Giver first decides to transmit a new experience: snow.
This is how chapter 11 begins. He first experiences the concept of snow, which feels like pinpricks but without pain, before he can label it. As he sits atop a "mound," he realizes that he sits on an object known as a sled. And suddenly his "new consciousness" realizes that the "mound" is actually called a hill. As the sled begins traveling downhill, Jonas understands that it is able to do so because of the objects called runners that are underneath it.
Jonas continues until he perceives a new concept: the hill begins to flatten. As the sled slows, Jonas doesn't want the experience to end. His consciousness returns to the Giver, and Jonas is immediately aware that this experience is better than Sameness. The Giver then wishes to transmit another memory to make sure Jonas can perceive the names of objects without the Giver providing them in advance, as he did with his simile in chapter 10.
In the next memory, Jonas lies outside and feels a warmth covering his entire body. He immediately perceives the new concept: sunshine. He and the Giver discuss the pain that will be found in the training, and Jonas asks for one of those memories, telling the Giver that he is brave enough to handle it. In the next memory, Jonas is outside in the sun and feels hours pass. When he tries to bend his arm, his inner arm at the elbow hurts. Jonas can't grasp the word for this sensation, so the Giver provides it for him: sunburn. Jonas believes that this is the great pain the Giver speaks of, which of course is minuscule compared to the pain he will eventually endure as his vocabulary and experience grow.
In chapter 11, the Giver transmits the first memory of sled riding down a snowy hill to Jonas, who is astonished and thrilled by the pleasant experience. Initially, Jonas finds the cold air startling but is not frightened and begins to catch snowflakes on his tongue. Jonas perceives the words "snow," "sled," "runners," and "hill" during the memory, which are associated with foreign concepts that do not exist in his mundane, highly-organized community. Jonas then experiences the thrilling feeling of sledding down a hill at high speed before stopping at the bottom.
Following the exhilarating memory, Jonas asks the Giver why they do not have snow or hills in their community. The Giver responds by elaborating on the concept of Sameness, which uses climate control to prevent snow and has caused hills to disappear.
In the second memory, Jonas receives the pleasant feeling of sunshine, which is another word he perceives. The...
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Giver explains that Sameness eliminated sunshine too and proceeds to transmit the painful memory of sunburn to Jonas.
Overall, Jonas experiences the feeling of sled riding down a snowy hill and discovers what sunshine and sunburn feel like. These experiences are foreign to Jonas, who lives in a society founded on Sameness. Throughout his experience, Jonas also becomes acquainted with the words "snow," "hill," "runners," and "sunshine."
The old man gives Jonas the memory of snow, sledding, and the feeling of snow hitting you in the face. Jonas experiences that adrenaline rush of a sled ride as well. Jonas also experiences cold for the first time. After a while, Jonas is given the memory of sun, warmth and sunburn as a way to experience pain. The sunburn is not a bad one, so the pain is not "horrible", but just enough to know what it feels like to be in pain.
Since the community has gone to Sameness, there is no "fun" or thrill-seeking. One day is just like the next. The weather is all the same, everyone sees in black and white. Jonas is given the memory of a rainbow so that he can see all of the colors. (in a later chapter)
After his work with "the old man" Jonas notices that the old man looks tired and a little drained. Once the memories are passed from him to Jonas, The Giver has a very vague recollection of them.
In this chapter, Jonas's first visit to the Giver's home provides him with his first memory transmission: sledding on a snowy hill. For the first time, he sees snow and feels the exhilaration of sledding. He also feels sunshine, and then later, sunburn, to understand the concept of pain. We learn in this chapter that the community has gone to Sameness, which means that they don't have unusual weather or the fun activities associated with snow. So Jonas's experiences are entirely unique to him, as he is accustomed to total climate control in his environment.
Chapter 11 is the beginning of Jonas' experiences as The Receiver. The Giver transmits three memories to Jonas--the first begins with Jonas being outside and experiencing what it is like to be outside when it is snowing. It then continues with him being on the riding a sled in the snow down a hill. The second memory is being in the warmth of the sunshine. The third memeory is similar to the second, except that in it, Jonas experiences sunburn, and with that comes his first experience of pain. Thus he is introduced to the words of "warm", "sunlight", "snow", "cold", "sled," and the very beginnings of "pain."