well as color, sounds and strong feelings and sensations have been erased from the people's minds and given to the Receiver of Memory. Thus, the Receiver's job is to keep the memories of everyone and to advise the Committee of Elders whenever it is necessary and whenever they seek guidance or have difficulties coming to a decision. The previous Receiver of Memory is called the Giver, and they are the one who passes or gives the memories to the chosen Receiver.

To be chosen as the new Receiver of Memory, one must show exceptional intelligence, integrity, courage, and wisdom, as well as the Capacity to See Beyond. Whoever is chosen as the Receiver of Memory must have and show these essential qualities and attributes, as the entire Community basically depends on the Receiver's ability to do their job. The Receiver's advice impacts the way the Community operates and even the way the people will behave. Jonas, the main character of the novel, is chosen to be the new Receiver of Memory.

Jonas lives in an allegedly "utopian" community, where people must adhere to strict laws and conform to society's culture to maintain stability and comfort. Jonas's community is also founded on the principles of Sameness. Sameness eliminates individuality, transforms the natural landscape, and alters how citizens experience the world. There are no colors, animals, feelings, or exciting experiences in Jonas's community. There is also no pain, discomfort, or emotional trauma.

In order to maintain a uniform, stable environment, the Receiver of Memory is required to harness all memories of the past before Sameness. These memories include traumatic experiences like war, famine, pain, and disease. The Receiver also holds positive memories like color, music, love, and pleasant experiences. The Receiver is tasked with securing these valuable memories of life before Sameness to protect the population from any form of suffering.

Before Jonas was selected to be the community's next Receiver of Memory, a previous Receiver committed suicide, and her memories spread through the community. The naive, sensitive population struggled to deal with the traumatic memories, and chaos ensued until the memories were collected.

Unfortunately, even seemingly positive memories like family and love are considered a threat to the community's stability and only survive in the Receive of Memory's mind. In addition to preserving memories of the past and protecting the population from trauma, the Receiver's main job is to advise the Committee of Elders when it makes a significant decision. The Receiver has the wisdom to make an informed decision because they recall life before Sameness. For example, the Receiver advised the committee to not increase the population because it could result in starvation and warfare.

Since man is in an imperfect state, in order to create a perfect state, those who would design utopias find that certain controls must be created. Such is the case in Lois Lowry's dystopian society in which the environment is controlled, population is controlled, hormonal activity is controlled, and thoughts are controlled. The memory of anything that caused pain or emotional or mental disturbance has been erased in the general population. Because there has been this eradication of negative conditions in the human body and psyche, some of the positive results of the human condition have also been eradicated. One such positive aspect of pain and misfortune is that people learn from such experiences and can, thus, make wiser judgments about present and future dilemmas that present themselves.

The Receiver of Memory has the remembrance of the past transmitted to him. He receives such memories as pain and suffering, color, emotions, and many sensations such as that of feeling sunshine, rain, cold, heat, etc. The purpose of the Giver is explained to the Receiver:

...when they [the Committee of the Elders] are faced with something that they have not experienced before. Then they call upon me to use the memories and advise them. But it very seldom happens.

The purpose of the Receiver of Memory is to hold these important memories that can be used for advising the Elders. He will be the successor to the Giver and be called upon to advise the Elders in times of need by tapping into the past.The Giver tells Jonas, who is the new Receiver of Memory, that a previous Receiver was once released, and the memories that she held were lost. When these memories were needed later on, "It was chaos." The Elders struggled and suffered until they assimilated these memories. "But it certainly made them aware of how they need a Receiver to contain all that pain. Everyone had access to memories."

The Receiver of Memory is in training to eventually become the highest leader in the community. The position is so respected that when the Elders cannot arrive at a decision, they leave the ultimate determination up to the Receiver of Memory. Because these types of community decisions require much information that the citizens are shielded from, the Receiver must acquire all the memories of the past. As such, he or she must learn to recognize complex emotions never experienced before, such as fear and love.

The Receiver must learn to live separate and apart, conditioning himself to a life of near isolation since no one else would understand the experiences of his daily life. In fact, there are rules that forbid discussing the training with anyone, including parents.

Learning about and processing an entire history of the world is also included in this role. Jonas is so confused by this component of training that he asks,

The whole world? I don't understand. Do you mean it's not just us? Not just the community? Do you mean Elsewhere, too? ...I don't know what you mean when you say "the whole world" or "generations before him." I thought there was only us. I thought there was only now.

This new knowledge forces an entirely new construct of what the world and its history is and has been. It is so far removed from citizens' lives, who exist only in the present, that this component alone takes much training.

Through the training, the Receiver's role is to gain wisdom. This process is at times painful but allows the Receiver to guide the community through difficulties which arise through their intentional lack of experience. As a wise leader, the Receiver is relied upon by the community to be their ultimate source of instruction and guide them in the proper directions.

Jonas is given the highly respected position of the Receiver of Memory at his Ceremony of Twelve. His job is to receive the community's past memories from the Giver. He holds the community's collective memory in order to prevent his community from repeating the mistakes of the past. Jonas must bear the pain and suffering for all of his community and sacrifices his ignorance and previously peaceful existence once he becomes Receiver of Memory.

As the Receiver of Memory, Jonas is able to experience true emotions, both good and bad. He eventually realizes how bland and almost pointless life is in his community. As the Receiver of Memory, he is ultimately shut off from the rest of his world, as he is prevented from sharing any of the secrets he learns. The role of the Receiver of Memory is to become passionate and sensitive so that the rest of the community can live in Sameness, but this leads Jonas to feel isolated and excluded from his family and friends. The training he receives from the Giver grants him extremely powerful emotions and experiences that, as a twelve-year-old, he is not fully equipped to handle. Along with the Giver, Jonas becomes one of the wisest people in the community at the young age of twelve.

The Receiver's main assignment is to receive the memories of the past from the Giver during their training sessions in the Annex. While the Receiver is experiencing both the pleasant and difficult memories of the past, he is gaining wisdom and perspective. This wisdom and perspective will be important once the Giver transfers all of his memories to the Receiver. The Receiver will then consult the Committee of Elders when necessary in order to advise them on how their decisions will impact the community by using examples of the past, which is something the Committee of Elders does not have access to themselves. In the novel, Jonas is selected to be the community's next Receiver and he gains valuable insight into the past. After fully understanding how his community functions, Jonas and the Giver come up with a plan to alter the community's way of life forever.

The Receiver's job is to receive memories, yes.  Also, to transition into the role of The Giver.  Once the Giver has given the memories to the receiver, the receiver will become the Giver.  Then it will be his job to hold onto those memories so that the rest of the community doesn't have to know about them.  Then, periodically, the council might ask the Giver for advice on a particular situation, and he will draw upon his memories to help them find a solution to their problems or an answer for their questions.  The life of the Giver is mostly quiet and lonely, since no one else in the whole community understands what he knows, or can see the world as he can.  Even just the simple ability to see color separates him from the rest of the world that can't see them.  So, mostly, he stays in his quarters and reads books, and waits for someone to need his services.  After that, he will just wait until it is time to train a new Receiver to take his place.