The Giver

We know that Jonas looks about the same as most other children his age in his community. Because of the principles of Sameness, everyone in the community looks as similar as possible. Unlike the...

Shortly after Jonas is selected to be the community's next Receiver of Memory, he travels to the Annex, where he begins his training sessions with the Giver. During his first training session, the...

The theme of sharing memories is important in literature, as the goal of writing is to preserve memory so that it can be shared collectively. The issue of memory is integral to two major works of...

Jonas's highly structured, oppressive society is founded on the principles of Sameness, which dramatically alter the environment, restrict citizens' personal freedoms, and completely eliminate...

The author doesn't tell us what the real ending of the story is. It is possible that when Lowry wrote The Giver, she had a sequel in mind. Leaving the ending of this book ambiguous would...

The Receiver of Memory is one of the most important and most valuable jobs in the Community. To sustain the peace and stability of the Community and to maintain Sameness, all of the pain, suffering...

In the strange dystopian world inhabited by the characters in Lois Lowry’s The Giver, “release” means death by euthanasia. While most people in the community are under the impression that those who...

The Giver takes place in a technologically advanced, unspecified community. It is a place without colors, without temperature variation, and without pain. Everything in the community is controlled,...

In Lois Lowry's The Giver, the children born in the same year celebrate together a ceremony each year marking the entrance into a new stage in their lives. The most important of these is the...

Jonas demonstrates intelligence by exercising perspective and understanding the culture of his community. At a young age, Jonas is intelligent enough to analyze his complicated feelings and choose...

Ten main events in The Giver include the following: The Ceremony of Twelve occurs as the beginning of the novel. This ceremony is a major event in The Giver, as it sets the stage for the future of...

Jonas and the Giver's original plan was for Jonas to secretly leave his dwelling under the cover of darkness on the night before the annual December Ceremony. Before Jonas would sneak out of his...

In chapter 13, the Giver tells Jonas that ten years ago, the previous Receiver of Memory failed in her assignment by requesting to be released. When Rosemary was released, her difficult memories...

In The Giver, the citizens of the community live in "dwellings," while the Giver lives in the Annex, which is located behind the House of the Old. The dwellings are the homes where citizens live,...

It is a long process to change a rule in the community. First, a change to the existing law is proposed. Next, a committee analyzes the information about the rule change. It is indicated that...

Jonas is a highly sensitive and intelligent young man. It is these very qualities that give him a unique insight into life in the society in which he lives, as well as providing him with the means...

In Lois Lowry's celebrated novel The Giver, Jonas lives in an extremely structured, organized society which is founded on the principles of Sameness. Sameness dramatically alters the natural...

In chapter 12, we first know that the Giver agrees with Jonas in disliking sameness when the Giver simply responds "it is" after Jonas expresses his appreciation of the beauty of the color red. In...

"'Jonas has not been assigned . . . Jonas has been selected . . . Such a selection is very, very rare,' the Chief Elder told the audience" (60). Jonas is selected to be the Receiver-in-Training...

The primary advantage of Sameness concerns the stability and safety of the community. In Jonas's community, Sameness ensures that each citizen will conform to society's standards and occupy a...

In chapter 1 of Lois Lowry's The Giver, Jonas and his family are sharing their feelings for the evening. Father, who is a Nurturer and works with the newborn children, says that he will soon ask...

In chapter 13, the Giver explains to Jonas what happened to the memories and the community when the previous Receiver failed. The Giver tells Jonas that there was chaos throughout the community,...

In Chapter 13, Jonas laments about the fact that there are no choices because everything is the same in his community. When Jonas asks the Giver why it is necessary that everything is the same, he...

In The Giver, Jonas's experiences of the red apple, the faces in the crowd, and Fiona's hair give him a privileged insight into another world, a world that's vibrant, exciting, and, of course,...

In the world in which Jonas lives, everything is the same for everyone, from the clothing they wear to the weather the experience. Thanks to the carefully controlled climate, Jonas knows nothing...

As Jonas's training sessions continue, the Giver is forced to transmit painful memories to him on a regular basis. Jonas eventually asks the Giver why they must endure all the painful memories and...

According to the Chief Elder, the community's next Receiver of Memory must possess five distinct attributes. The first quality the Receiver of Memory must possess is intelligence. The Chief Elder...

In chapter 4, Fiona tells Jonas about the release ceremony that they celebrated earlier in the morning. Fiona goes on to explain the release of an old man named Roberto. She says that Roberto's...

The capacity to see beyond is the ability to use any of the senses that were present in the memories, but not in the community. For Jonas, this ability reveals itself in his ability to see color....

Spouses are assigned to most adults, but in Chapter 13 we learn that the Giver’s now lives with the childless adults. In Jonas’s community, families are created very differently. The community has...

In chapter 15, the Giver shares a difficult memory of war with Jonas. Jonas recalls being injured on a battlefield in a confusing, foul-smelling location. After witnessing a horse get shot, Jonas...

Jonas's highly organized, structured community is founded on the principles of Sameness, which create a mundane, completely uniform society where individuality is nonexistent but citizens are...

Sameness is the concept that everyone gives up choices and feelings. The main disadvantage of Sameness is that the community commits terrible atrocities in the name of sameness. Anyone who does...

Jonas' plan had been to escape from the community within two weeks, during the yearly Ceremony. He and the Giver had been planning everything carefully. The Giver would give him memories of courage...

The incident with the apple is Jonas's first memory of being able to See Beyond, though he did not recognize it for what it was at the time. While playing catch with an apple with his friend Asher,...

In Lois Lowry's The Giver, the community in which Jonas and Asher live is controlled by authorities and rules down to the smallest details. Young children are especially responsible for learning...

Asher’s assignment means that he is training to take over the department in charge of games. Asher is Jonas’s best friend. Before the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas is worried that his friend will not...

In Jonas's community, knowledge is censored and the only books citizens have access to are the generic Book of Rules and necessary reference volumes approved by the Committee of Elders. In every...

The moral lesson of The Giver is that people must remain free to live their lives as they see fit, without being subjected to control by an authoritarian governing body. Although this futuristic...

The Ceremony for the Ones is the occasion when a newchild is given a name and handed over to its parents. It is the first of all the Ceremonies and happens every December when each newchild born in...

In chapter 20, the specifics of Jonas's escape plan are described. In the upcoming weeks before the annual December Ceremony, the Giver plans to transfer memories of courage and strength to Jonas....

In Lois Lowry's celebrated novel The Giver, Jonas lives in a nondescript dystopian community. His community is founded on the principles of Sameness in order to ensure complete uniformity and...

Jonas and the other community members are unable to see color because the community has eliminated colors in an effort to maintain sameness. Sameness is the community’s name for complete control...

In The Giver, Jonas experiences war in Chapter 15. That entire chapter is devoted to an episode in which Jonas is given the memory of a war. The narrator does not tell us what war it is that...

The Receiver of Memory is a position of honor because it is well-respected, but the position has very little power because all the Receiver can do is make recommendations to the Elders. Honor means...

Over the course of the novel, one of the main storylines is the way that Jonas changes. He goes from being someone who completely accepts the way his society is to someone who is totally willing...