the community, these memories will return to them with a devastating effect. They will be forced to bear them because the only potential candidate for Receiver is far too young for the burden. The Giver will stay and help them to see the wisdom of history, emotion, and progress. Jonas will go Elsewhere to enable this.

Gabriel had not cried during the long frightening journey. Now he did. He cried because he was hungry and cold and terribly weak. Jonas cried, too, for the same reasons, and another reason as well. He wept because he was afraid now that he could not save Gabriel. He no longer cared about himself. (129)

In taking him Elsewhere, Jonas makes a decision that Gabriel does not have. The child is scheduled to be killed, so Jonas leaves early, before he is able to prepare food and helpful memories for the dangerous journey ahead. He chooses to put his own life at greater risk to give Gabriel the chance to live. If Gabriel starves, his outcome is the same as it would have been if he was left behind to die. Jonas does all that he can to limit the child’s suffering along the way.

If Jonas starves, the community’s outcome is the same. The memories return to the community when the Receiver is Elsewhere. Jonas is trying to reach Elsewhere by going beyond the limits of the community. The last Receiver, Rosemary, reached Elsewhere by requesting release. Jonas’s death, like Rosemary’s, would cause the memories to return to the people. For the good of the many, it doesn't matter if Jonas dies.

For the good of Jonas, it’s harder to say. Do you think he would have been able to stay in his community, knowing how it operates?

The answer to this question depends upon the person who answers.  For those who are content to allow others to make decisions for them, who are willing to give up personal freedom for basic needs (food, water, shelter), the answer would probably be that their venture was not worth it.  People who once had their basic needs met, but then lose them, may also feel the venture was not worth it. As it says in the book, "If he [Jonas] had stayed in the community, he would not be [starving]."

However, people who value freedom and don't like others making decisions for them may be of the opposite opinion.  While the basic necessities of life are provided in the Community, there is no individuality, no opportunity for people to make their own decisions, no opportunity to choose their own destinies.  Is this a life worth living?  As it says in the book, "If he [Jonas] had stayed, he would have starved in other ways.  He would have lived a life hungry for feeling, for color, for love." 

The answer to this question depends entirely upon the individual's need for personal choice and willingness to take risks.  Lowry seems to suggest that choice and freedom are more important than guaranteed survival.