Discussion Topic

Jonas's Thoughts and Perception of Love in The Giver

Summary:

In Lois Lowry's The Giver, Jonas learns about love during a memory session with the Giver, who shares a Christmas memory of family and warmth, introducing him to emotions absent in his community. Jonas perceives love as risky due to the vulnerability and responsibilities it entails, contrasting sharply with his society's emphasis on safety and order. Jonas's evolving understanding and desire for love and genuine connections highlight his growing discontent with his emotionally sterile world.

Expert Answers

An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

How does Jonas learn about love in The Giver?

Jonas learns of love during his training with the Giver when the Giver shows him the memory of a family celebrating Christmas together. In the memory, the setting is warm and joyful. It is picture perfect. There is a large decorated Christmas tree in the center of the family living room, which is full of people. There is a fire in the fireplace to provide warmth and enhance the atmosphere of a snug family celebration, as it is snowing outside. A golden-haired retriever is asleep on the floor.

The extended family, including grandparents, is gathered around to exchange gifts. After a small child opens a gift, he goes to his grandmother and climbs on to her lap. She cradles him and rubs her cheek against his.

Jonas is very surprised by the scene, as he has never seen what he terms "old people." In his community, older adults are kept in a special care facility and do not interact with their families. In fact, they are never seen in the community. Jonas asks the Giver who the old people in the memory were and why they were there. The author notes,

It had puzzled Jonas, seeing them in the room. The Old of the community did not ever leave their special place, the House of the Old, where they were so well cared for and respected.

Jonas also cannot describe the feeling that he discerned the family shared, particularly when the grandmother rocked her young grandson in her lap. The Giver tells him the feeling is "love." Jonas realizes that he had never thought much about what his relationship with his parents would be once he becomes an adult. He acknowledges that he will probably never see them after he leaves his home. In this society, people do not form strong ties, and love is not a concept that he recognizes. This is what enables Jonas's father to participate in Gabriel's release. He might think that it is a pity that Gabriel must be released and finds Gabriel sweet, but he has no strong ties to Gabriel or even to Jonas or Lily. No one in this society has strong feelings towards one another.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

How does Jonas learn about love in The Giver?

Because he has no experience of many feelings, Jonas must be transmitted the sensations of pain and suffering by the Giver, who is the only one of the community who retains memories of things that have been eliminated from the knowledge of others.

In Lois Lowry's dystopian society of The Giver, a society that eliminates pain and suffering, color, emotional words, erotic feeling, unhappiness, bad weather, and anything else that is negative or different, Jonas is designated as the Receiver. This means he will receive the memories of times past and various sensations that have been eliminated from others so that he can become the next Giver, who holds the memories for when they are needed.

During his training, Jonas meets with the Giver and he is bestowed memories. In Chapter 14, he is given pain by the Giver. He is thrown from a sled and his leg is twisted underneath him.

It was as if a hatchet lay lodged in his leg, slicing through each nerve with a hot blade. In his agony he perceived the word "fire" and felt flames licking at the torn bone and flesh....The pain grew.

When Gabriel returns home, he looks at his family and realizes that they have never known pain. Suddenly he feels terribly lonely. 

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

Why did Jonas feel love would be risky in The Giver?

I also think that what Jonas could not articulate is that there is a risk of loss in love.  His life of emotional deprivation does not give him a vocabulary with which to express this idea, but the book makes clear that people are not really emotionally invested in one another in any way.  If Jonas were to die, his parents, parental units, really, would no doubt miss him, but there is nothing to suggest they would feel grief. They are on record as not loving him. Death is unknown in this community, since it is euthanasia that is tidied up, euphemized, and hidden from the people. If one's beloved grandparent were to die, it would be a painful loss, one of the risks of love.  Similarly, if people chose partners based on love, that love could be lost, another of its risks.   

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

Why did Jonas feel love would be risky in The Giver?

Jonas learns about love in chapter 16 after he receives a memory about children, parents, and grandparents sharing Christmas morning with each other. He and the Giver discuss the concept of grandparents and love, but Jonas says that he understands that the way they have organized people into family units, rather than families, is better. Jonas says that having grandparents is a "dangerous" way to live. The Giver asks him to expound on that. Jonas says that he felt like there was some sort of "risk" involved living as families rather than family units selected by the government. Jonas can't put his thoughts together completely about the memory, but he does say that it seemed dangerous to have candles and a fire burning right there in their home. Jonas also realizes that elderly people receive better care in their old age now than when they lived with their families. Confident professionals take care of the elderly in the Home of the Old, whereas, families probably struggled to take care of their grandparents when they got too old to take care of themselves. Therefore, Jonas understands that the danger, risk, and responsibility to take care of family members without the help of the government is a risky venture. On the other hand, he also realizes that the family in the memory shared something unique, warm and nice that they miss out on in his society--love.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

What are Jonas's inner desires in The Giver?

Jonas’s inner desires do change throughout the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry. As a child, it would appear that his inner desires align with those of everyone else (all the other "contributing citizen[s]") in the community where he lives—namely, to uphold the community standards and expectations for its members. For instance, Jonas understands and is taught from a young age that to be "released" from the community, in the jargon thereof, is a very negative thing, "a final decision, a terrible punishment, an overwhelming statement of failure," and when he jokes about it as a child, he is firmly reprimanded and feels "guilt and embarrassment" (2–3) accordingly at not having acted in a way that aligned with his inner desires (his integrity, if you will) to behave as a citizen would behave.

Just before he becomes a Twelve, Jonas surveys his younger sister, Lily, with something like disapproval for the fact that she seems not to take the rules of the community very seriously, such as this one: "ATTENTION. THIS IS A REMINDER TO FEMALES UNDER NINE THAT HAIR RIBBONS ARE TO BE NEATLY TIED AT ALL TIMES." Jonas looks at Lily and sees "to his satisfaction that her hair ribbons were, as usual, undone and dangling" (23). That he feels satisfied by having affirmed her apparent disregard for the community rules seems to indicate that he prides himself on being a rule-follower.

More than anything, though, perhaps what Jonas most desires inside is to understand, to comprehend the ways of the community and why things are the way that they are. Most people in the community take everything for granted: the rules, the jargon, the expectations. Jonas, however, ends up pressing back against that single-mindedness in pursuit of his desire to really "get" the community, its setup, and what goes on there. For example, he asks Larissa, one of the Old, "What happens when they make the actual release? Where exactly did Roberto go?" (32), referring to one of the Old whose release had been celebrated (release is celebratory for the Old, disappointing for the Newchildren, and a disgrace for anyone else). It seems to matter to him, more than to almost anyone else in the novel, to be able to grasp the why behind the existence he has known all his life and not only to be content with taking it for granted as the rest do.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

Why does Jonas view love in a family as dangerous in The Giver?

Ever since Jonas's society adopted the Sameness, they have been ruled by logic.  That should make sense since a result of the Sameness was a general elimination of emotions.  Put simply, Jonas's society saw emotions as a big enough problem that they got rid of them.  Now, the society makes all decisions based on cold logic, and it is seen as smart and safe.  The people believe that emotions could cloud a person's judgement, and that is what Jonas says in chapter 16 about love in a family.  

The Giver is showing Jonas a memory of Christmastime and family love.  On the whole, Jonas likes the memory and the feeling of love.  He even admits that the family felt more "complete" because of the emotion. 

"I liked the feeling of love," he confessed . . . "I wish we still had that," he whispered.  

This entire sequence is a great sequence because the reader can see the logical centers and emotional centers of Jonas warring with each other.  He knows that he liked the feeling of love, but he also knows that he should not want to have that emotion.  He has been told his entire life that emotions are dangerous, and that is what he tries to do here too.  Jonas comes up with two reasons why love is dangerous and bad for a family.  

The first reason is that the elderly grandparents would be present at the celebration.  This would be bad because they would not be getting the great and proper care that they get now. 

"It wasn't a very practical way to live, with the Old right there in the same place, where maybe they wouldn't be well taken care of, the way they are now."

The second reason that Jonas believes love could be dangerous is because it caused them to have candles burning and a fire in the fireplace.  Jonas believes that was a risky thing to do all for the sake of a warm and loving environment. 

"Well," he said finally, grasping for an explanation, "they had fire right there in that room.  There was a fire burning in the fireplace. And there were candles on a table. I can certainly see why those things were outlawed."

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

Why does Jonas feel love is risky in The Giver?

As the Receiver-in-Training, Jonas learns a little bit more about the history of humanity by each memory given to him. In chapter 16, he learns about grandparents and families who love each other enough to want to spend their whole lives together. This is a new concept because once Jonas and his sister Lily grow up and get their own family units, they will never see their father and mother again. But when Jonas receives a memory about Christmas time and the whole family is giving and opening presents, he experiences a closeness that they don't have in his society. The Giver has to tell him that it is called love. After thinking about the memory for a little bit, Jonas says that love doesn't seem "very practical" because the older people (grandparents) might not have been taken care of as well as they are in Jonas's community (125). 

As Jonas searches his feelings about this new concept of love, he admits that he liked the feeling and thinks it would be nice to have grandparents in his life. On the other hand, he feels that his community has things more organized. He noticed that life seemed "dangerous" back then, too. The Giver asks Jonas to elaborate, so he says the following:

"Jonas hesitated. He wasn't certain, really what he had meant. He could feel that there was risk involved, though he wasn't sure how. 'Well,' he said finally, grasping for an explanation, 'they had fire right there in that room. There was fire burning in the fireplace. An there were candles on a table. I can certainly see why those things were outlawed'" (126).

The above passage shows that the risk Jonas was speaking about wasn't necessarily about love, per se, but the fact that the family behaved dangerously because they had fire and candles in the room. He also feels that the grandparents might not have been taken care of as well as his community takes care of the elderly; so, he may have felt there is a risk being taken with their lives by staying with family or taking care of themselves. At this point, though, Jonas still doesn't have enough experience or understanding upon which to base such conclusions.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

What are Jonas's thoughts during his homework in The Giver?

In chapter 3, Jonas sits down to do his homework and notices that Lily's ribbons are untied. He recognizes that there will surely be an announcement over the Speaker directed towards Lily and begins to think about something that took place last month and which resulted in him being chastised over the Speaker. Jonas is unable to focus on his homework as he recalls the strange incident, which took place during a recreation period. Jonas was playing catch with Asher using an apple when he suddenly noticed that something about the apple began to change. As the apple was in midair, Jonas noticed that the shade of the apple changed, but he could not specify any physical difference in the apple.

The change in the apple took place four times, and Jonas even tested his vision by squinting. Jonas ended up taking the apple home with him to study it but discovered that there was nothing spectacular about the apple. Later that evening, an announcement was made singling Jonas out for taking food from the recreation area. Jonas does not realize it yet, but he was experiencing the Capacity to See Beyond and was actually seeing the red color of the apple, which is an extremely rare gift in his community. As Jonas remembers the strange incident, he cannot focus on his homework, and Lowry writes,

Now, sitting at his desk, staring at his schoolwork as his family hovered over the newchild in its basket, he shook his head, trying to forget the odd incident.

Get Ahead with eNotes

Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.

Get 48 Hours Free Access
Approved by eNotes Editorial