Discussion Topic

The significance of the eyes of Jonas and Gabe in The Giver

Summary:

The eyes of Jonas and Gabe in The Giver symbolize their unique ability to see beyond the superficial reality of their community. Their pale eyes set them apart and hint at their capacity for deeper perception and understanding, foreshadowing Jonas's eventual role as the Receiver of Memory and Gabe's potential for a similar path.

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Why were Gabe's eyes interesting to Jonas in The Giver?

Gabe has the same pale eyes as Jonas.

Jonas is attracted to Gabe’s eyes because they are light-colored, like his own.  Almost no one else in the community has pale eyes.  Sameness is crucial to Jonas’s community, and part of the Sameness employed means that everyone to have the same eye color.  No one sees color, but they are aware that some eyes are lighter than others.

Jonas feels subconscious about his eye color.  It is considered rude for anyone in the community to call attention to it, but his younger sister does.

"Oh, look!" Lily squealed in delight. "Isn't he cute? Look how tiny he is! And he has funny eyes like yours, Jonas!" Jonas glared at her. He didn't like it that she had mentioned his eyes. (Ch. 3)

After looking into baby Gabe’s eyes, Jonas notices that the eyes give the baby a deep look, as...

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if he knows things others do not.  Jonas realizes that his eyes have the same effect on people.  It is unsettling, and adds to the fact that Jonas seems different.

Now, seeing the newchild and its expression, he was reminded that the light eyes were not only a rarity but gave the one who had them a certain look--what was it? Depth, he decided … He felt self-conscious, realizing that he, too, had that look. (Ch. 3)

Jonas does not realize how different he is until he is chosen Receiver of Memory.  This job is a special honor, and an assignment only given rarely.  The current Receiver of Memory has the same pale eyes Jonas has. 

It turns out that Jonas, The Receiver, and Gabe are all genetically related.  The eyes are significant because they pass on a rare trait that allows the individual to access memories.  For Jonas, this is called the Capacity to See Beyond.  It also means that he can see color when no one else can, after he has accessed enough memories.

Jonas is drawn to Gabriel.  He has the baby moved to his room when he fusses, so that he can comfort him himself.  One day when he is rubbing the boy’s back he accidentally transmits a memory to him.  This is when Jonas realizes just how special Gabe truly is.  Like The Giver and Jonas, Gabe can access the memories.  He has the Capacity to See Beyond.

The time spent on eye color and how rare it is early in the novel foreshadows Jonas's significance and his special ability.  It also foreshadows the role Gabe will play in Jonas's life.  As Jonas becomes more independent from his community through the memories, he gets drawn more and more to the special Gabe.  Everything about the baby is unique, from the way he ended up in Jonas's home to his ability to receive memories.  Jonas is very close to Gabe, and it is Gabe's impending release that forces Jonas to flee ahead of schedule.

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What do the eyes of Jonas and Gabe represent in The Giver?

No one in the community can see color, but they can see shades of lightness and darkness, and the eyes of Jonas and Gabe are light, unlike everyone else in the community, all of whom have dark eyes. We can infer that Jonas and Gabe have blue, green, gray, or hazel eyes and that everyone else has brown eyes. Because of Sameness, this is clearly an anomaly, and that anomaly seems to symbolize a deeper difference in Jonas and Gabe, a difference that is not clear until later in the story. 

Sameness is a ruling principle of the community, even to the degree that people should look the same, but the community has not been able to successfully breed out all differences. Fiona, for example, is a redhead, which we know because Jonas compares her hair color to the color of an apple, after he begins to see colors.  His eyes and Gabe's eyes are another example, but it is considered rude to comment on differences, and Jonas has no real reason to think his and Gabe's eye color are particularly significant. 

However, Gabe turns out to be the only person to whom Jonas can transmit any memories, without even trying.  He has tried to transmit memories to Lily and his father, but this has been completely unsuccessful.  This suggests that there is some relationship between eye color and the ability to receive memories, and it may very well be that this was the basis of the choice of Jonas as the Receiver. We do know enough about genetics to know that traits are sometimes "bundled" together, and this makes this a plausible interpretation of what the eye color is meant to represent in the story.  When Jonas runs away from the community to Elsewhere, his choice to take Gabe is not only to rescue him from release, but also because Gabe is the only person with whom he can share memories.  Gabe is his soul-mate in some way, and there might even be a biological connection, since Jonas has no way of knowing who his or Gabe's birth parents were. 

Thus, the light color of Jonas and Gabe's eyes represents a departure from Sameness and it is reasonable to infer that their eyes also represent the ability to receive memories.  They do not fit in to the community, and throughout the entire story, the stage is being set for their leaving. 

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