In the beginning of the novel, Jonas accepts the rules of his community and wants to fit in. There are rules against bragging or pointing out differences or any other indicators of individual distinction. The community rules ensure that people will not do or say anything that breaks or threatens the homogeneity of the community.

However, when Jonas is selected to be the Receiver, he is immediately set apart from the rest of the community, and this new experience of distinction, of becoming an individual, makes Jonas profoundly uncomfortable. Paradoxically, though the Receiver of Memory is precisely what allows the community to exist in a stable, peaceful, homogenous state, Jonas’s personal experiences in this role are what convince him to reject the community’s teachings. When forced to confront the fact that his society is indifferent to the things his Receiver trainings have taught him to care deeply about, Jonas is unable to maintain his relationships with his friends and family and eventually realizes that he can no longer be a part of his society.