Lizeth Fajardo
Lucia Escamilla
Easter Ruiz
Period: 6
Character Analysis The Giver
Jonas: Jonas is a 12 year old boy. Jonas is the most important and the main character in the
book because he is training to be the next Giver. He is forced to take pills to be able to not see
color, not have feelings and not dream. “But when he looked out across the crowd, the sea of
faces, the thing happened with the apple. They changed. He blinked, and it was gone. His
shoulders straightened slightly. Briefly he felt a tiny silver of sureness for the first time” (Ch. 8 pg)
throughout his training he realizes that there is a whole different world outside of his
community and he also realizes that all the people in the community were being brainwashed
by the leader of the community (Chief Elder). ‘’The worst part of holding the memories is not the
pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.”(Ch.18 pg 179).His whole perspective
of the way of living in the community changed he started to realize what emotions were and
how emotions can affect someone. It's the choosing that's important, isn't it? (Ch 7 pg 69) “ He
liked the feeling of safety here in this warm and quiet room; he liked the expression of trust on
the woman’s face as she lay in the water unprotected, exposed and free’’ (Ch. 4 pg). Jonas is the
Protagonist because not only is he the main character but he is honest and sincere and has the
whole spotlight in the book. “There was just a moment when things weren’t quite the same,
weren’t quite as they had always been through the long friendship’’ (Ch.9 pg). Jonas is a Dynamic
Character because he changed a whole lot for example throughout the story he becomes more
mature and responsible. Jonas is a Round Character because in the book there was tons of
details about him and explained what his traits were like for example how he looked, what he
was thinking, and what he felt and why felt that way.
Gabriel: Gabriel has a big important part into Jonas’s life because long the way they get closer
and “brothers”. Jonas had chosen to leave his friends because they wouldn’t be able to
understand his feelings and wouldn’t have been able to understand him and support him as
well. “We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others.” (Ch.9 pg87) The time
when Jonas’s father brings Gabriel at first Jonas didn’t really like him but later on they actually
got closer and that made Jonas have a different point of view on life, people, and the
community. Jonas would always talk to Gabriel and he would always feel safe around him. Later
on, Jonas gave Gabriel memories so Gabriel can sleep peacefully and joyfully. Together they had
a great time and had brother bond. Gabriel isn’t a protagonist & antagonist because he wasn’t
the main character in the book but he was an important in Jonas’s life. Gabriel is a Flat Character
because in the book there wasn’t enough detail to the point we knew what Gabriel felt and was
thinking due to Gabriel being a baby. Gabriel is a Static Character because he doesn’t really grow
and change in the book. “
Lizeth Fajardo
Lucia Escamilla
Easter Ruiz
Period: 6
Father: Jonas’ father isn’t as important to Jonas’ life because his father doesn’t really treat him
like a son. The dad is a Nurturer and he works with newborns. The father is trained to think of
death as a normal thing and not to make it a big deal about it. But Jonas is trained that it is a big
deal because of his emotions. In the book the fathers’ characteristic is disrespect and ignorance
because he’s obviously ignorant of killing the innocent children and he doesn’t think about
them. ‘’ There’s nothing we can do. It’s always been this way before me, before you, before the
ones who came before you’’ (Ch. 20 196 pg) The father is neither the protagonist nor antagonist.
The father is a Flat Character because he is not fully developed and we don’t really know how he
would react to a current situation and throughout the book the dad becomes less and less
important. Also the father is a Static Character because he does not experience anything and
doesn’t really change along the end.
Mother: Jonas’ mom isn’t important as well as the dad because they barely came up in the
book. But in a way they somewhat are important because there Jonas’ parents. The mom often
gives advice to Jonas about fear and worry and they tend to help each other out. The mother
was a better role model you can say because she didn’t necessary kill the newborns. The mother
of Jonas works as Law and Justice. Jonas’s mother takes her work seriously. “After the ceremony
of twelve, I missed my childhood recreation. But when I entered my training for Law and justice, I
found myself with people who shared my interests” (Ch. 2 pg18) She isn’t the protagonist or
antagonist. The mother is a Flat character because she is not fully developed as the dad and we
don’t really know that much about them such as how they can react to a certain situation or
what she is thinking. She also is a Static Character because in the book she doesn’t cause an
impact into Jonas and along the way she never changed or experiences anything.
Sister(Lily): Jonas’ sister is not important in the book because she’s barely motioned in the book.
She is mentioned in the begging of the book but towards the end she is less mentioned and they
don’t really bring her up in the book. Lily is currently 7 she’s was about to turn 8. One thing that
she wanted to do ever since was do volunteer hours. “When you’re eight and start your
volunteer hours, you can try some at the Nurturing Center, Mother suggested’’ (Ch. 3 pg 22) The
Nurturing Center is where his Father works at. In this situation Lily is not a Protagonist or
Antagonist. She is a flat character because she doesn’t really make a difference or impact in the
story. She also is a Static Character because in the book there weren’t enough details about her.
The Giver (old): The giver is an old man and well known as “Receiver of Memory’’. The Giver is
the most important and the main character as well as Jonas. The Giver is the old mentor that is
training Jonas to become the “new” giver. The giver has seen and experienced so many things
over the years. In the book its shows how he is very wise, smart and a hardworking man. The
giver is also the protagonist because he is very important in the book and he has the same
Lizeth Fajardo
Lucia Escamilla
Easter Ruiz
Period: 6
spotlight as Jonas because since the old giver is training Jonas to become the new Giver and it
talks about he gives Jonas advice on life, worry, memories, dreams etc. The Giver is the Round
Character because he is fully developed with many traits which are bad and good. Another
reason why he is a round character is because you can easily see what he’s thinking, what he has
in mind, what will be his reaction, what he’ll do next etc. In the book the Giver it doesn’t really
talk about how the giver changed or experienced something that lead to change so that means
that he’s a Dynamic Character. When he trains Jonas he puts him to dream and slowly the Giver
gives him memories and also gives him the power to feel and see color. "You will be faced; now,
with pain of a magnitude that none of us here can comprehend because it is beyond our
experience. The Receiver himself was not able to describe it, only to remind us that you would be
faced with it, that you would need immense courage."(Ch.8 pg 81)
Protagonist: Jonas
Antagonist: The Community
Mentor: The Giver
Foil: Jonas
Theme:
Memory: In the past and without memory we can’t really learn and fix our mistakes
Rules & orders: Without rules and orders we probably wouldn’t be who we are today
it’s always good to follow rules and orders.
Choices: We learn that we cannot make choices about the future without having knowledge
about the past.
Suffer: A lot of people suffered and that makes you think that no one ever stops suffering.
Symbolism:
The color red made him though of romance.
Gabriel represented his emotions.
The sled represented him as a mentally and physically escape from the community.
The light eyes represented the different point of view he stated to notice and his matureness.
The river represent the boundary between the community and everywhere else.
Man vs Man
Jonas vs friends
Man vs himself
Jonas Vs Jonas
He realized they
wouldn’t
understand him.
He wasn’t positive
about being the
new giver
Lizeth Fajardo
Lucia Escamilla
Easter Ruiz
Period: 6
Man vs society
Jonas vs
Community
Jonas is fighting
for what he
believes in and
what he wants
and not will stop
him.