The Giver
The people in the community where Jonas was born were almost like robots which
look identical to each other and haven’t got any emotions or memories. But Jonas
was a little different from them. He has pale eyes while most people in his community
have dark eyes, and he has unusual powers of perception. He does not know it yet,
but he alone in his community can perceive flashes of color; for everyone else, the
world is as devoid of color as it is of pain, hunger, and inconvenience. When he was
twelve he was assigned to the receiver of memory. Bad memories, emotions, wars,
etc. that occur when society experiences something bad had to be kept because
those memories were never completely gone. So, someone must keep them so that
the community can avoid making the mistakes of the past. But no one can deal with
them except for the Receiver/ Jonas receives the memories of the past from the
current Receiver who is an old man (The Giver). The first memory that Jonas
receives is of an exhilarating sled ride.
The memories make Jona’s life richer and more meaningful,and he wishes that he
could give that richness and meaning to the people he loves. But the people in the
community had lost their ability to feel deep feelings like love, as they had replaced
their feelings with a more peaceful life. No one in Jona’s community had ever made
their own decision before. Jonas becomes increasingly dissappointed with members
of his community and is encouraged by the Giver, who has felt the same way for
years.
Jonas was also dealing with new children Gabriel. Gabriel couldn’t sleep at night, so
Jonas would go every night and give him comforting memories. But there was a
danger that Gabriel could have released. Being released is not exactly death, but
what happens when someone is released is unknown. But Jonas didn’t want Gabriel
to be released, so he made a plan with The Giver to completely change the rules of
society.
The Giver told Jonas the story of a girl. The girl couldn’t stand the sadness and
weight of the memories she received and wanted to be released. And after the girl
was released, all the bad feelings and memories that were inside of her went out and
spread to the society and the people in the society couldn’t handle these emotions.
The Giver and Jonas plan for Jonas to escape the community and to actually enter
Elsewhere(the other world). Once he has done that, his larger supply of memories
will spread all over the community, and the Giver will help the community to come to
terms with the new feelings and thoughts, changing the society forever.
To save Gabriel, Jonas steals his dad’s bicycle and some food. Jonas and Gabriel
had to stop because of heavy snowfall after cycling for a long time. But Jonas
comforts Gabriel with sunny and warm memories. Then they rise to a high hill. There,
on the hill, he finds a sled waiting for him—the one in the first transmitted memory.
Jonas and Gabriel sledge down the mountain. In front of them they see the twinkling
lights of a friendly village at Christmas and hear music. Jonas is sure someone is
waiting for them there
Bora Gönül 10-G