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The Giver
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Themes: In novels, author communicate “big ideas”
about certain topics.
What is Lowry trying to tell us
about:
Memories
& the
Past
Rules, Order
Tradition
Choices
Language
Isolation
&
Suffering
Old
Age
Emotions
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7 Basic Plots in Fiction (short stories and novels)
 Overcoming
the monster: The hero must destroy
the “monster” to restore balance to the world.
 Rags
to Riches: A good guy who is down on his
luck achieves a happy ending when his/her natural
talents are revealed
 The
Quest: The hero travels in search of a treasure
and must defeat evil and overcome powerful odds.
 Voyage
and Return: Otherwise normal protagonists
find themselves in an alien world & must make
their way back
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Comedy: (As
in Shakespeare) Some
kind of confusion must be resolved
before the hero and heroine can get
back together
Tragedy: (As
in Shakespeare) A story
about a noble character who falls from
grace: everybody dies or is ruined
Rebirth: A
threat seems nearly
victorious, but events lead to
redemption, rebirth, and happiness.
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Character Analysis
Protagonist/Antagonist
Development:
flat (one-sided character, one quality)
round (both the good & the bad, many qualities)
Change:
static (does not change)
dynamic (changes – internal)
Jonas
(round/dynamic)
Asher
(flat/static)
Jonas’ mother
The
Jonas’ father
Gabriel
Lily
Giver
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Setting: Time and Place
The Giver: in the future/our world
Utopia

No suffering
(emotional/physical)
Dystopia

Does not feel joy

No genuine relationships

No love/sexual attraction

No choices

No fighting/war

Perfect families

Restricted emotions

Isolation

contentment

Tyranny (oppressive gov’t)
 (ruled by oligarchy = rule
by a group)
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Genre: categories of text

The Giver
Utopian
 Science fiction
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Other genres
 Essay
 Nonfiction
 Biography
 Oral literature
 Fantasy
 Realistic fiction
 Historical fiction
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Style: they way it is written

The Giver:
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straightforward narrative
(story)

Simple language; shorter
sentences; not childish

Flowery

Conversational
Euphemistic

Formal

Poetic

Vague (not clear)

Wordy
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Other terms to describe style:
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The Title: always ask how the title
links to a theme
In
The Giver, the title reflects
the central theme: Humans are
mean to share experiences
A “giver” and “receiver” tells
us that memories are meant to
be shared in order for people
to love & grow & thrive.
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Point of View: Who is the narrator?
Can he/she read minds? Can we
trust him/her?

1st person (pronouns: I, my, we,
our, us)



Personal, intense, subjective,
emotional
2nd person (pronouns: you, your)


Reader is the center of
attention (e.g. instructions)
Limited? Then the reader only
knows the thoughts of one of the
characters
Or
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Omniscient? Then the reader
knows the thoughts of all
characters

Reminder: the narrator /persona
is NOT the same as the author
3rd person (pronouns: they, him,
her, it)

Objective when used for
research or reports

Subjective when used for an
“as told to” story
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Symbols/Allegory/Imagery: What
stands for something else? Look
for two meanings

Symbols: a thing that represents something deeper and more
meaningful

Allegory: a story where the characters and events are symbols
for ideas about human life

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
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Imagery: language that causes the reader to imagine pictures in
their minds (comparisons, appeals to the senses)
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Examples of symbols in The Giver:
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The color red = fire, intensity, love
Gabriel = a better future
The sled = memories, escape
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Plot Parts: inciting incident, rising
action & complication, climax,
falling action conclusion
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The Giver inciting incident: “Ceremony of Twelve”
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Rising Action: Jonas in named as the Received & finds out
how difficult it is, and he becomes alienated from his society
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Climax: Jonas watches his father kill the baby
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Falling action: Escape to Elsewhere
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Conclusion: Uncertain
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Types of Conflict

Man vs man/society

Man vs nature
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Man vs self
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Analyze the Ending
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Jonas abandons security and a life of ease
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Jonas clearly is seeking freedom and choice (even a choice
to live)
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Two choices: do Gabe and Jonas live or die?
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Both outcomes turn the society upside down
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Live: trailblazers
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Die: memories are released for the community to deal with
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Perspective

How did the idea of “release” as it had been discussed
earlier in the book differ from the visual imagery of the
newchild’s actual release?
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Why does it affect us this way?
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What is more important: how they released or why they
released?
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Ideas Lowry wants us to note: secrecy, euphemisms,
order/systematic procedures