THE
GIVER
Study Guide Packet
Key Concepts
________________ - A “perfect” place where everyone is happy and safe. There is
no crime and everyone works for the betterment of society.
________________ - An imagined universe (usually sometime in the future) in
which an oppressive governing body controls people with corporate,
bureaucratic, technological, moral, or religious restrictions while giving the
illusion of a Utopia. This power sometimes, but not always, asserts itself
following a large-scale calamity.
This genre offers an exaggerated “worst-case scenario” glimpse forward.
Traits of a Dystopian Society

Propaganda is used to influence and control

A figurehead or concept is worshipped above all else (can include the
concept of Community)

Freedom of speech, thought, and expression are restricted

Individualism is shunned

Technology (either the dependence on it or the lack of it) plays a big
role in the control

Citizens live in fear of the Unknown outside of their known world

The powers-that-be are always watching the citizens

The natural world is labeled corrupt and volatile

The society is an illusion – the authority does not believe its own lies.
The Dystopian protagonist

Feels trapped and a compulsion to escape

Questions the way of the world and the source of authority

Suspects something is terribly wrong with the world they live in

Shows the reader or audience the flaws of the society as he or she
struggles against it

In classic Dystopian art, the protagonists cannot conquer society. They
either choose to leave or are killed by it.
Dystopian works
Use the space below to write down any examples of Dystopian stories in movies, TV’s, video
games, or literature.
Characters
Jonas
Lily
Mother
Father
Asher
Gabriel
Fiona
Larissa
The
Giver
Chapter 1 questions (p 1-10)
1. What object does Jonas see in the sky? What is his reaction? Why?
2. Why is the word “release” so important and so dangerous?
3. How does Jonas treat language? How does it relate to his story about
school?
4. What evening ritual is described on page 5?
5. What lesson does Lily learn after she shares her feelings?
6. What is Jonas’s father’s job? What story does he tell?
7. What is Jonas’s mother’s job? What story does she tell?
8. What is Jonas “apprehensive” about?
Chapter 2 questions (p 11-19)
1. What is unusual about the way Lily joined the family?
2. What rule did Jonas’s father break? How does Jonas feel about it?
3. Why is the Ceremony of Twelve the most important one?
4. Jonas’s father’s Ceremony of Twelve lacked the “element of surprise.”
Why?
5. Who chooses the Assignments?
6. How is a rule changed in this Community?
7. Jonas asks his parents if he will still be able to do this after the
Ceremony…
8. What is a comfort object? What is Jonas’s? What is Lily’s? When is
taken away?
Chapter 3 questions (p 20-25)
1. How are Jonas’s eyes “unsettling”?
2. What bond does Lily suggest Jonas and Gabriel share?
3. What does the Speaker of the Community do?
4. What happened to the apple Jonas and Asher were playing catch
with?
Chapter 4 questions (p 26-33)
1. Why is it hard for people in the community to discuss work?
2. Why is volunteer work so important in the Community?
3. What is the House of the Old like?
4. How are newchildren and the Old alike?
5. Larissa, the Old Jonas bathes, talks about the Telling of Lives. What
does her story tell us about life in the Community?
6. Who is not allowed to witness a Release?
7. When someone is Released, where do they literally go? What do you
think happens to them?
Chapter 5 questions (p 34-39)
1. What dream does Jonas share in Chapter 5?
2. What was the strongest feeling in the dream?
3. What does Jonas’s mother call this “feeling”?
4. Why must this feeling be reported?
5. What is the treatment Jonas’s mother gives him? How long does the
treatment last?
6. How does Jonas feel about the Stirrings as the chapter ends?
Chapter 6 questions (p 40-49)
1. How are possessions earned in the Community?
2. How do the rear-buttoned jackets train citizens?
3. Where do the members of Jonas’s family sit at the annual Ceremony?
What does this tell us about the Community?
4. What happens to Gabriel? What did the family have to sign?
5. What is the area outside the Community called?
6. How does Lily feel as she is presented her new clothes? When will her
desire be satisfied?
7. What happens during the Ceremony of the Loss? Which newbirth does
it affect?
8. What alternative to taking the assigned job do Jonas and Asher discuss?
Chapter 7 questions (p 50-58)
1. What assignment is Inger, number Two, given? How do Jonas’s feelings
differ from his mother’s?
2. What story does the Elder tell during Asher’s assignment? (Give Specific
details)
3. What Assignment is Asher given? Is this a good match for him?
4. What assignment is Fiona given? Is this a good match for her?
5. Who is called to the stage after Fiona? How does the audience react?
Why?
6. How does Jonas feel after the Ceremony?
Chapter 8 questions (p 59-64)
1. It turns out Jonas was not “assigned.” What role was he given instead?
2. What happened to the last Receiver of Memory?
3. What four qualities does the Elder tell Jonas he has that makes him a
good candidate for Receiver of Memory?
4. What feeling that Jonas has never experienced must he prepare himself
for now?
5. The fifth and final characteristic of the Receiver is a mystery to the
Elder. What does she call it?
6. Jonas’s “selection’ is filled with fear. But, what gives him “a sliver of
sureness”?
Chapter 9 questions (p 65-71)
1. How does Jonas feel in relation to the Community after his selection?
2. What was the name of the person last selected to be Receiver of
Knowledge?
3. Where is Lily going to spend her newly-awarded volunteer hours?
4. What special privileged does Jonas gain from being a new Receiver of
Knowledge?
5. What restrictions does Jonas have from being a new Receiver of
Knowledge?
Chapter 10 questions (p 72-79)
1. What does the Annex have that no other building in the Community
does?
2. What is different about the Receiver’s chamber than most others?
3. What is special about the Receiver’s eyes?
4. What must the Receiver “transmit” to Jnoas?
5. Why does the phrase “the whole world” perplex Jonas?
6. What does the Receiver have the capability to turn “off”?
7. What is the first transmitted to Jonas?
Chapter 11 questions (p 72-79)
1. Describe Jonas’s thoughts as he receives his first memory.
2. Why is there no more show or hills in the world around the
Community?
3. The title “Receiver of Memory” does not have power. What does it
have?
4. What other natural phenomenon that the Receiver shares with Jonas
does the community seem to lack?
5. What memory gives Jonas pain?
6. What does the Receiver tell Jonas to call him?
Mid-Way Short Response
What indications can you see of this Community being
truly Dystopian as opposed to Utopian? Please list three
aspects that demonstrate your point.