The Giver

In many works of literature, a character has a significant influence on another character. Lois Lowry demonstrated this concept in The Giver. When one of the main characters in the novel passed on a positive influence to another character. In this work, the people lived in a community that was designed to be nearly flawless. No person could see color, feel neither hatred nor love; no one had a choice in either occupation or education. In this novel, children were assigned to a family when they were young and were raised by two parents. In addition, it was an absolute most for them to have one other sibling. Only one person knew about life as we know it society today. In the community, that person was known as the “Receiver”; the one and only person in the entire community that had any memory of the past; love, war, peace, family, work etc. Since he soon aged, it became necessary t find a new “Receiver” to whom these memories could be transmitted.

In the novel the main character, Jonas, started off as an eleven-year-old boy that lived his entire life in sameness, which wasn’t very different from anyone else his age in the community. At the age of eight, he received his front button jacket and at nine he received his bicycle, and so on. Jonas had no true mother, father or sister. Instead he had a family to whom he was assigned. Jonas was born by a birthmother, named by a committee and then assigned to his father and mother. Birthdays in the community were celebrated as a community. Everyone that was eleven turned twelve at the end of the year, regardless to their true date of birth. At the ceremony of twelve, all children were given their occupation and began training immediately. This was the day that Jonas was chosen to be the new “Receiver”. This was considered to be the most honorable occupation in the entire community as well as the most demanding. Jonas had to begin training with the current “Receiver of memory” who was now dubbed “The Giver.”.

Jonas was assigned to train with “The Giver” at his personal annex. “The Giver” now transmitted all his current memories to him one at a time on a daily basis. These memories (memories of war, peace, love, hate, snow, rain, sunshine, color, etc.) were not possessed by any other member of the community. The reasoning behind it was because for as long as the community’s timeline existed, attempts were made to create a chaos free society, or even a flawless society. Shortly, Jonas began to “see-beyond” what others could see (colors in his everyday life, feelings of love towards people). One example was his father’s assignment to take care of a newborn child name Gabriel. Jonas felt love for this child, and it soon became clear to him what life in the community lacked and what it should’ve had.

Jonas believed that a life with color and memory and all the previously mentioned abilities existed in Elsewhere. Jonas and all other members of the community were taught that