The Giver: Characters, Main Events And Themes

The Giver is a book about a 12-year-old boy named Jonas who lives in a family unit of 4 people, his mom, his dad and his sister Lily. He was an ordinary boy living in his community with rules. He always had to apologize if he ever did anything wrong and he had to do volunteer hours up to the age of 12. His whole life changed once he turned 12 years old because in the community at the age of 12 you would receive your assignments. Jonas got the most important job in the community which was the Receiver of Memory. The Receiver of Memory’s job was to store all the precious memories that have been passed down from generations to help the community make important decisions such as if someone should be released. Jonas uncovers many secrets about the community and sets out a journey to elsewhere to eliminate sameness and carries Gabriel with him because Gabriel was going to get released the day after. On his journey, he encounters many different obstacles that he has never encountered before. In the end, he gets on a sled with Gabriel and once they reached the end Jonas started hearing music and wonders if it was an echo.

There are many characters in the book The Giver because it has many settings. Each character in the book has their own importance in the book. Jonas is the most important character in the book because the whole book is based on him. Jonas’ sister, Lily is also an important character because she is apart of Jonas’ life and we get a look in Jonas’ family life and who she is. Jonas’ mother, who is in Jonas’ family unit, she helps the people that have committed offenses and helps the court decide if they should be released or if they should stay in the community. Jonas’ father, who is a member of the family unit and also works at a nursing center for babies as a nurturer. Gabriel, who is the baby that lives in Jonas’ family unit because he was developing really slow and the community wanted to release him until Jonas’ father asked for a 1-year extension. Asher, who is Jonas’ best friend who works as the Director of Recreation. Fiona, who is one of Jonas’ friends who has red hair but only Jonas can see it and works at the House of the Old. Larrisa, who is the old woman the Jonas bathed in the House of the Old and had a conversation with. The Giver is the man known as the previous receiver of memory and has used his wisdom to help the community through tough problems. Finally, The Chief Elder who picked Jonas to become the new receiver of memory for the community.

Jonas and Asher are very good friends and have known each other since birth. Jonas and Asher are both 12 years old and have both received their assignments, but Jonas’ assignment is more important compared to Ashers. Jonas’ assignment has a lot of rules and regulations that he is required to follow at all times and it requires him to feel pain and things that he has never experienced before. Ashers’ assignment is to sort out recreation time and to make sure that it is running smoothly which is a job that does not require a lot of thinking and pain compared to Jonas’s job. Jonas and Asher both are required to take a pill that stops them from having the stirrings and they mustn’t forget to take the pill under any circumstances, but Jonas is smarter compared to Asher because Asher is easier going compared to Jonas because he does not really care about things the way that Jonas does. Jonas and Asher are also both males and are members of the community, but Jonas has a more exciting life compared to Asher because he is the receiver of memory and he gets to experience more than Asher and can see things that other people in the community can’t and things that the community cannot handle because the community would go mad. Jonas and Asher have to follow the community rules because they live in the community and if they break those rules they have a high chance of getting released, but Jonas knows more secrets about the community and how it works while Asher has no clue about what is going on in the community. Finally, Asher and Jonas are both friends with Fiona, but Asher does not understand the community because he has not seen the memories that the giver has given Jonas.

There are many main events in the book the giver but the most important events that took place in the giver are when Jonas got his assignment as the Receiver of Memory and the ceremony of 12 and where the chief elder announced the reasons why Jonas was picked as the receiver of memory. When Jonas had received his assignment he was shocked and scared because the chief elder said that being the receiver will involve pain and that scared Jonas because at that moment he had realized that his entire life would change and he would never be the same. Jonas begins his training with the giver and starts to learn many secrets about the community through memories. The memories started off pleasant and simple such as the feel of sunlight on the skin or watching a boat sail across the water, but then the memories started getting more intense and more painful such as the memory of war or the memory of the starvation. The pain levels increased every time Jonas went to visit the giver. The memories make Jonas stronge. After learning many secrets about the community, Jonas sets on a journey to eliminate sameness from the community because Jonas wants everyone in the community to feel and see the same things he does and he disagrees with the communities idea of making sure that everything stays the same. The journey is to elsewhere where he feels he can find a way to eliminate sameness and he takes Gabriel with him. The journey was long as scary and they had to undergo many challenges such as Jonas spraining his ankle and him scraping his knee. Finally, Gabriel and Jonas were sledding down the hill of snow and then once they reach the end Jonas hears the sound of music and wonders if the music is real or an echo.

In this book, there are multiple themes such as that differences should be celebrated and not feared, the Importance of memory, the relationship between pain and pleasure, the importance of an individual, rules and control and rituals. All these themes are important in the book the giver because they each send a message about how we can easily relate to this book because some of the things occur in real life such as in the book being released means getting a lethal injection and in the real world people on death row would have the option of using a lethal injection as as way to die. This book also tackles the stuff that happens in the real world such as communism because the leaders of the community are basically communist because they feel as if everything should be the same and that everyone is equal. The message that the author is trying to send is that you should look at things more carefully and that you should not only be satisfied with only the positive because many things can appear good but can turn out really bad in a matter of seconds. This could also mean that you should stand up for what you believe in and also stand up for your faith and dreams because without them you will not have a proper goal in life.

The book has taught me many things and I have learned many new things such as you should never look at something the way it is because it could be completely different from what it is. I also learned to take responsibility for your actions and how it is always important to look at things closely and apologize for your actions because those actions could have ended up hurting people. This book also talks about how individuality is important for everyone and that we should each try and be who we are and we should not fall into a specific categories in life. What I liked about the book as to how we get to see how Jonas’s perception about the community changes throughout the chapters and how he as changed as a person and wants to share his knowledge with everyone in the community. What I disliked was that the ending of the book was vague because I wanted to know what happened to Jonas and Gabriel and if they had survived or not.

In conclusion, The Giver is a book filled with different emotions and themes. There are many characters in the book that each play a relevance in the storyline and how the story unfolds, each character has something different to offer to the story and has their own personality and their own likes and dislikes. The book also has multiple themes because it talks about a lot of things that are happening around the world and some of the main events that take place during the book and why they are important to the book. Also, the message that the author is trying to send through this book and what I have learned, liked and disliked about the book. My opinion is that this is a good book and people should read it because it is very interesting and it talks about a lot of different things and teaches you many lessons.