This is a story about a boy named Jonas wholives in a somewhat sheltered community. Jonas lives with his Father, a newborn caretaker,
his Mother, a judge of some kind, and his younger sister, Lily, an imaginative girl
who asks a lot of questions. This community regards age as extremely important,
tracking each boy and girl with various labels based on their age. Because Jonas is turning
twelve, he will be assigned his job.
And while his friends and peers are assigned regular
jobs in the community, he is selected to be The Receiver, a prestigious position that
must learn and keep the memories of the past. He begins training with the previous Receiver,
The Giver. The Giver is an old man who is wise and tired. The Giver begins transferring
memories from the past to Jonas through touch.
At first this is exciting because he experiences
things like snow and color, which are absent from this community. However, The Giver then
transfers memories of pain and other negative images, which hurt Jonas. After contemplating what to do with this knowledge,
Jonas decides to take a newborn, Gabriel, with him and run from the community. He eventually
makes it to society, where he is greeted by the sight of brightly decorated homes.
And while there are elements of the supernatural
- the passing of memories - the somewhat utopian/dystopian society established in the story is a topic
of important discussion. The community in the story feels no sense
of emotion, color, feeling, or remorse. And while our current society is not as blatant
in these absences, we can, still today, feel the lack of those same things. Color seems to be an important characteristic
in this story.
The majority of the community sees the world in a literal and figurative
gray tone. Also, the use of red appears several times in the story - the apple, a girl's hair,
flowers. This story presents a scary scenario where
a community decides the lifestyle of individuals and individuals have no real choice. Does
it sound familiar?.
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