all assignments in the giver

Assignments

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Assignments are the occupations of the inhabitants of the Community . Assignments are designated when a member of the Community goes through their respective Ceremony of Twelve .

All Assignments can be found here .

• 1.1 The Giver

History [ ]

The giver [ ].

Claire is given the Assignment of Birthmother at the Ceremony of Twelve.

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• Assignments are made by the Elders may be appealed by contacting them, who form a committee to discuss it. Committees typically take a large amount of time to decide so an appeal is considered to be impractical.

by Lois Lowry

• The Giver Summary

Jonas begins The Giver feeling uneasy about the upcoming Ceremony of Twelve, where he will receive the Assignment that determines his vocation for the rest of his working life. That night, at the nightly sharing of feelings, after his sister, father, and mother discuss their emotions, his parents comfort him about his worries. They remind him that his life will change after the Ceremony, but they reassure him that the Committee of Elders has been watching him closely and will give him an appropriate Assignment.

Jonas's father brings home a newchild who needs extra care, and they call him Gabriel , although Father is not yet supposed to know the child's name. Lily decides that she will begin volunteering hours at the Nurturing Center after she turns Nine, and Jonas recalls a strange incident where he saw an apple suddenly change before returning to the same nondescript shade as his shirt. The next day, he joins Asher and Fiona at the House of the Old, where Larissa tells him about Roberto's release ceremony, after which Roberto will go Elsewhere. Then, after a sexually charged dream involving Fiona that forms Jonas's first Stirrings, his parents give him the pills that will suppress these Stirrings.

At the Ceremony, Jonas sits through the Naming at the Ceremony of One, which Gabriel will miss because the Nurturers have decided to give him an extra year of care before deciding whether to assign him a family unit or to release him. Lily turns Eight, and the new Nines receive bicycles as a sign of new independence. The Ceremony of Twelve begins uneventfully, as the often hasty but always good-humored Asher receives the Assignment of Assistant Director of Recreation and Fiona receives that of Caretaker of the Old. However, the Chief Elder skips Jonas, which mortifies him until they announce that he has been selected as the new Receiver of Memory for the community, an important position that requires intelligence, courage, and the Capacity to See Beyond, which Jonas has previously experienced with the apple.

Jonas feels nervous and isolated at his selection, and his instructions are strange in that they allow him to be rude, ask questions, and lie, while prohibiting him from taking medication for his training and from applying for release. The old Receiver, who calls himself The Giver , informs Jonas that he is now the new Receiver and will have to receive the memories of generations of the whole world, which The Giver transmits by touch and remembrance. Jonas's first new memory is that of riding a sled down a snowy hill, and The Giver explains that after the establishment of Sameness and Climate Control, many of these things have been eliminated. The Giver also gives Jonas the memory of sunshine and sunburn to give Jonas a hint of the pain that is to come in his training.

After seeing a change in Fiona's hair, Jonas informs The Giver, who concludes that Jonas has the capacity to see color, unlike other members of the community. Scientists tried to get rid of color at the onset of Sameness, but they did not entirely succeed. Jonas and The Giver discuss how Sameness has gotten rid of individual choice, although it may perhaps have made the world safer by eliminating the possibility of wrong choices, such as in choosing spouses, although as The Receiver, Jonas will never be able to share his whole life with a future spouse, since he cannot speak of his work. They also discuss the previous Receiver-in-Training's failure, after which unwanted memories escaped into the community and caused havoc, an incident that reminded the community of The Receiver's role as the vessel for these memories.

Jonas asks for more painful memories, so The Giver introduces him first to a broken leg and later to more serious pains such as starvation and neglect. These memories give The Receiver wisdom to advise the Elders, who do not want to bear the memories themselves. At home, Jonas discovers that Gabriel is capable of receiving memories, and at his training, he eventually helps ease The Giver's suffering by taking from him the terrible memory of war. As recompense, The Giver transmits some joyful memories, including that of family, grandparents, and love, all of which are missing in the community's family units. Jonas instinctively feels that the absence of love is wrong, although he initially denies his instincts in favor of what his society has taught him. Others in the community do not understand Jonas's thoughts, as his parents deride the term "love" as imprecise and as Asher fails to understand why Jonas does not approve of the imitation war games he plays with the children.

When Jonas's father is scheduled to release a newchild because it is a twin, Jonas asks The Giver about release, who mentions that in his previous failure, his daughter Rosemary became the Receiver-in-Training but chose release because she did not want to bear all the memories of pain. The Giver then shows Jonas a tape in which Jonas's father is shown to release the infant by euthanizing him through lethal injection. Jonas is devastated by this revelation, and he and The Giver decide that he should run away so that the memories will be released into the community. They both hope that The Giver can teach the community to regain wisdom and emotion through the memories rather than to force the memories away.

Jonas is forced to leave ahead of schedule in order to save Gabriel from release, so he sets off with inadequate supplies. As they leave the community, they experience first the joys of nature and wildlife and then the fear of cold and starvation as they leave the area of Climate Control into a snowy region. Finally, Jonas finds what he perceives as the hill from his first transmitted memory, and he hears music and sees Christmas lights, believing that he has found an Elsewhere that has what the community lacked. However, the ending leaves unclear whether Jonas has truly found Elsewhere or is simply hallucinating as he freezes to death.

The Giver Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Giver is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Should Jonas have asked them to stop playing the game of bad guys and good guys? CHAPTER 17

No, I don't think Jonas should ask them to stop playing. These kids cannot handle the emotional trauma  of forgetting their lunch let alone understanding emotions behind war and death. They simply would not comprehend what Jonas is talking...

Chapter 13-16

Jonas advocates choices, as well as real family units rather than created family units.

why didnt the game of good guys and bad guys that jonas's friends play seem harmless to jonas anymore? chapter 17

When he looks for Asher at the play area, he sees Tanya, an Eleven, being play-ambushed in a game by Asher. For the first time, Jonas recognizes this not only as a game of good guys and bad guys but also as a game of war. He watches the children...

Study Guide for The Giver

The Giver study guide contains a biography of Lois Lowry, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis of The Giver.

• About The Giver
• The Giver Video
• Character List

Essays for The Giver

The Giver essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Giver by Lois Lowry.

• The Cost of Security
• A Lonely Mind With a Heavy Burden: Hope in The Giver
• Is the Society of The Giver a Utopia?
• Reproductive Regulation and the Construction of Relationships for Populace Control in The Giver and “Pop Squad”

Lesson Plan for The Giver

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Giver
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Giver Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for The Giver

• Introduction
• Analysis of themes
• Literary significance and reception

Introduction to The Giver

The Giver is a dystopian story by Lois Lowry , an American writer. It first appeared in the United States in 1993 and became an instant hit on account of the unusual story it presents. The story comprises a boy, Jonas, who experiences disenchantment with the living style of his community based on the sameness and ordinariness through the community’s own decision-making process. Recognized quite later in life, The Giver won Newbery Medal in 1994. It was later adapted into a movie in 2014.

Summary of The Giver

The story starts with a 12 year old boy living in a seemingly ‘perfect’ community with no war, hatred, hunger, poverty and crime. The community is established to spread sameness among all of its members for justice and fair play . Jonas, the boy, sees that the community elder, the Chief Elder, has assigned a specific role to every infant he is going to assume in the future after he grows up. Jonas’ father works as a Nurturer, while his mother works in the Justice Department in the community. When his Ceremony of Twelve, a ceremony to allot roles to each 12-year old person, arrives, he is rather shocked but seeks no guidance from his parents. They assure him that the Elders never commit a mistake.

On that day, all of his classmates receive orders to stand in the order of their birthday dates during the ceremony presided over by the Chief Elder. Jonas becomes surprised when he comes to know about his assigned role of getting training as the Receiver of Memory, a high official, who sits beside the Chief Elder during ceremonies. Despite his initial jubilation for having status and position in the community later, he finds himself isolated at this stage even from his childhood friends. He gets further instructions about the secrecy of his job and training with orders not to reveal details even to his close family members.

The main task of the Receiver of Memory is that they should have the collective memory of his community not only of the present but also of the past generations. Once the training starts, he becomes happy that at least he is the Receiver of Memory, having everything at his fingertips tips. The current Receiver of Memory, ‘the Giver’, trains and instructs him how to store vast data in his mind. The very first lesson in memory retention techniques is of the sliding down which surprises him that such a simple task receives such as high confidentiality merely for the sake of sameness, a plan that involves that involves uniform geography, climate and discouraging individuality including skin color. Sameness involves eliminating choice, emotions which could possibly lead to happiness or pain in turn causing war-like situations. As the time passes, he learns about colors, human nature, war, and several other such things strange and bizarre to him. Although he tries to learn about Rosemary, the former student of the Giver but does not get any information about her.

Soon his father informs about his worry about a fragile child in his custody at the Nurturing Center. He has won permission to take him home to improve his health. Eventually, Gabriel, the same boy, grows into a healthy child. His pale eyes, like that of Jonas, attract his attention toward the boy who finds him similar to himself, having the capability of retaining memories. However, it also transpires to him that if Gabriel does not become strong, he will be “released” soon to reach Elsewhere, a concept equal to death and graveyard. The Community has rules to send all such persons including the former student, Rosemary, to Elsewhere where they live in peace.

The Giver further informs Jonas about such things through a video camera in which he sees his father, the Nurturer, sending two boys to Elsewhere through a poisonous injection. This video rather shocks his morality after watching his father killing two children. Also, his friend Fiona is being trained in the fine art of ‘released’. However, the argument of the Giver to justify this action falls on deaf ears. He tries to explain that his father and people like who are being trained for this job do not know this is evil since feeling are not part of the life. He informs him that Rosemary has released herself. The ensuing polemic wins Jonas a place in the heart of the Giver who acquiesces to his argument that they must do something to change the Community and join hands in this venture. Jonas’s idea is that he can do it by leaving the community early, providing the Giver an opportunity to help the people to manage memories.

Feeling the intense need for such an operation, the Giver devises a plan, helping Jonas escape the Community, showing the Community that he has been drowned. However, Jonas comes to know that Gabriel is going to be released prematurely at which he has to amend his plan and take Gabriel with him.

During the hard journey, Jonas ponders if he has made the right choice since the bike journey becomes even more difficult and experience starvation for the first time. But later realizes that if he had stayed back he’d have starved for the feelings and most importantly Gabriel would have not been alive. He dwells upon the risk of making a ‘choice’ has consequences but concludes that ‘physical hunger is less destructive than emotional one’. He feared for the life of Gabriel than his own expressing compassion, love which was never felt by his community.

After many hardships and travelling in the snow , both of them reach near Elsewhere where he comes across the same sled riding that he sees in his first experience as the Receiver of Memory Both ride a sled and see colorful lights with a Christmas tree, hears music for the first time and while experiencing the symptoms of hypothermia.

Major Themes in The Giver

• Individual and Freedom: The Giver demonstrates the theme of individuals and their freedom through the character of Jonas as well as Gabriel, the child that his father brings home to save from the likely release. Even Jonas experiences restrictions once his ceremony of twelve is held and he later comes to know that he is going to be the new Receiver of Memory after the departure of the Giver. When both realize their role in molding the Community into sameness, they plan to release the memories to revive the community. However, coincidently, Gabriel is released too early at which Jonas has to drop his plan and move ahead with his plan earlier than the fixed time. It shows that an individual has no freedom and choice of freedom except to merge with the community.
• Threats of Stability: As the Community requires stability, it is decided by the Chief Elders of all the communities that sameness must be applied at all levels. However, this sameness has its own risks; it does not make all the people same, it robs the people of their individual qualities, and it forces them to adapt to the sameness forced upon them. It happens with Jonas despite his being unable to follow it. He feels disgusted toward his father when he releases two kids to Elsewhere. When his plan fails and he releases his memories, the attempts of the sameness cause threat to the stability rather than vice versa .
• Human Emotion: The novel highlights the theme of human emotions through the character of the Nurturer, Jonas’s father, Jonas as well as Rosemary. When Jonas is inducted into the memory retention department as the Receiver of Memory by the Giver, he feels as if he has been alienated from his close and childhood friends. Almost the same goes with his father when he sees him through a video camera, showing him releasing two innocent kids with poisonous injections. He feels the same situation of having no human emotions in the Community when he hears the tale of the death of Rosemary, the daughter of the Giver.
• Memory and Wisdom: The Giver shows the relationship between memory and wisdom through the character of Jonas and his selection for being the Receiver of Memory. That is why the position of the Giver is significant, for the Committee of Elders turns to him to have the sane advice after he reviews the whole history where such instances might have caused disruption or havoc on account of the destabilizing roles such incidents might have played. It is stated that although Jonas has no wisdom having practical value for the Community. Yet as the retainer of the memory, he would be playing a positive role as the successor of the Giver. So, memory and wisdom have been shown going together.
• Dystopia : Despite having initial signs and symbols of building a utopia , the ultimate community that comes into existence is a dystopia where the craziness for the individual sameness takes not only the lives of individuals but also robs them of the natural human emotions. Jonas is surprised at his selection as well as forced isolation that he is not permitted to meet even his childhood friends. He is also horrified to learn that his father, the Nurturer, is involved in the murder of the kids not able to live for adaptation. He also feels for Rosemary who has committed suicide after she is unable to cope with the memory retention task. These developments have made the Community a dystopia instead of a utopia.
• Isolation: The novel also shows the theme of isolation through the Giver as well as Rosemary, for each of them experiences extreme isolation and becomes the victim of its consequential impacts. For example, the Giver experiences it as his own daughter has become the victim of his obsession with memory retention after she commits suicide. She herself experiences the torture from the looming isolation and resultant alienation. This is almost the same isolation that Jonas experiences and comes to the point to spread or release memories to make the Community return to its normality.
• Death: The theme of death occurs in the meanings of release from the Community that initially Jonas does not understand but becomes familiar with it during the anecdote of Pilot-in-Training. Soon he comes to know that release is used to make the Old people, kids, and those who do not fit into the Community, leave it for Elsewhere.
• Individual and Society: The novel shows the significance of individuals and society and their interdependence through Jonas, Rosemary, and Gabriel as well as the Community in which they live. The storyline, activities of Jonas, and death of Rosemary show that individuals suffer because of the demands of the Community to transform it into utopia but their interdependence continues.
• Rules: The novel shows the reverse use of rules not to facilitate individuals and society but to create a new experimental society based on individuals already trained to live in that society. This distortion of rules has been shown through the elders, their sameness, and Elsewhere.

Major Characters in The Giver

• Jonas: Jonas is the central character and the protagonist of the story. He’s12-year-old, who has to join the professional life of the Community by becoming an intern of the Giver as the Receiver of Memory. Yet he soon becomes disenchanted after reviewing two events: first his father’s act of sending two kids to Elsewhere by injecting them poison and second the death of Rosemary, the daughter of the Giver. His work of acquiring and keeping memories expands with his intimate relations with the Giver who also joins him to plan their release into Elsewhere after spreading their memories to make the Community properly humane. However, it happens that his father brings Gabriel who is to be released earlier. After this, he prematurely leaves the Community causing the release of memories earlier than the planned time after which both Jonas and Gabriel freezes to death. However, his perceptual power , his wisdom, and his intelligence won him laurels from the readers on account of his struggle to pull the Community out of the clutches of the autocratic dystopian government.
• The Giver: Despite his being a significant character, the Giver does not stand tall before the young and little Jonas with his ancientness likening to Tiresias of the Grecian plays. His worldly wisdom seems to surpass his memory acquisition job, the reason that he tolerates the suicide of his daughter, Rosemary, and continues working as the Giver. The weight of the memories of the entire Community and his responsibility of making decisions on the behalf of all makes him crumble down before Jonas after which both of them plan to release all the memories. It could be that he gives way to Jonas’s energetic efforts to bring transformation in the Community by making people independent and humane instead of making individuals the same.
• Father: Working as a Nurturer in the Community, Jonas’s father takes care of the toddlers and dedicates his life to them, yet he does not believe in love as he states it clearly to his wife. Although when releasing two kids with poisonous injections he does not feel anything, yet his concern for Gabriel makes his family members feel the transformation in him, though, he is to live in the system and perform as per his duties. So, his character stays flat until the end of the story.
• Mother: Jonas’s mother is an ambitious and career-oriented woman who has killed all of her emotions for her progress in the justice department where she punishes the rule-breakers of the Community. The training that she imparts to Jonas and other children shows her qualities akin to Lady Macbeth in resolution , yet she joins her son to deride the sentimentality of her husband when he fondles with his daughter, Lily. She becomes a model in society who wants societal ideals to be followed at every cost.
• Gabriel: The young toddler that the Nurturer intends to save at every cost, Gabriel becomes a lively child whom Jonas loves for his excellent memory and intelligence. As soon as he becomes dependent on Jonas for his sleep, his father resolves to send him to Elsewhere by releasing him. Although this premature action of his father disrupts Jonas’s plans, Gabriel causes a stir in society by releasing memories.
• Asher: Jonas’ childhood friend, Asher realizes others his discomfiture in such a Community due to the failure of the concept of Sameness. Although he does not seem capable of winning release from the Community, yet his foibles continue flabbergasting the people around him. Finally, both of them part ways after Jonas joins internship of the Giver and stops meeting him.
• Lily: Lily is Jonas’s sister shows great love for him nurtured by her father, the Nurturer when he fondles with her. She is a chatterbox and lively and takes care of Gabriel when her father brings him home.
• Fiona: Fiona has distinct red hair, and one for whom Jonas feels love. She joins a Caretaker to train herself to become one in the future to take care of the Old. As the story progresses, her character diminishes on account of the roles both of them choose to play.
• Rosemary: Rosemary is The Giver’s daughter, the incumbent Receiver of Memory, and commits suicide after she could not tolerate the pressure of the task.
• Chief Elder: The significance of the character of the Chief Elder lies in that she directs all the operations in the Community and decides the role allotted to every twelve-year-old teenager. This is called the Ceremony of Twelve that she presides to see how it goes along.
• Larissa: Her character is significant in the novel on account of her humor and chattiness. She informs Jonas about the release of Roberto.

Writing Style of The Giver

Lois Lowry has adopted a very euphemistic style in this novel, The Giver, using usual sentences but they are sometimes interspersed with run-on and broken sentences. The diction used in these sentences is twisted to suit the new context of the futuristic type of society where the Sameness has been implemented to achieve equality . Most of the diction is formal, though, at some places Lowry has used informal language. For literary devices , Lowry has relied on alliteration , consonance , metaphors , and similes.

Analysis of the Literary Devices in The Giver

• Action: The main action of the novel comprises the story of Jonas, the new Giver, who has become the Receiver of Memory until he releases himself prematurely. The rising action occurs when he becomes an intern of the Giver. The falling action occurs when Gabriel is released prematurely, and the plan of Jonas and the Giver has to be unfolded before its time.
• Anaphora : The below examples of anaphora are given below, i. Frightened meant that deep, sickening feeling of something terrible about to happen. Frightened was the way he had felt a year ago when an unidentified aircraft had overflown the community twice. He had seen it both times. (I) ii. Though Jonas had only become a Five the year that they acquired Lily and earned her name, he remembered the excitement, the conversations at home, wondering about her: how she would look, who she would be, how she would fit into their established family unit. (2) iii. His father smiled his gentle smile. (2) iv. A silence fell over the room. They looked at each other. Finally his mother, rising from the table, said, “You’ve been greatly honored, Jonas. Greatly honored.” (9) These examples show the repetitious use of “frightened”, “she would”, “smile” and “greatly honored.
• Allusions: The novel shows the use of allusions as given in the below sentences, i. Jonas had casually picked up an apple from the basket where the snacks were kept, and had thrown it to his friend. Asher had thrown it back, and they had begun a simple game of catch. (3) ii. There had been nothing special about it; it was an activity that he had performed countless times: throw, catch; throw, catch. It was effortless for Jonas, and even boring, though Asher enjoyed it, and playing catch was a required activity for Asher because it would improve his hand-eye coordination, which was not up to standards. (3) iii. Yes, I think I will,” Lily said. She knelt beside the basket. “What did you say his name is? Gabriel? Hello, Gabriel,” she said in a singsong voice . Then she giggled. “Ooops,” she whispered. “I think he’s asleep. (3) These examples show the use of allusion such as Jonas as Johana of the Bible, the apple as the allusion of the first apple, and Gabriel, the allusion of the angel .
• Antagonist : As there is no person who could make life difficult for Jonas, society itself is the obstacle in the way of every individual. Therefore, society is the antagonist of the novel, The Giver .
• Conflict : The novel shows the internal conflict as well as external conflict . The external conflict is going on between Jonas and the Community, while the internal or mental conflict is going on in the mind of Jonas due to his obligations to his position and his moral awakening.
• Characters: The novel shows dynamic as well as static characters . Jonas, the young boy, is a dynamic character as he witnesses a considerable transformation in his behavior and actions. However, all other characters are static characters such as his father, mother, Larissa, Lily, and Gabriel.
• Climax : The climax in the novel occurs when Jonas sees that his father has killed the boys which means he has released them from the Community.
• Hyperbole : Here are two examples of hyperboles from the book, i. For a moment he froze, consumed with despair. He didn’t have it, the whatever-she-had-said. (8) ii. A silence fell over the room. They looked at each other. Finally his mother, rising from the table, said, “You’ve been greatly honored, Jonas. Greatly honored.” (9) Both of these examples exaggerate things as a person does not actually freeze and that silence never actually falls.
• Imagery : The Giver’s imagery examples are given below, i. Jonas shrugged. He followed them inside. But he had been startled by the newchild’s eyes. Mirrors were rare in the community; they weren’t forbidden, but there was no real need of them, and Jonas had simply never bothered to look at himself very often even when he found himself in a location where a mirror existed. Now , seeing the newchild and its expression, he was reminded that the light eyes were not only a rarity but gave the one who had them a certain look— what was it? Depth, he decided; as if one were looking into the clear water of the river, down to the bottom, where things might lurk which hadn’t been discovered yet. He felt self-conscious, realizing that he, too, had that look.. (3) ii. Jonas nodded. “But it wasn’t really the same. There was a tub, in the dream . But only one. And the real bathing room has rows and rows of them. But the room in the dream was warm and damp. And I had taken off my tunic, but hadn’t put on the smock, so my chest was bare. I was perspiring, because it was so warm. And Fiona was there, the way she was yesterday. (5) iii. Jonas obeyed cheerfully. He closed his eyes, waiting, and felt the hands again; then he felt the warmth again, the sunshine again, coming from the sky of this other consciousness that was so new to him. This time, as he lay basking in the wonderful warmth, he felt the passage of time. His real self was aware that it was only a minute or two; but his other, memory-receiving self felt hours pass in the sun. His skin began to sting. Restlessly he moved one arm, bending it, and felt a sharp pain in the crease of his inner arm at the elbow. (10) These examples show images of feelings, sight, movement, and color.
• Irony : The examples of irony are given in below sentences, A committee was studying the idea. When something went to a committee for study, the people always joked about it. They said that the committee members would become Elders by the time the rule change was made. (2) These sentences show the irony in the word joke that people used to cut at the committee e members.
• Metaphor : The examples of metaphors are given in the sentences below, i. Many of the comfort objects , like Lily’s, were soft, stuffed, imaginary creatures. Jonas’s had been called a bear. (2) ii. Sometimes he awoke with a feeling of fragments afloat in his sleep, but he couldn’t seem to grasp them and put them together into something worthy of telling at the ritual. (5) iii. He sank back down into his chair, puzzled. (5) iv. The old man shrugged and gave a short laugh. “No,” he told Jonas. “It’s a very distant memory. That’s why it was so exhausting—I had to tug it forward from many generations back. It was given to me when I was a new Receiver, and the previous Receiver had to pull it through a long time period, too.” (10) These examples show that several things have been compared directly in the novel such as the first shows objects as creatures, the second shows feelings as ducks, the third shows chair as a lake and the fourth shows memory compared to some trolley.
• Mood : The novel shows very light and happy mood in the beginning but turns to dispassionate, sad as well as tragic during different events in the story of Jonas.
• Motif : Most important motifs of The Giver, are overtness, vision and release or death.
• Narrator : The novel is narrated from a third person omniscient point of view .
• Paradox : The below sentences are the examples of paradox , i. Jonas thought about it. The details were murky and vague. But the feelings were clear, and flooded him again now as he thought. (5) ii. This time the hands didn’t become cold, but instead began to feel warm on his body. They moistened a little. The warmth spread, extending across his shoulders, up his neck, onto the side of his face. (10) iii. “It’s just that I don’t know your name. I thought you were The Receiver, but you say that now I’m The Receiver. So I don’t know what to call you.” The man had sat back down in the comfortable upholstered chair. He moved his shoulders around as if to ease away an aching sensation. He seemed terribly weary. “Call me The Giver,” he told Jonas. (10) These examples show paradoxes as the first one shows two contradictory ideas of vague and clear, the second shows cold and warm, while the third shows receiver and giver given side by side in these sentences.
• Personification : The below sentences are good examples of personifications, i. “It took me many years. Maybe your wisdom will come much more quickly than mine.” (12) ii. And the strongest memory that came was hunger. It came from many generations back. Centuries back. The population had gotten so big that hunger was everywhere. Excruciating hunger and starvation. It was followed by warfare. (13) These examples show as if wisdom and memory have life and emotions of their own.
• Protagonist : The young boy, Jonas, is the protagonist of the novel. The novel starts with his entry into the story and ends with his plans to release memories in the Community.
• Repetition : The examples of repetitions are given in the below sentences, i. His father smiled his gentle smile. (2) ii. Almost every citizen in the community had dark eyes. His parents did, and Lily did, and so did all of his group members and friends. (3) iii. There had been nothing special about it; it was an activity that he had performed countless times: throw, catch; throw, catch. (3) iv. The prohibition of dream-telling, he thought, would not be a real problem. He dreamed so rarely that the dream-telling did not come easily to him anyway, and he was glad to be excused from it. (9) These examples show repetitions of different things and ideas such as of “gnawing”, “enjoyment” and “over and over.”
• Rhetorical Questions : The rhetorical questions are used at several places in the book. Two examples are given below, i. “Yes, I think I will,” Lily said. She knelt beside the basket. “What did you say his name is? Gabriel? Hello, Gabriel,” she said in a singsong voice. Then she giggled. “Ooops,” she whispered. “I think he’s asleep. (3) ii. Jonas was stunned. What would happen to his friendships? His mindless hours playing ball, or riding his bike along the river? Those had been happy and vital times for him. Were they to be completely taken from him, now? (9) This example shows the use of rhetorical questions posed but different characters not to elicit answers but to stress upon the underlined idea.
• Setting : The setting of The Giver is a fictional distant society called the Community.
• Simile : The below sentences are examples of similes from the book, i. Lily considered and shook her head. “I don’t know. They acted like … like…” “ Animals ?” Jonas suggested. He laughed. (2) ii. Look how tiny he is! And he has funny eyes like yours, Jonas!” Jonas glared at her. (3) iii. Then, as the angle of incline lessened, as the mound—the hill —flattened, nearing the bottom, the sled’s forward motion slowed. (10) iv. “It’s full of electrical impulses. It’s like a computer. If you stimulate one part of the brain with an electrode, it—” He stopped talking. He could see an odd look on The Giver’s face. (13) These similes show that things have been compared directly such as the first shows their action like that of animals, the second shows a comparison of the eyes of two persons, the third one shows a comparison of the sled and the hill, and the third one shows the comparison of electrical signals with a computer.

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Character List

By lois lowry.

The characters in 'The Giver' are a complex group of men, women, and children who are, at their heart, seeing out what they think is best for themselves and those around them.

About the Book

Article written by Emma Baldwin

B.A. in English, B.F.A. in Fine Art, and B.A. in Art Histories from East Carolina University.

Some, like Jonas, Gabriel, The Giver, and Rosemary, are capable of feeling much more than others, like Jonas’s father and his friend Fiona. Their heightened perceptiveness sets them apart from the rest of the community. 

Jonas 

Jonas is one of the most important characters in the novel . He’s an eleven-year-old and the protagonist. Jonas finds out towards the beginning of The Giver that he’s been chosen to be the new Receiver of Memory when he turns twelve. This means that he’s going to be bestowed with the memories of the time before the Community was created. 

Jonas is a thoughtful child, deeply perceptive, and intelligent in ways that he doesn’t quite understand yet. He loves his family and friends but also longs for closer relationships. These are characteristics that he can maintain when he steps into his new role. Once his training for his new role as Receiver of Memory begins, his understanding of the world expands, and he’s confronted with a new means of perception. After Jonas starts to realize his world’s truth and the fact that his people gave up their freedoms for “Sameness,” he experiences a new kind of anger. 

The Giver 

The Giver starts the novel as the current Receiver of Memory, which Jonas is chosen to fill. It is his job to train Jonas to take over. The Giver is a lonely man, separate from the rest of the Community due to his knowledge of what the world was like before the Sameness. He can’t share what he knows with other people, makings the burden even greater. The Giver has held the Community’s memories for a long time, and he’s filled with pain over their presence in his mind. He confesses to the belief that the memories should be shared with everyone. 

The Giver lives in larger and nicer quarters than most people in the community, but he lives an inactive life. He grieves over the death of his daughter, Rosemary, and worries about the future. He eventually uses his pain and grief positively to plan Jonas’s escape. He gives Jonas his most precious memories, those of music and love. He is also willing to risk his own life to help everyone in the Community once their memories are returned. 

Jonas’s Father 

Jonas’s Father fills the role of Nurturer. He works with infants, something that suits his kind, mild-mannered personality. He enjoys his job and works hard at it, willingly releasing, or killing, the children that the Community deems unfit to survive. He is a perfect example of how a dystopian society can seem completely normal if one is born into it. He plays games with the children he cares for, calls them by nicknames, and seems to want the best for them truly. Jonas’s father likes the way the Community functions and claims not to believe in love, despite evidence to the contrary. 

Jonas’s Mother 

Jonas’s Mother is another pleasant, mild-mannered character in the story. She works in a very different job from her husband, though, within the Department of Justice. There, she works to help redeem those who break the rules. She expresses worry several times in the novel about Jonas’s future. She’s intelligent and sympathetic. 

Lily is Jonas’s sister, and she displays many of the characteristics of a normal, eight-year-old child. She became an Eight towards the beginning of the novel but is still over-talkative and unable to keep her mouth closed at important times. She’s also intelligent, like her mother. 

Gabriel 

Gabriel, also known as Gabe, is a young child, a “newchild,” who Jonas’s family cares for at night. He’s a perfect baby during the day but fusses at night. This is something that Jonas rectifies with some of his memories. He’s able to help the child relax. This relationship becomes quite important to Jonas. Once Jonas can see colors, he realizes that Gabriel’s eyes, his own, and the Giver’s are all blue. Once Jonas learns that Gabriel will be released, he is inspired to rebel against the Community. 

Asher 

Asher is Jonas’s best friend, who is assigned to the position of Assistant Director of Recreation. He’s high-energy and often speaks too fast. His personality is well-suited for the job he’s given. 

Fiona 

Fiona is another of Jonas’s friends. She’s much more quiet and thoughtful than Asher is and is assigned to be a Caretaker of the Old at the Ceremony of the Twelve. She has red hair, something that only Jonas can see. Jonas finds her attractive and has an imitate dream about her. Fiona is incapable of feeling any strong emotion for Jonas. 

Larissa 

An older woman living at the House of the Old, where Jonas goes to volunteer. She, like all the older men and women, is looking forward to her death or release. Jonas bathes her, and she expresses a fondness for gossip. At one point, she tells him about two people who were released recently. 

The Chief Elder 

The Chief Elder is the elected leader of the community. She’s affectionate with the children, remembering each of their names at the Ceremony. 

Roberto 

An elderly man who was released from the community. His name is given to a newchild. 

Fritz 

An awkward child who lives next to Jonas’s family. He often gets in trouble but takes part in the December Ceremony, where he receives a bicycle. 

Rosemary 

The Giver’s daughter who was selected before Jonas to become the next Receiver of Memory. She asked to be released or killed, after starting her training and learning the secrets that the Community keeps from everyone else. 

Caleb 

Caleb is a young child who died at four-years-old when he fell into a river. At the December Ceremony, the child’s parents are given a new “Caleb” to replace the boy who died. 

About Emma Baldwin

Emma Baldwin, a graduate of East Carolina University, has a deep-rooted passion for literature. She serves as a key contributor to the Book Analysis team with years of experience.

Cite This Page

Baldwin, Emma " The Giver Character List 📖 " Book Analysis , https://bookanalysis.com/lois-lowry/the-giver/characters/ . Accessed 9 April 2024.

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News Obituaries | Albert ‘Al’ W. Laisy, CSX lawyer who…

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News obituaries | key bridge collapse updates: gov. wes moore defends speed of federal action after sen. ted cruz said china would move faster, news obituaries, news obituaries | albert ‘al’ w. laisy, csx lawyer who represented the company before federal regulators, dies.

Albert “Al” W. Laisy, a retired CSX Corp. lawyer who was the lead counsel on many cases before the federal agency charged with regulating the railroad industry, died of congestive heart failure March 23 at the Broadmead retirement community in Cockeysville. The former Bel Air resident was 92.

“Albert was very smart, well-educated, hardworking and knowledgeable,” said E. Ray Lichty, a retired CSX executive. “He was a mentor to many of the new lawyers not familiar with the idiosyncrasies of railroad law. He had a very good sense of humor, preferring one-liners to long, drawn-out stories.”

Peter J. Shudtz was vice president and general counsel when he retired in 2018 from CSX after 42 years in its legal department. “When I showed up, Al was a kind and wonderful mentor, especially when I was struggling to fit in,” Mr. Shudtz said. “He was a great intellect who had a probing mind. He was a wonderful team player who had a good sense of balance along with an infectious laugh.”

Albert Wade Laisy, son of Fred Laisy, whose Laisy Greenhouses was the largest provider of carnations in the Midwest, and his wife, Christine Laisy, a homemaker, was born and raised in North Olmsted, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland.

After graduating from North Olmsted High School, where he was captain of the football team, he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1954 in history from Yale University.

While at Yale he was a member of ROTC before joining the Army and serving two years at Fort Sill in Oklahoma as a member of an observation battalion.

Honorably discharged, he enrolled in law school at the University of Pennsylvania and obtained his degree in 1959.

He began his career in 1960 in the legal department of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, whose headquarters were in Baltimore.

After the B&O was merged into the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, forming  C&O/B&O in 1963, Mr. Laisy moved to the company’s headquarters in Cleveland.

He returned to Baltimore with the creation of the Chessie System, and later in 1980 when CSX was established.

During his career, Mr. Laisy — whose specialty was finance regulation cases — presided over numerous major cases for the B&O, Chessie System and CSX, Mr. Lichty said.

“Al played a major role in the creation of CSX,” he said. “His specialty was the operations of the Chessie System and the way the new CSX would work.”

“One case was the Chessie-Seaboard Coast Line merger application before the ICC [Interstate Commerce Commission, now the Surface Transportation Board]. Others included the abandonment of the Lake Michigan car ferries and the B&O’s car float operations on Staten Island in New York Harbor,” Mr. Shudtz said.

In the 1970s the railroad began abandonment proceedings to eliminate operation of the SS Badger and SS Spartan, which constituted its Lake Michigan car ferry fleet, due to increasing costs of maintenance, labor and fuel. In 1983, after the ICC denied its request, the railroad sold the service to a private operator.

“He holds the informal record for the longest abandonment case before the ICC which was denied, and included multiple hearings in Michigan, Wisconsin cities and Washington,” Mr. Lichty wrote in a biographical profile of Mr. Laisy.

Mr. Laisy also laid the legal groundwork for the car ferry system to be sold to a private individual, with the Badger still sailing as a car-truck ferry.

“Anyone who knew Al really liked him and you always really wanted him on your team,” Mr. Shudtz said.

One of Mr. Laisy’s last assignments before retiring in 1994, was handling all of the legal work for Energy Resources and Logistics, the private electrical power generation arm of CSX.

“It was truly a privilege to have worked with Al,” Mr. Shudtz wrote in an email. “A true giver of advice and support who never failed to do his best for the railroad and for all his colleagues.”

After taking early retirement, he established a solo practice in Bel Air which he described in an autobiographical note as “spills, wills and bills and some codicils.”

In 1957, he married the former Emily Sawders, and during their Baltimore years they lived in Bolton Hill. When he was transferred to Cleveland, they resided in Shaker Heights.

Both shared a love of old houses and antiques and purchased Bon Air, a home that was built in 1794 by a Frenchman, Claudius Frederick Francis de la Porte, a merchant and ship owner, who had fled Santo Domingo after a rebellion and settled in Bel Air.

The couple spent years restoring the house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and had suffered from years of benign neglect.

In his autobiographical notes, Mr. Laisy described it as a “money pit.”

Mr. Laisy, who was the laird of the Highland Society of Harford County, hosted an annual Bagpipes and Beer Party at Bon Air. He was also a member of the St. Andrews Society.

The couple moved to Broadmead 14 years ago.

Mrs. Laisy, who was the owner of Promotion Network, a media service for publishers whose authors go on book tours, died in 2016.

At Mr. Laisy’s request, no services will be held. He willed his body to the Maryland Anatomy Board.

Survivors include a son, Christopher B. Laisy of Knoxville, Tennessee; a daughter, Stephanie A. “Nonnie” Laisy, of Towson; and a grandson.

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