Monday, March 28, 2011

Lit. Circle Blogpost #4



"Gabriel's breathing was even and deep. Jonas liked having him there, though he felt guilty about the secret. Each night he gave memories to Gabriel: memories of boat rides and picnics in the sun: memories of soft rainfall against windowpanes; memories of dancing bare-footed on a damp lawn.


"Gabe?"


The new child stirred slightly in his sleep, Jonas looked over at him.


"There could be love" Jonas whispered.






The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away".






I will start of by describing the book The Giver. It is a thrilling book and defiantly on my top 5 books list. I have been lucky enough to have read this book and I think that this quote is just a small bit of the wonderful book, The Giver.






I will start of by defining the two key words. Freedom and choice. Here is a official definition of freedom: Freedom

Definition




[C or U] the condition or right of being able or allowed to do, say, think, etc. whatever you want to, without being controlled or limited






Here is a official definition of choice: Choice


Definition


[C or U] an act or the possibility of choosing


In a way these to words are very similar. They both deal about being independent. Jonas shows a lot of independence as he gets training from The Giver which means The Giver has made him a more confident/independent person.






The quote above relates to the word freedom because Jonas is explaining to Gabriel that he has the freedom of love and Jonas has been able to have a amazing training from The Giver which no one else can experience and this has taught him much more about freedom. This is portrayed a lot in chapters 16~18. Freedom is a very powerful thing and we are lucky to have freedom but imagine you lived in a community like Jonas's of course if you would learn about freedom you would react like Jonas did. Freedom is a huge part of peoples lives they should have the freedom to do whatever they want to do and in Jonas's community he doesn't that is way he runs away from his childhood taking a risk. I think that with his knowledge of freedom he will do great things in life and I really think that his knowledge on freedom is expressed in chapters 16~18.






The quote above and chapters 16~18 illustrate the relationship between Jonas and choice. Now that Jonas is close to being The Receiver he has a whole new life in front of him because he has more choice in life. He can choose weather he wants the speaker on or off. He can always ask someone a question and he can lie. I think that Jonas has more opportunities and more freedom if he gets to chose between what he wants and the communities. He also has the choice of giving other people memories like he does in the quote above. He gives Gabriel happy memories so he can calm him down. Jonas did this secretly so in a way he was lying which is apart of his rule. He is allowed lie. Now that he has more choices he can choose if he wants to lie or not to lie and he is experimenting with that right now and this means that he is taking risks. I think that choice is a huge part of Jonas's life now.






In chapters 16~18 Jonas experiments and knows more about two key things in life, freedom and choice. Also in the quote above he demonstrates this.


Here are some pictures of the two main motto's Jonas lives on. Choice and Freedom:




























Sources: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/choice_1


http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/freedom


clipartheaven.com


worldinconversation.org

Monday, March 21, 2011

Monday, March 14, 2011

The Giver Blogpost #2

The Giver by Lois Lowry is a book that can take your mind to another world. I am lucky enough to be reading it right now. When you start reading it you never want to stop. I am slowly falling in love with this book for many reasons. It has so much control over you which brings me to the point were Jonas (the main character) is getting his first few weeks of training by The Giver. In these weeks of training the Giver is giving Jonas his memories and Jonas is taken into a totally different world. Jonas lives in a community where everything is plain and boring. Jonas discovers that the world actually has color in it, and he discovers new weather such as cold icy weather and snow. Jonas is liking his assignment as The Receiver of Memory. He does suffer from one thing. Since he is The Receiver of Memory it says in the rules that he has to have his training alone, away from everyone else and he must not talk about his training with anyone, not even his family. This means that he feels left out and he doesn't really have time for his friends anymore. This makes Jonas a little upset. He still hangs out with his friends but he spends most of his time with The Giver. There are so many questions that lie behind this book, but the one that strikes forth to me is: Why does Jonas find the instruction about lying so disturbing?

Jonas was raised as a good boy and now since he is the Receiver of Memory he got his folder of instructions. One of them being "You may lie". This startles Jonas because he is so used to always telling the truth since this is how he was raised. For Jonas this opens many new doors because he can say whatever he wants to to his parents, sister, friends etc. I know that this will take a lot of getting used to for Jonas because he was taught by the rules of the community and one of them was not to lie. Now it has completely changed. I think this is a type of diversion since a new road has opened and Jonas has a new perspective in life. Jonas dives into a new world which he is not to sure yet if he likes or dislikes. I think Jonas finds the instruction about lying so disturbing because he is not yet come across the thought of lying to his family or friends and he doesn't want to hurt their feelings. If they find out he is lying to them they will trust him no longer and that is why he doesn't want to lie to his friends and family. The Giver told Jonas that he can lie but Jonas hasn't yet because he hasn't had that feeling of telling a lie yet so he doesn't know what response will be thrown at him after he has told the lie. These are passages from the book that prove that Jonas finds the instruction of lying disturbing:
"
Jonas
Receiver of Memory
1. Go immediately at the end of school hours each day to the Annex entrance behind the House of the Old and present yourself to the attendant.
2. Go immediately to your dwelling at the conclusion of Training Hours each day.
3. From this moment on you are exempted from rules governing rudeness. You may ask any question of any citizen and you will receive answers.
4. Do not discuss your training with any other members of the community, including parents and Elders.
5. From this moment you are prohibited from dream-telling.
6. Except for illness or injury unrelated to your training, do not apply for any medication.
7. You are not permitted to apply for release.
8. You may lie.

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, now? The simple logistic instructions -- where to go, and when -- were expected. Every twelve had to be told, of course, where and how and when to report for training. But he was a little dismayed that his schedule left no time, apparently, for recreation."

Page 68-69 of The Giver by Lois Lowry

These are the passages where Jonas looks at his new rules and his reaction to them. He is stunned and has many questions about his new rules. Jonas wants to try his best for a good training and with his new rules he has a lot of getting used to. The last rule from the 8 rules is, "You may lie" and this is the one rule that really strikes at Jonas. He is so used to not lying and with this new rule he has a new life in front of him. I am not sure if Jonas will stick with the community rules and not lie or if he will use the new rule and lie. I guess to find out I need to continue the thrilling book of The Giver.


On my point of view lying is not always a good thing but not always a bad. There will be situations in life where you will have to lie and those will always stride forth, but there are situations in life where you can choose if you want to lie or not. If you have the choice and you choose to lie then you are portraying yourself as a bad person. These cases are usually because someone wants something or did something bad and does not want to admit it. When someone starts to lie and that persons friends or family find out that person is no longer trusted and that persons friends or family will not tell him/her any more secrets.





This is the punishment of a liar: he is not believed, even when he speaks the truth.




"LIES AND LYING Quotes, Sayings and Quotations." Love Quotes | Quotes about Love | Cute Love Quotes | Sweet Love Quotes - Top 10 - Top 100 Love Quotes. Web. 14 Mar. 2011. .

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The Giver Blogpost #1

In humanities I have been reading the book "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. It is a book about a boy who lives in a community which has very strict rules and decides everything for everyone. When kids become twelves, they get assigned a job. Jonas is the boy, and his assignment is the Receiver of Memory. That is a very important job and it is a honour to be chosen for this position. Jonas goes through some complicated times. He feels left out, since it says in the rules that he must stay away from everyone else while he is in training. This is very upsetting for Jonas. That was a little summary about the book.

Would you want your future to be decided by others ? Why or Why not?

In my opinion I would not like to have my future decided by others. I think it is important that everyone has a chance to choose what they want to do in life and they can be free. I like independent people and if you live in a community like Jonas's you will not be able to do independent things and most importantly be independent. As a child you might not realize how much freedom you have and when your older you don't want to loose it, and thats why I think it is extremely important for people to be free and independent.

I think a lot of people fall for these type of things and then they get stuck and can never come out again. In the moving on ceremonies everything is structured and planned exceptionally well and straight forward.

"He was calm now that his turn had come. He took a deep breath and smoothed his hair with his hand.
"Twenty," he heard her voice say clearly, "Pierre."
She skipped me, Jonas thought, stunned. Had he heard wrong? No. There was a sudden hush in the crowd, and he knew the entire community realized that the Chief Elder had moved from Eighteen to twenty, leaving a gap. On his right, Pierre, with a startled look, rose from his seat and moved to the stage.
A mistake. She made a mistake. But Jonas knew, even as he had the thought, that she hadn't. The Chief Elder made no mistakes. Not at the Ceremony of Twelve."

Page 57 of The Giver by Lois Lowry

This passage proves that something has gone wrong and Jonas thinks that the Chief of Elder but actually he is the Receiver of memory and that is such a special job that she has to singly point him out to the community and Jonas is very surprised.