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.