Giver-an
Analysis of the Community in “The Giver“, combined with a characterization of Jonas and, referring to both parts, the reasons why he was selected to be the Receiver of Memory.
According to Part I, chapters 1-8
I. Analysis of the Community
What the reader learns about the Community in the first chapter is that it is a world seeming perfectly in order. This can be seen in the way the people react when the single-pilot jet flies too low, too close to them: they are startled, frightened and worried by this extraordinary and perilous event, because such things happen very rarely and the people are not used to them, as in the Community normally everything is as it should be.
Furthermore, it is said that the Community has its rules and that they, as well as the instructions given out through loudspeakers, are to be considered with utmost obedience unless one wants to be punished: in p.9, l.
24, the text talks about people reacting “obediently“, and it is said that the pilot who by accident shocked the Community people will be rebuked. The loudspeaker voice makes an ironical joke to calm the people down: it says the pilot will be released.
Release is “a terrible punishment, an overwhelming statement of failure“ (p.10, l.15f.) which involves the culprite being outcast from the Community forever and not having the opportunity to return.
However, it is also used to get rid of children who are not healthy or don't grow quickly enough to be able to live in the world, and it is applied to the Old, who have well and fully lived lives behind them. The meaning of this term as a punishment is so extreme that the people aren't allowed to use it in public. If one doesn't obey this rule, he has to apologize.
This is the next important feature of the Community: if one doesn't obey disciplinary rules or commits a minor offense, he has to apologize formally in public. If a pupil, for example, is late for lesson, he has to recite a “standard apology phrase“ (p.11, l.
4).
Having to apologize when offending a rule is but one example of how generally formal this world is. Another example for this are the rituals which the people use or have to do, among them the “evening telling of feelings“ (p.12, l.3), which means the members of a family unit - families are called like this in The Giver! - tell each other of their feelings every day at a fixed time. They have to explain their emotions to their families, and there is the rule that keeping one's feelings hidden at this ritual is not allowed.
This ritual is also an example for the second important characteristic this world has: people are not allowed to decide about their lives themselves, but have to obey the Elders, a sort of important political committee. Most important of all, the citizens may neither choose their spouses nor their professions themselves, but get them assigned by the Elders, to make sure they are the right ones and are useful for the community. Besides, also the children are not made by the couples theirselves, but by birthmothers, women whose profession is to make babies or, as they are formally called in this world, newchildren. The people themselves don't have sexual or erotic emotions because they suppress them by purpose: when a young boy or girl has such feelings - they are called “The Stirrings“ - for the first time and tells this at the ritual of feelings- or dream-telling, his or her parents tell them to take “the pill“, a medicine which turns down those emotions. If a couple wants a child they have to give in a formal application for it. There is a rule which says every family may have one boy and one girl or, to adapt The Giver's language, one male and one female.
Exceptions to this rule require special applications.
Another important feature of The Giver's Community is the development of children. After a child is born by a Birthmother, it is kept in a Nurturing home and supplied by Nurturers working there for one year before it is assigned to its family unit. After this year the Ceremony of One takes place: the newchild is presented to ist future parents and given its name (by the Elders, not by its parents!). After then, each year it passes one further Ceremony, each of them being a sort of collective birthday and an official sign of development. The most important ones are the Ceremony of Nine, at which the girls get rid of their hair ribbons and all children are presented their bicycles (which are very important in the Community as there are no cars), and, most significant of all, the Ceremony of Twelve, at which all of the children are assigned their future professions.
Summarizingly, you can say The Giver's world is a very formally ordered one in which every person and every thing is in its place and fulfills its function or purpose. However, the people are treated hard and their personal freedom is restricted to achieve this state. One could think this resulted in too little individuality, but that in my opinion is not the case: when preparing the Assignments, for example - the professions the citizens will have to learn and carry out for the rests of their lives - the Elders in particular think about the qualities each person has and decide according to these qualities which Assignment is the right one. What, however, suffers is the personal freedom of the people, which I think is at any rate necessary. People must decide theirselves whether and who they want to marry and which profession they want to learn, because man has to care about and is responsible for his own life and not for the good of his Community.
II.
Characterization of Jonas
Jonas is the protagonist in the novel “The Giver“. He is eleven years old and lives in the Community together with his family unit, consisting of his mother, his father, his little sister Lily and himself.
The first thing the reader learns about Jonas is that he is “careful about language“. This is said on page 10, line 29, but can also be seen in the way he searches for the right adjective to describe his emotions concerning the Ceremony of Twelve and the receiving of his assignment: he finds several words which fit, but searches for an adjective which includes all of them. That he finds it can be seen as an indication for him not only paying attention to, but also knowing much about language and being able to handle it well.
That Jonas thinks carefully about language is just a part of his probably most important feature: he thinks carefully about everything as he is thoughtful.
This characteristic can be seen in many of the actions Jonas carries out in the first chapters. For example, in lines 20f. on page 13, he thinks about the feelings of his sister Lily and realizes his feelings must have been quite similar when he was her age.
Another important indication for Jonas' thoughtfulness is the way he acts when his father brings the newchild Gabriel home: he pays attention to its appearance, particularly to its pale eyes, and gets to the opinion that they are beautiful. Then he realizes that he has similarly extraordinary eyes and feels proud.
A further indication for Jonas being thoughtful is the way he talks to Larissa in the House of the Old.
He is interested in how the Ceremony of Release exactly takes place and what it means. This means he thinks about things he doesn't know and therefore is a bit curious.
The reason for all this might be found on page 45. In the lines 12f. The text says Jonas had always been a little more mature than many of his mates because he was born early in the year. This might be the cause for this quality of his.
This quality also shows itself at the rituals at which Jonas has to tell his family unit about his feelings or dreams. If they are complicated and he is not sure what they mean he would rather keep them for himself and find their reasons by deliberating instead of discussing them “in public“.
Combined with his thoughtfulness Jonas has another characteristic: the tendency to look into the future and make prognoses. This can be seen in the way he thinks about his father and Lily: he knows exactly what each of them will or would normally do next, for example he “noticed to his satisfaction that her ribbons were, as usual, undone and dangling“ (p. 25, l. 7f.
).
This is also to be seen as an indication for the next quality of Jonas': he has a strong feeling for things being at the right place or in general running in the right way. This can be seen in the way he behaves at the Ceremony of Twelve: he is certain about everyone getting the right Assignment (p.44, l.21f.) and repeatedly reassures his friend Asher, who doubts this and allows himself to be influenced by rumors which are the contradiction to Jonas' opinion.
Another proof for this quality of Jonas' is the way he reacts when the Chief Elder seemingly forgets to read out his Assignment: he is extremely shocked, irritated and dismayed, he gets dazed and nervous, and he thinks it was his fault and he had done something wrong as not everything runs in its usual and proper way.
Resumingly, you can say Jonas is a very thoughtful and intelligent boy who spends a lot of his time deliberating and thinking about his surroundings and himself, trying to do everything right and properly, also trying to make prognoses for the future, and being inclined to think everything should run the way it always was and in no other way.
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