The Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowery

Novel for Children Ages 9-12

5 Out of 5 Stars

As Jonas is approaching the Ceremony of 12, where he is given his career assignment, he has no idea what the future has in store for him. Little does he know that he is about to receive all of the memories of the time before Sameness and that his new knowledge will lead him to flee from his community in order to allow the life of choice, love, and freedom to return to his people once again.

The Giver represents a phenomenal book that teaches a valuable lesson to people of all ages. The literary elements help to bring this book to life. The place of the story becomes more and more developed as the story unfolds. The community of Sameness is just what the title states, all the same. No color exists; nobody has a birthday, only a year category until they hit their twelfth year; each family unit consists of a mother, father, and a maximum of two children which are not conceived by the mother and father; choice is not an option, your spouse, children, job, home décor, and food is all chosen for you. All of the characters in this story stay the same except for Jonas, the main character of the story. Since Jonas is the only dynamic character in the story, he has a large impact on his community full of citizens who are all the same. Similar to this fact of Jonas being the only dynamic character comes the reasoning for the story to be told in third person limited. Since Jonas is the main character and the only character that grows throughout the story, it makes sense to have the story told only through the view of Jonas. Symbolism is another huge part of this story. The color red represents the intense feelings of fire, passion, and anger. Jonas learns about all of these feelings during his time with the Giver. He also learns to see the fiery red hair of the girl, Fiona, which he is attracted to. The sled represents another symbol as it not only is the first memory ever given to Jonas, it also represents his experiences of being the Receiver. The baby Gabriel is another important symbol in the story. Gabriel represents hope for the future because of the fact that he is a baby, he is receptive to the memories that Jonas transmits to him, unlike anyone else in his community who has grown accustom to the life of Sameness. Also, Gabriel represents the change that Jonas wants to bring to the world. Once Jonas heard that Gabriel was going to be released, only because he did not sleep at night, Jonas knew he must save him, so he chose to risk his own life, change the premade escape plans, and flee with Gabriel in hopes of reaching the community of Elsewhere. Jonas did not want to settle for the release of babies like Gabriel, so he wanted to change that on top of many other things. All of the other literary elements can be found in The Giver but they all tie together into the ones already stated to make this novel as well written as it is.

If I am allowed to read this book with my future class of students, I most definitely will. The life lessons that this book teaches its readers are wonderful. Anyone who reads this book will really learn to appreciate the small things that our world has to offer. For example, halfway through the story, Jonas begins to discover that the world really is not black and white, but that it has color. What a beautiful thing color is, imagine a world without it. How terrible! Also, the idea of choice is something that all readers should learn to appreciate. Because the people in Sameness are not allowed to make any choices for themselves, readers learn how important it is to appreciate their ability to make choices and learn that they should make their choices wisely since it is a privilege that not everyone gets to exercise. While reading this book with a group of students, I would have a lot of discussion time put in place in order for students to share their feelings and interpretations of the story. I would also probably implement a writing assignment or two into the readings as well in order for students to share what they have learned and what they think life would be like if our country implemented a form of Sameness. All in all, this book was a spectacular read, even with the controversial topics within it, and I would like to share it with many other people.