The Giver

Lowry, L. (1993). The giver . Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

 

The Giver appears on the list of 100 Most Challenged Books because of the issue of euthanasia.  It is also a Notable Book for Children and a Newbery Medal Winner.

 

Summary:

Jonah lives in a society where "sameness" is valued, and pain and emotion has been eliminated.  At the age of 12, every child is assigned a job.  Jonah is selected to be the Receiver of Memory.  The receiver of memory holds all of the memories from the past.  The Giver is the previous receiver of memory and he meets with Jonah to transfer all of the memories to him. Jonah begins to learn about all the things that have been eliminated from his world, such as beauty, joy, pain, violence, love, sadness, etc.  In Jonah's society, people who are different, or who have become a burden to the society (ex. elderly), are released.  Jonah believes this means that they are sent somewhere else to live.  As the Receiver, Jonah gets to witness the release of a baby.  He is horrified to learn that they kill the baby with a lethal injection.  During Jonah's training, his family take care of a baby named Gabriel.  Gabriel does not sleep through the night, so they give him some extra time to try to assimilate him into their society.  Jonah becomes attached to Gabriel and learns that Gabriel can receive memories from him.  He later learns that Gabriel has been chosen for release since he still does not sleep soundly.  Jonah takes Gabriel and escapes the community. As he does so, he releases all of the memories to the members of the community.  It is uncertain whether Jonah and Gabriel survived.  At the end of the book, Jonah is freezing, but thinks he hears music in the distance.

 

Personal Reaction:

I really enjoyed The Giver.  I can see why it was a challenged book, since many of the themes may be too advanced for some younger readers.  However, I feel that it is a well-written book that explores moral issues in a subtle way.  The author uses understatement to allow the reader to come to their own conclusions about Jonah's world.  It seems like the perfect place to live, but as Jonah becomes more aware of the things that are happening around him, the reader sees that things are not as perfect as they seem.  Sure, the people of the community are free from pain and suffering, but they are also missing out on beauty, love, and joy.  They are missing out on the things that make life worth living.  My only criticism would be the ambiguous ending.  I like to think that Jonah and Gabriel made it to safety, but the book leaves this unresolved.