This is a story about a boy named Jonas who
lives in a somewhat sheltered community.
Jonas lives with his Father, a newborn caretaker,
his Mother, a judge of some kind, and his
younger sister, Lily, an imaginative girl
who asks a lot of questions.
This community regards age as extremely important,
tracking each boy and girl with various labels
based on their age.
Because Jonas is turning twelve, he will be
assigned his job.
And while his friends and peers are assigned
regular jobs in the community, he is selected
to be The Receiver, a prestigious position
that must learn and keep the memories of the
past.
He begins training with the previous Receiver,
The Giver.
The Giver is an old man who is wise and tired.
The Giver begins transferring memories from
the past to Jonas through touch.
At first this is exciting because he experiences
things like snow and color, which are absent
from this community.
However, The Giver then transfers memories
of pain and other negative images, which hurt
Jonas.
After contemplating what to do with this knowledge,
Jonas decides to take a newborn, Gabriel,
with him and run from the community.
He eventually makes it to society, where he
is greeted by the sight of brightly decorated
homes.
And while there are elements of the supernatural
- the passing of memories - the somewhat utopian/dystopian
society established in the story is a topic
of important discussion.
The community in the story feels no sense
of emotion, color, feeling, or remorse.
And while our current society is not as blatant
in these absences, we can, still today, feel
the lack of those same things.
Color seems to be an important characteristic
in this story.
The majority of the community sees the world
in a literal and figurative gray tone.
Also, the use of red appears several times
in the story - the apple, a girl's hair, flowers.
This story presents a scary scenario where
a community decides the lifestyle of individuals
and individuals have no real choice.
Does it sound familiar?
