The Giver Theme Blog

Jonas is a dynamic character and the reason why he’s dynamic is because in the beginning of the story the only thing he cared about was the job he’s gonna get. Later on During the ceremony he was skipped and was embarrassed about it. When Chief Elder Stood up and hold Jonas’s arm he then announces “You will be trained to be our next Receiver of Memory. We thank you for your childhood”(64). Jonas was surprised and confused when he heard this. He didn't know why he was chosen as the receiver of memories. Soon time went by and Jonas proceeds to visit and meet The Giver for the first time. Soon he began his training. During the his training The Giver decided to share his memories with Jonas. He experienced lots of things such as snow, Holidays and even sled riding. The moment he changed was when Jonas experienced the Memory of war… He was traumatized to see what was happening. When Jonas and his friends were playing a game of war it says “In his mind, Jonas found the face of the boy who had lain dying on a. Field and had begged him for water”(134). During the game of war it also talks about Jonas “Struggling not to cry”(134). This shows that Jonas changed from the story. In the beginning he did not feel emotions but now that he thought about the boy dying in the memory of war he started to feel more emotional about the stuff that's happening around him.

The theme for the book The Giver is “looking through the past can create wisdom (memories)” I think that this is the theme because when Jonas first got the memories he realised that his community is a dead and crucial place. When Jonas found out about the memory of war it talks about how traumatized Jonas was after he first seen the experience of war. Soon when Jonas and his friends were playing a game of war it says “In his mind, Jonas had saw the face of the boy who had laid dying on a field and had begged him for water”(134).  This shows that Jonas finds out that war is wrong and that he and his friends shouldn’t be playing around about it.Jonas experienced a lot during his memories. Another reason memory creates wisdom is when Jonas realised that release meant to kill. When his father killed the newborn with the syringe filled with liquid Jonas started to scream that his father just killed a baby for an unfair reason. When Jonas then found out that Gabriel is getting released the next day. Jonas then realised that the memories were the cause of this and decided to take Gabriel with him to change his community. When Jonas fell of the bike it then sees a waterfall for the first time and wildlife. When he arrived it then says “Plane!, Plane! Gabriel called, and Jonas turned swiftly into the trees.”(172) This shows that Jonas experienced this before and since The Giver gave Jonas the memories including some of his he remembers about the plane he saw in the beginning of the book. That's why I think this is the theme for The Giver