COMMENCE

Jonas sees a fighter jet flying over the community “the wrong way.” A speaker announces that
the pilot will be released from the community, and we learn that release is basically capital
punishment- like today’s death sentence, being expelled from the community and forced to live
“Elsewhere.” Jonas ruminates this.

At Jonas’ house that night, we learn that the “Ceremony of Twelve,” where Jonas receives his
Assignment, basically his job for the rest of his life, is coming up. “The Telling of Feelings”
commences, and we hear how his sister/dad/mother felt that day; there is a very measured
atmosphere even by his seven (soon to be eight) year old sister. Jonas’ father also says there’s
a child named Gabriel who may be deemed Insufficient and released from the community.

We also learn about newchildren, and the circumstances for release in this chapter: having
three infractions (crimes) against you, being deemed unfit to enter the community as a newchild,
or being released as an old person. Due to the creators of this community’s drive for
assimilation, if people are unfit in any way, they will be released.

Next, the book mentions selection, a process carried out by the elders. Elevens (people twelve
and under, in plural form, are referred to by their age) are watched in secret, and the council
votes on who gets what assignment, or job. At the Ceremony of Twelve, these are announced.
Jonas is apprehensive about this-what if he gets a selection he doesn’t want? The family takes
Gabriel in, signing petitions agreeing not to get too attached and exceed the child limit. He
seems incredibly calm around Jonas, but not so good when separated.

Then, Jonas starts his last hours of volunteer work at the House of the Old, where he bathes a
woman named Larissa, and talks to her about the release about some of the other elderly
people, ceremonies of celebration and a life well-lived.

After, that night, Jonas experiences a dream that would technically be against the community
rules if it happened in real life; the type of dream will not be specified in this, but the official
name for it is “The Stirrings.” Jonas’ mother quickly gets medicine specifically for it, and from the
chapter “very briefly, a little guiltily, he tried to grasp it back. But the feelings had disappeared.
The Stirrings were gone.”

A day later, the Ceremony of Twelve occurs. Jonas is nervous about his assignment, since this
determines his job for the rest of his life until he enters the House of the Old. As he sits in his
chair, numbered with his ID number (another sign something’s off in this place) they go “number
eighteen,” (the one before Jonas) but then skip his name. Jonas thinks he has accredited the
social stigma not to be selected- to be a Laborer as they go through the names with no trace of
his, until, after, the announcer says Jonas has been selected for a rare and important job: the
Receiver of Memory.
Jonas then meets the Giver, an old, jaded man, and the rules are told-most things he couldn’t
do before. He can now lie, ask anything of any citizen, and is exempt from any rules regarding
rudeness. But he cannot apply for release from the community, and may not receive any
medication (e.g a miraculous, immediate, potent painkiller deemed relief-of pain) related to any
pain that may be inflicted due to his training.

The Giver transmits the first memory to Jonas; memories are transmitted by physical contact,
and the memory is of sledding on a snowscape; things like this are unknown to the community.

As his training progresses, The Giver transmits the first painful memory: sunburn. With so much
medicine available, pain and death is rare in the community. Jonas also learns to see the color
red. For all others, everything is colorless. Nothing like that matters to them. (Pictures on the
timeline from here will no longer be black and white.)

With even more progression, Jonas learns about love. When he asks his parents about it,
though, they mildly chastise him for precision of language (which is apparently a big thing in the
community.)

But things only get darker after this. Jonas knows his father has had the birth of two identical
twins; as is tradition, one must be released. Jonas tells the Giver, and as Jonas speculates, the
Giver remains uncomfortably silent. The Giver asks if he would like to see the release; Jonas
says yes. This is when we learn that release, for the young, old, criminals, and those with
applications to be released, is not release to Elsewhere; it is a lethal injection. With this, the
Giver explains that the reason he can’t apply is that this is what happened to the last Receiver
who couldn’t take it. The Giver grieved for her when she died was executed, and Jonas decides
he must escape from the community.

Since Gabriel, the child from earlier, has finally been given up on, Jonas decides to take him on.
He grabs his father’s assigned bicycle, and sets off, and after an elaborate escape plan with the
Giver telling everybody Jonas drowned, he makes it out. Through trials and tribulation, he rides.
He gets very hungry and thirsty through these times and occasionally finds natural sources of
food and water (he also packed food and water for him and Gabriel.)

Finally, the last part is here. On top of a snowy hill, with a sled. Just like the memory the Giver
gave him. He’s incredibly cold, and the story ends with him hearing faint music, and not knowing
whether it came from where he’s going, or where he came if he circled. The book ends here
with, by the author’s word, “intentionally ambiguous final paragraphs,” giving two possible
endings: Jonas and Gabriel either freeze to death, or make it to Elsewhere. All we can do is
speculate on this, as no definite ending has been provided by Lois Lowry on the topic;