The Giver

Not gonna lie, I tend to judge books by their covers. The Giver has a boring, grey cover with a creepy old man's face on it. Not exactly the most intriguing cover. However, it turned out to be better than I expected. When I opened the page, I was dropped into a world where some higher source made all you choices for you. A world where there are no colors, races, or feelings. The people do not know words like color, or rain, or love. They believe in "precision of language". When Jonah, the main character, asks his parents, “Do you love me?” they are appalled! They tell him that he must not speak with such vague language. He should use more appropriate words like, “Do you enjoy my company?” or “Do you take pride in my accomplishments?” They have no idea what they are missing out on. Those in charge do not want anyone to remember a time where they were given this freedom, because people may want it back, and they may try to rebel. And that would be too dangerous. So they took all of the memories from “back and back and back...” and gave them all to one man. The Giver. He holds memories of concepts these people cannot understand.

But, little Jonah, a mere Twelve, is learning more and more every day.  The day he became a Twelve he was assigned a job. Unlike his peers, his job was unique. He was not chosen as Care Taker of the Old, like his friend, Leona, or The Administer of Recreational Games, like his buddy Asher or a Nurturer like his father. He was chosen as The Receiver. He was to receive all of the memories from, “back and back and back...” This job was chosen for him after years of consideration, because last time, ten years ago, there was a mistake. The little Twelve, Rosemary was chosen. However, she could not handle the pain from all of these memories, so she fled. She applied to be “released”. When Rosemary was released, all of the memories she had were exposed and open to the public. The citizens couldn’t handle it.

Jonah is told that being released is when you are injected, and put to sleep. No other citizen is aware of this, but the only reason Jonah is told is because he is training to be the Receiver. The Giver passes on his memories to Jonah one by one, passing on his knowledge as well. It occurs to Jonah that if he, gains all of the memories and then escapes into the unknown land, that all of the citizens will need the Giver to help them. They will be able to experience happiness, love, as well as sadness and grief. Should Jonah risk his life to achieve his goal? There world is nothing like ours, that is for sure. But, is it better or is it worse??