Memories Towards Differences

Summary

Jonas, the next morning, after his first day of training, ate quietly and did not share the dream he had........ he just obeyed the rules to not share dreams and to lie! And Jonas feels, well, different, of some sort, mostly because he knows memories and past things that happened, and is not allowed to share it to anyone.  After school, Jonas and Fiona went to training hours together, when suddenly, BAM!  Fiona's hair changed, just like the apple, just like the people's faces in the community, just for an instant.  Jonas went to ask the Giver about this mysterious change, and the Giver told him to give the memory of snow back to him by touching the Giver's back and remembering the memory; when he did, the same thing happened to the sled! The Giver explained to Jonas that he was beginning to see color red...... how can someone NOT see colors! Its like, part of our daily lives, what happened to colors! This community just changed life in a weird, boring, life.  Why?  Anyway, the Giver then gives Jonas the memory of a rainbow, and soon, Jonas starts seeing the colors in his daily life; he even tried to give the memory to Asher, though his best friend didn't receive it, why? 
Later, he received many other memories, such as poaching, where he realized animal were real (why were there no animals), and that before, there were different skin colors.  He also received pain, a lot of pain, when he got a memory of a broken leg, and he felt awful; that's when he realized his community has never felt actual pain.  He also received the memory of hunger, and the Giver told him that once, when they asked his advice of increasing population, he said not to, because it could lead to overpopulation and eventually hunger.  He also learns that the Receiver can apply for a spouse, if he wanted to, just like the Giver, but that having a spouse was very difficult, since he had to hide many things from her.  Once Jonas got back home, he asked his parents if he could take care of Gabe during the night, and his parents agree.  But (the most interesting part of the chapter), when Gabe woke up in at midnight,  Jonas patted the baby´s back various times, and....... gave Gabe the memory of a sail in a lake! But he wasn't allowed to share memories! But he did, and he does not plan on telling the Giver about this incident.

Text Responses 

Though there were may impacting moments during these chapters, these two were the most important.

" 'What if they were allowed to choose their own mate? And chose wrong?' " (98).

Why is choosing bad a wrong decision? Isn't that part of life? Live and learn? People learn by making wrong decisions, and if they do learn...... why is it something bad? We know now that because of Sameness, the community has gotten rid of many characteristics of our daily lives, but it isn't fair that people cannot choose, and it is DEFINITELY not fair if someone thinks that their right to remain silent and not choose is right.  Yes, you choose wrong and something bad happens, but that's what mistake are for! People cant decide your decisions for you, you just choose. But with no decisions...... people here have a very, VERY small idea of what choosing and deciding things really is like.  No one can just simply take away colors, sunshine and snow, and just be like, "Oh, I'm now taking away a normal life for you, so you can live easier", like NO, people learn during life, people take risks during life, they face challenges during life. An easy life is a boring one; specially if you cant even choose to have a boring life. 


" He was not aware of giving the memory; but suddenly he realized that it was becoming dimmer, that it was sliding through his hand into the being of the newchild. " (116).

This isn't good for Jonas, clearly he broke the rule.  Jonas does not plan on telling the Giver about this incident, but, if someone finds out, what will happen to Jonas if people found out? He will probably be released, or be a great disappointment, like the other Receiver 10 years ago.  Jonas will be in great trouble once someone finds out but...... what about Gabe? He has the memory, will he still have it once he grows up? If he does, will he question the community, or ignore it, or see colors? This mistake Jonas just did can lead to great consequences in the future, but let's just hope nothing serious or terrible happens to Jonas, Gabe or the community.

Final Thoughts

These chapters have been really interesting, overall.   In the next chapters, I would like to know what could happen to Jonas if someone found out about the incident with Gabe, and if he will tell the Receiver about it or not.  And also, what will Gabe think about this memory and the accident, if he remembers it, though it's a little too early to think about that.  Jonas has had some painful, peaceful and happy memories, what will his next memory be about?  What is there for Jonas to learn - to remember -  next? And what will he think about it? But most importantly, how will he make sure something like what happened to Gabe doesn't happen again? 

The First Memories

Summary

         The chapters after the ceremony, chapters 9 through 11, we can view the day before training and Jonas´ first day of training. 
        After the ceremony, Jonas felt different, as he rode back with Asher to their dwellings.  All the Twelves passed by, happy and holding on to their folders, which they had received after receiving their Assignment.  But Jonas wasn't as happy as everyone else, and he was afraid that he might disappoint the Community, just like the previous Twelve assigned to be Receiver of Memory.  She was picked, but she let the Community down in a terrible way, in such a bad way, she was never seen again and her name can never be used again for a newchild nor can never be spoken again!  Later, Jonas went to his sleepingroom, where he opened his folder to see what was in it.  Inside, there was only one sheet of paper with strict rules about being Receiver of Memory.  Those rules made Jonas feel surprised, he knew that this would change his friendship, his life, his family time; but most of all, he was stunned about the last rule, "you may lie", since no one was allowed to lie, not even as an expression or if it was a small accident. 

The eight rules which surprised Jonas 
a lot, specially the last one

 The next day, Jonas rode to his training session with Fiona, and when he got there he saw something that he hadn't seen in the community: a door with a lock (probably to have more privacy than the rest).  As they let him in, Jonas kept observing the dwelling of the Receiver, it had so many books and other, new couches; it was definitely NOT like all the other dwellings in the community.  Then, the Receiver appeared, a man with light eyes and a greyish beard.  They both sat and the Receiver told Jonas that his training would consist in giving him memories and stories from past generations of the whole world.  Then, the Receiver passes Jonas' first memory: snow; Jonas lays down bare on a bed with a sheet, and the Receiver places his hands on his back. At first, Jonas only felt the hands of the Receiver in his back; but then, he felt cold, and soon, he saw snow.  It was as if he was part of the memory, he was amazed, and then, he went for a sled ride, which he enjoyed deeply. Once the memory was over, Jonas kept asking a lot of questions about the snow, and why was there no snow anymore.  Then, just like he did for the memory of snow, the Receiver gave Jonas the memory of sunlight and sunburn.  Jonas wanted to call the Receiver something other than Receiver, and then the old man gave Jonas the option of calling him the Giver.

Text Responses

This book was very interesting and had many moments that surprised me and got my attention.

"He leaned back, resting his head against the the back of the upholstered chair.  'It's the memories of the whole world,' he said with a sigh.  'Before you, before me, before the previous Receiver, and the generations before him'.  

Jonas frowned. 'The whole world?' he asked.  'I don't understand. Do you mean not just us? Not just the community? Do you mean Elsewhere, too?' ".  (77, 78).

I don't understand why do they need to pass memories to other generations, if it is just the past.  Maybe they pass old memories to other generations to make sure other generations don't make same mistakes like past generations. But their community, their society is already perfect for them.  Have they been perfect because the Receiver, knowing the mistakes from previous generations, made this community perfect? Also, I keep wondering about this community, how I think it is somewhat unfair for its citizens not to know other parts of their world, just their community and a few other communities, too.  Why can't they explore the outside world? Does someone, besides people that have been released, know what is Elsewhere?

" 'But what happened to those things? Snow, and the rest of it?'

'Climate Control.  Snow made food growing difficult, limited the agricultural periods.  An Unpredictable weather made transportation almost impossible at times.  It wasn't a practical thing, so it became obsolete when we went to Sameness.' ". (83, 84).

Jonas' first memory, snow, along with
the fun of sleds and hills

What does the Receiver (Giver) mean when he says Sameness? Does he mean....... they just got rid of it, of snow and hills? They just wanted life to be easier and more simple? It may be practical, to get rid of things that made living a little challenging, but isn't that part of life? Challenging obstacles and learning to live life? Maybe, just like the quote above, they transmit old memories so that citizens are thankful of what they have, and not question so much about their conditions of living. Or maybe, about Sameness, they get rid of things to make sure everyone views their life as perfect.  

A description of Jonas' perfect society,
once Sameness got rid of hills, snow and sunlight.

Final Thoughts

As a final thought, I think that Jonas may like his job and think it's better than what he expected, though he knows that their will be a lot of pain.  Maybe, with such curiosity Jonas has now for knowing the past memories, he will change things, in the community.  What will Jonas' next memory be? Will it be painful, or cheerful? I would also want to know what did the Receiver (Giver) mean, though it was in previous chapters, the quality Jonas already has, The Capacity to See Beyond.  Will Jonas finally know what it means during his training? Or will the changes he has seen so far - the apple and the people - be exposed to him again in another visit to train with the Giver? 

The Giver: Chapters 6-8

Summary

        In the previous chapters, 6 through 8, we view how the December ceremonies take place, and the important role Jonas will be playing in his Community.

       In the December ceremonies, every individual in the Community must assist.  While parents sat together in a huge hall, the children, from Ones to Elevens, sat together with their group until it was their turn to come up to the stage.  Children, when they sat in the stage, had to sit in order of their birth numbers.  Jonas, foe example, was number eleven-nineteen.  This was because first came the number of group based on their age, then their birth number.  First was the Naming ceremony where Nurturers, like Jonas's father, had to come up to the stage and the newborn children were handed to their new family.  Newborn children with growing problems, like Gabriel, the child Jonas's father was taking care of, were usually released, though Gabe was given an additional year.  That year in the December ceremonies, a couple got a child named Caleb, which would replace the old Caleb that had been lost near a river; loss is different than released, since a loss is very rare.  Then came the ceremonies of Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven and Eight. 

 The next day, came the ceremonies of Nine, Ten, Eleven, and Twelve, the day in which Jonas would receive his Assignment.  His group sat in order,  waiting for their Assignment, along with a small speech by the Chief Elder.  First, the Chief Elder gave an opening speech, reminding everyone that people shouldn't  point out differences and everyone is equal.  While everyone got their Assignments, Jonas was not named, and his number got skipped, from eighteen to twenty.

 Jonas was nervous, and though he did something wrong, but once everyone got their Assignments, the Chief Elder apologized.  She said that she didn't name Jonas because he was selected.  He was chosen to be the successor of the Receiver of Memory, because he had four qualities that any Receiver of Memory should have: intelligence, integrity, courage, and wisdom.  She also mentioned that the Receiver of Memory was a hard job, and that he should be set apart from the community to make the right decisions.  

Text Responses

"The entire community had performed a Ceremony of Loss together, murmuring the name Caleb throughout an entire day, less and less frequently, softer in volume, as the long and somber day went on, so that the little Four seemed to fade away gradually from everyone's consciousness.

Now, at this special Naming, the community performed the brief Murmur-of-Replacement Ceremony, repeating the name for the first time since the loss:softly and slowly at first, then faster and with greater volume, as the couple stood on stage with the newchild sleeping in the mother's arms." (44)

Here, we can view how the community views people.  This is the part where they replace a child they lost, but why replace someone?  I find it very rare that this community treats people like material objects you can just simply replace, but you cant replace a human, not when every human has their own personality.  Maybe, in this community you can replace individuals because everyone is equal and the same.  I also fins it odd the Ceremony of Loss, that they repeat the name over and over during the day until the boy just fades away.  And then, how people do the same thing in the Murmur-of-Replacement, but instead of lowering their voice, they raise it up.  It is as if they had brought Caleb back, as if he had never left, which I don't understand if this child isn't the old Caleb and cannot replace  such.  he is a new person, a different one.

"Then the Chief Elder moved ahead in her speech.

'This is the time,' she began, looking directly at them, 'when we acknowledge differences.  You Elevens have spent all your years till now learning to fit in, to standardize your behavior, to curb any impulse that might set you apart from the group.  

'but today, we honor your differences.They have determined your futures." (52)

Here, the Chief Elder reminds everyone that no one is different.  She states that everyone should fit in in the Community and to be like everyone else.  Throughout the book, I have questioned myself the same thing: what is so bad about differences in this community? Why is it not okay to fit in? In the real world, differences aren't pointed out as a weird thing.  In fact, it is differences which make us human! In school, I was thought that differences were good, not bad, and that people learn how to live with differences because that is how things are.  There is no such thing as a bad difference, and with differences, the world is NOT boring.  Maybe, in this community, because differences are not pointed out and every one is the same, that people just have to do like everybody else, and I don't think that is right.  I think it okay to not point out differences as a bad thing, but why so many rules about differences?

Final Thoughts

After reading the book, The Giver, I learn each time how people in this community live.  I am eager to find out how will Jonas prepare to be a Receiver of Memory.  Since the Receiver of Memory has to be set apart from the community, I wonder if Jonas will ever see his family and friends again, and how will the current Receiver of Memory treat Jonas.  Overall, this community is very strict and straightforward, and I hope Jonas makes good decisions throughout his training and years as a Receiver of Memory.  Since Jonas is curious, I hope he can answer my question about differences later on in the book.  If Jonas throughout the book, realizes that differences aren't as bad as they told him, I hope he changes some rules that, even though some people will disagree on, it would work for the better.  I also want to know what did the current Receiver of Memory mean by saying that Jonas had the Capacity to See Beyond.  Did they mean about the time that Jonas saw the apple change in mid-air?

The Giver: Chapters 1-5

Summary 

    Throughout the chapters 1 through 5 of the book "The Giver", the author has given us many details about Jonas, the main character, and his life in his Community.  
    The story begins with Jonas, an Eleven, talking about how he felt about the ceremony of Twelves in December.  He decided that he feels apprehensive, since he wasn't frightened, he said that he felt frightened when a plane was flying to close to the community and that the pilot was released.  During the evening tradition (sharing the feelings of the day), he explains to his family (his parents and his sister, Lily) how he felt about the upcoming ceremony; his father explains to him that during the ceremony he receives his Assignment and he also explains that he brought a newborn child from the Nurturing center to take care of him (the baby's name is Gabriel, but no one should no yet until the ceremony where the parents receive the child they asked for).  Later, his sister, who was a Seven, was talking on how Gabriel had light eyes, just like Jonas, though Jonas ignored it until he realized the newborn child did have lighter eyes than everyone there.  His mother starts talking to Lily about how a awful Assignment being a birth mother is, since they only give 3 births and then they do Labor work until they reach the House of the Old.  Jonas starts thinking about what Assignment should Lily be in, and decides she should be a Speaker, and give reminders, alerts and announcements to all the people in the community, that way no one gets embarrassed.  
   That afternoon, he started looking for his best friend, Asher, to complete their volunteer hours together; every individual from the community, from Eights to Twelve, have to complete special volunteer hours, wherever they want, to prevent a clouded future.  He finds that Asher and Fiona, another of Jonas's friend, are together in the House of the Old, which he later decided to join.  At the House of the Old, Jonas and his friends had to wash old people, where Jonas talked to Larissa, an Old, and found out that during the release of the Old, there is a big celebration with a lot of speeches and a big toast.  The next day, during the morning ritual of sharing dreams, Jonas tells his family that he had a dream about the House of the Old, and had a feeling of wanting Fiona to get in a tub with him, which he has found weird and new.  His mother explained to him that he had a Stirring, or a bad feeling (people there viewed it as a disease) and that it could go away if he took pills each day from now on. 

Text Responses

During these chapters of the story, many things have occurred which I find really interesting:

"But suddenly, Jonas had noticed, following the path of the apple through the air with his eyes, that the piece of fruit had - well, he couldn't adequately understand - the apple had changed.  Just for an instant.  It had changed in mid-air, he remembered. Then it was in his, and he looked at it carefully, but it was the same apple. Unchanged.  The same size and shape: a perfect sphere." (24).

After reading this, I feel just like Jonas did in that moment.  After trying to think what this meant, I still feel confused and curious about what had happened to the apple.  Jonas here couldn't explain well what had happened to the apple, though I can tell that it was very hard to explain what the apple had done.  What did happen to the apple here? What did Jonas mean by stating that it had changed? 

" 'What is his comfort object called?' Lily asked, picking up the stuffed creature which had been placed beside newchild in his basket.

             Father glanced at it.  'Hippo,' he said.

             Lily giggled at the strange word.  'Hippo,' she repeated, and put the comfort object down again.   

From the part of the book above, we can tell
that in this community, there are no animals.

In class, we just discussed  this part, which I find really interesting.  Here, no one from this community has ever seen an animal before, we can infer.  This is why Lily is amazed by the strange name of the stuffed animal.  Therefore, comfort object are very special because since there are no animals in that community, people could view the strange shape of the comfort object as mythical.  The question I have is, why is there no animals in this community? Was it always that way? Or did the governor "ban" animals for some reason?

Final Thoughts

    I think that this community is impressively strict, where everyone follows rules, obeys what they are told to do, and are given specific Assignments in which they are supposed to dedicate their lives until they are too old and go to the House of the Old.  During these chapters, we begin to see how life in Jonas's community is.  Additionally, this community has many rules and traditions all the citizens should follow, just like sharing feelings and dreams during the evening and the morning; people in this community also follow extreme rules that mostly show equality and strict schedules.  For example, since everyone's life is important and everyone is equal, no one is allowed to brag nor talk about other people's differences. I wonder why does equality matter so much in this community, I mean, they have no mirrors there because looks don't matter. I find it fine that everyone should treat everyone the same but, people shouldn't take it so seriously. Also, the schedule for all components of the community  is very strict and organized, since everyone follows the same rules, because everyone is equal, and has their own Assignment which they have to work in until they reach the House of the Old. The government for this community must be really strict and organized, with a lot of power over its citizens; the citizens from this community are really controlled, in my opinion.  Why cant citizens chose their own life (Child, Assignment, bike, etc). 
   This book so far, is really interesting and I am glad we are reading something so interesting in class.  

Governments and Its Citizens

Government Control        

        Governments are organizations that administer a large group of people in a state or country.  These governments should not have total power or control over its citizens, but should try to achieve a balance between freedom or rights for the people and responsibilities and  following rules.  With a lot of control, governments could be capable of producing terrible and strict laws and activities that could violate human rights.  However, if governments did not exist, or had no power to rule over its people, societies might not be as organized and safe as now a days.  No one wants that, right? If no balance exists between the freedom and rights of humans, and the control of the government to see that people respect social rules, people will not be able to live an organized though free life they deserve.

In this scene, Truman realizes that
something unusual just happened, a light from
 the set just fell into Truman's hands

The Truman Show and Governments

 If, for example, we view The Truman Show, we can tell how an extremely strict government (Christoff and all the actors) are completely unfair with its citizens (Truman).  For example, in the movie, Christoff has all of Truman's life planned with the actors' help.  This strict ruling however, limits Truman's rights to live in the real world and have a both private and real life.  Besides, as Truman realizes his life is fake, a "rebellion", starts evolving, mostly because Truman feels curiosity on exploring the real and his fake world.  With The Truman Show as an example, people can start realizing that a non-balanced government is bad. 

Too Much Control? Or no Rules?

In conclusion, developing or having a government with full or no control is terrible for both citizens and the government itself.  With a powerful government, bad events can occur, like obstruction of citizens freedom, actions against the citizens rights and rebellions.  Laws can reflect many violations to human rights.  However, a government with few or no power can lead to disorganization and lack of security.  Like shown in The Truman Show, a powerful government can lead to people reflecting about their life and rebellions against the governments, leading to civil conflicts and war.  As a final thought, governments with a balance in both power and freedom over its people is the best type of government to avoid any future problems.

Think of governments as parents: they have to educate their
children and teach them how to follow rules, but they
also have to let them go outside and get all messy (live
a happy childhood)