A New Beginning

Summary

After a big talk about release with the Giver, Jonas decided to watch the release of a baby

twin, with the help of the Hall of Closed Records, of which his father will proceed the ceremony; it consisted in releasing the one that weighed less between both identical babies to prevent confusions. But, the baby wasn't sent Elsewhere, no it wasn't like that.  The lightest baby got........... KILLED! And guess who killed him? Jonas' father killed a child!!! People that get released get killed with syringes!! Anyways, the Giver later explains that Rosemary (the Giver's........ daughter?), when she asked for release, injected herself in a way to show her bravery and dedication to her choice. And, meanwhile, Jonas kept crying, telling himself that he could NOT go back to a boring life, so the Giver told Jonas to stay the
night with him, to show him a plan! The plan consisted in Jonas ESCAPING from the community, in order to make everyone have memories back, and change their normal way of life! But the sad part is, the Giver will have to stay in the community to help people get through the painful memories, which means that Jonas will have to say goodbye to his family, Gabe and the Giver....... well, everyone but Gabe. Turns out Gabe will be released

the morning before the December ceremony, so Jonas escaped and helped Gabe! But now his plan has changed completely, and he wont be able to receive memories of courage anymore for his trip! As days pass by, Jonas tries an tries to keep himself and Gabe alive, and every day, he sees and experiences new things, such as animals and different landscapes - things he saw in memories, but never actually saw them.  And, with the help of certain memories, the two pale-eyed boys managed to stay alive. For example, Jonas shared cold memories to hide from the heat-seeking planes, and shared the warm memories during cold nights. After many, MANY days, Jonas rides a sleigh down a hill with Gabe and sees a lot of red and yellow lights, along with music, a quality the Giver heard often before becoming the current Receiver. 

Text Responses

These two quotes from the book caught my attention in many different ways:

He killed it! My father killed it! Jonas said to himself, stunned at what he was realizing. (150).

Father killed the baby twin! He didn't send him to Elsewhere, he just killed it! With a syringe he killed the little twin! And worst of all...... he lied to Jonas! But citizens in the community aren't allowed to lie! Maybe, Jonas' father got the same rule as Jonas did: that he

was allowed to lie. Or maybe...... every grown up gets to lie about their work if it has to do with release.  Maybe, the community just tells them to lie about release and tells them to tell their kids about the mysteries of Elsewhere, that they don't even know about. Whatever. But what I am sure about is that Jonas, just as I was, was very confused and I think that the community officially lost Jonas' trust and loyalty, since he knows the truth about release and death and the fact that people don't leave the community alive. And I am also sure that Jonas officially hates what the Elders have done, and not just about life in general, but about death, too. But..... why didn't Jonas say anything to his father? Something like, I know you lied to me, why do you kill children? Or something like that? I mean, he is allowed to ask any questions.......... why didn't he? Somehow I thought Jonas might have said something, though he didn't. 

        Third, he had stolen his father's bicycle. He has hesitated or a moment, standing beside the bikeport in the darkness, not wanting anything of his father's and uncertain, as well, whether he could comfortably ride the larger bike when he was so accustomed to his own.

        But it was necessary because it had the child seat attached to the back.

        And he had taken Gabriel, too.  (166).

Jonas is Gabe's hero! He risked the whole plan and his safety for Gabe's life! I think that Jonas has started to make his own choices and decisions because of the memories, and

now, he is taking the next step. I find it nice how Jonas, unlike anyone else in the community, is actually taking such a big risk, which shows how the memories deeply impacted Jonas.  He broke so many rules, didn't get the chance to receive courage and brave memories, and still manages to keep going. I like it how he follows his guts that lead him to what he thinks is the right path to go into the wilderness - to go Elsewhere - even when he knows that there is no going back. 

Final Thoughts

Wow. I really enjoyed reading this book, it was really good.

As for the final thoughts of this blog post, well, I thought I should share the way the book ends for me, since Lowry didn't decide the right ending. Some people agree that Jonas and Gabe just died, other people think that they got back to their community, just that it was changed because of the memories. My ending is the happy one, my ending is different.

So, Jonas and Gabe were walking and walking, starving and freezing, when they saw a sled at the top of a hill and rode it. When they reach the bottom of the hill, they saw all of these small cabins with red and yellow lights, along with people singing and celebrating together. My supposition is that Jonas and Gabe made it to our world, the world with a normal life, pain and happiness, memories and choices.  And, because I am a person who likes happy endings, Gabe and Jonas lived together as brothers, were never found by the boring community, and lived happily and painfully ever after. They both learned how to work for things, how to use choices wisely and how to live with people and colors and sunshine and snow and animals and sails and lakes and everything Jonas learned in his memories; all of Jonas' hopes to actually experience what was in the memories finally happened. 

THE END