Death was near me, But I could not see it. It was hidden behind a kind mask. The man behind the mask had no feelings. How could this man have the heart to Release an innocent baby who lay helpless? Perhaps the reason why was because the man Behind the mask had no feelings. He felt no pain nor did he feel joy. He felt no sadness nor did he feel happiness. And the innocent child had no choice; no one did. No one felt pain nor did anyone feel joy. No one felt sadness nordid anyone feel happiness. No one had choices in the community; it was a cycle. Just maybe the baby was better off Being released from this cycle Rather than having to grow up Like the man behind the mask And feel no pain or joy--no sadness or happiness. Sadly, the man behind the mask was my father.
This poem by an anonymous writer was written according to the scenario in which Jonas's father releases the smaller twin. The realization of what release means is a key event in the book which sparks off Jonas's escape from his unfeeling community.
In the Giver, babies, the old and repeat offenders are released form the community. To me, release just meant that a person would be going elsewhere, it never occured to me that it would mean death.
People in Jonas's community do not have feelings. The poem states that "the man behind the mask had no feelings". This is fairly accurate as his actions did not taunt him at all.He simply disposed of the body before leaving the room. This indeed is very heartless of him. Similarly, the poem questions "how could the man have the heart to release and innocent baby who lay helpless?"
The lack of real emotions is also seen in the part where Jonas asks his parents if they love him. His parents do not give him a definite answer and instead they chastise him for precision of language. They give him alternatives such as enjoyment and pride and explain to him that the term love is so generalized that it becomes almost obsolete. Jonas and the Giver are the only ones that have been exposed to real emotions and strongly believes that love is not what his parents make it out to be. The taking of a pill to prevent sexual desires is also another example of the lack of real emotions.
Towards the end of the poem, it mentions that "maybe the baby was better off [to] be released from this cycle". I agree with this statement as I think that the baby, having know nothing now, would be the best time to leave.
I feel that the people do not really have a choice because of their ignorance. They do not even know what they are doing! The community members unquestionably follow rules and over time, killing has become a routine that this horrible and senseless actions do not morally, emotionally, or ethically border them anymore. As mentioned by the Giver, "It's what he was told to do, and he knows nothing else."
I can fully sympathize with Jonas about how shocked he must felt especially when the one doing it was his own father. As discussed in class, creating utopian communities will always result in dystopia elements coming in. Jonas's community is perfect and flawless. However, to maintain this utopia, people who are deemed imperfect are released(killed) to maintain the utopia.
♥
The Characters
Jonas's Father
Jonas's father loves the newchildren. It was written in the book that his assignment as nurturer was not all a surprise because he had always found himself "drawn to the newchildren" and that he had sent most of his volunteer hours at the nurturing centre.
Jonas's father is caring. He couldn't bear to release Gabriel and had pleaded with the community so that Gabriel was labelled as "uncertain" and was given an extra year of nurturing. His efforts on Gabriel did not stop there. He also brought Gabriel home to personally nurture him because he did not trust the night-time nurturers. He broke the rule to checked out his name in order to enrich his nurturing.
He is also rather affectionate towards his own children. He helps Lily with her hair and calls Jonas by his pet name of "Jonas-bonas" and Lily as "Lily-billy".
However, there are also negative aspects to him. For one thing, he does not have feelings. For example, he loves newchildren but he however also kills them too. When asked what he does doing release, he casually lies to Jonas that he just has to make the newchild "all cleaned up and comfy". During the actual release process, he coldly and heartlessly kills the newborn in a matter of seconds before shoving the limp body into the rubbish chute. Killing has become a routine that it no longer seems to bother him anymore. The Giver said that "it's what he was told to do, and he knows nothing else".Furthermore, when Jonas asks him if he loves him, his first reaction to that is amusement followed by agreement to his spouse's statement that love is such a generalized word that it has become almost obsolete.
Jonas's Mother
In the Giver, Jonas's mother holds a prominent position at the department of Justice. She is described to be hardworking as it is stated in the book that she does"endless amounts of work even at home."
Mother is rather prejudiced too. It can be seen that she is strongly against Lily becoming a birthmother. She tells Lily firmly that "three years", "three births" and questions Lily if that is what she wants;"Three lazy years and then hard physical labour until you are old?". From this, it can be seen that there are certain stigmas to jobs and that mother is biased against the occupation of being a birthmother.
Mother is also sympathetic. She felt frightened for the second-time offender becuase it was stated in the rules that if there was a third transgressions, he would just have to be released. Also, when father described worry for an unstable newchild, she "murmured sympathetically" to father that she "knows how sad that must make [him] feel". This shows that she can empathize with people.
Lily
Lily is four years younger than Jonas and is Jonas's younger sister. She is a rather minor character in the book. However, some characteristics of her can still be seen.
Not much is said about Lily's appearance except that she has the dark eyes and that her hair ribbons were always undone and dangling by the end of the day.
It can be seen in the book that Lily is very talkative. When Lily said that she would be quiet because Gabriel was sleeping, Jonas had thought to himself," Some chance of that". It was also said in the book that "Lily was never quiet". Her mother had suggested that she could become a storyteller.
Lily is rather simple-minded. For example, she wants to be a birthmother just because she heard from a ten that Birthmothers "get wonderful food", "have gentle exercise periods" and mostly "play games and amuse themselves while they're waiting". Lily does not considered the outcome later of becoming a labourer. This shows that she is rather naive.
Lily is a little spoilt. This is seen in her impatience for waiting for people. She told her father that "there are certain people waiting for their comfort object". Also, she was "wiggling with impatience" when waiting for the evening telling of feelings to start.
Like the rest of the community, Lily has rather shallow emotions. During the evening telling of feelings, Lily said that she felt anger because a boy kept cutting the queue at the playground. However, with a short guided talk by her parents, Lily's anger dissipates very fast. However, in the later part of the book, Jonas expresses that what Lily felt was merely "shallow impatience and exasperation" and that real anger meant that the thought "of discussing it calmly at the evening meal was unthinkable".
Asher
Asher is one of Jonas's best friend. According to Jonas's account, he has a rather outgoing and cheerful personality. He is being described as being "such fun","doesn't have any serious interest" and "makes a game out of everything". Also, Jonas's father had said that it was such a joy nurturing Asher because "he never cried [and] giggled and laughed at everything".
Unlike Jonas, who is so particular about precision of language, Asher is the total opposite. He does not think before speaking and often "[scrambles] words and phrases until they were barely recognizable and often funny". One example of this is when he pronounces the word "snack" as "smack".
Asher is easily distracted. His excuse of being late for school was that he was just too distracted by the hatchery crew separating salmon. It is mentioned in the book that everyone in the class was smiling because they had heard his explanation so many times before.
Not only thats, he is somehow cannot receive memories by telepathy. When Jonas tried to transfer and awareness of the colour red to him, he was probably unable to perceive anything as he had asked Jonas uneasily what was the matter.
Fiona
Fiona is the girl that Jonas likes. She is described by Jonas as a "good student, quiet and polite, but [has] a sense of fun as well". She has rather "distinctive" red hair that the Giver said would drive the genetic scientist crazy.
At the ceremony of twelve, she was absent for a while because she was with her family unit to receive her new brother. She confides to Jonas later that she her brother is really cute but she doesn't like his name, Bruno, very much. The age gap between them is eleven years.
Fiona does not feel emotions. Like Jonas's father, she loves the old but however kills them too. The Giver told Jonas that she had "already [been] trained in the fine art of release". It is also said by the Giver that "feelings are not part of the life that she has learned". This shows that she is similar to the rest of the community.
Jonas
Jonas is the the main character in the Giver where everything is written from his perspective. Even before he is selected to be the next receiver of memory, it can already be seen that Jonas is slightly different from the other community members.
Firstly, Jonas has "pale eyes" which are considered a rarity in the community. When he sees Gabriel for the first time, he notices that Gabriel also has the "lighter eyes". He describes that these eyes gives a person a certain look- depth, as if one were looking into a clear blue lake. He realizes that he too has the look.
Secondly, as discussed in class, there has been a learnt obedience in the people of the community. It is seen in the first chapter whereby the citizens promptly adhered to the orders of leaving their bicycles where they were. Jonas however, has a mind of his own and and has his own views about rules unlike the unquestioning obedience of others. At the bathing room in the House of the Old, Jonas had questioned why it was necessary to keep oneself covered, saying that "he couldn't see why it was necessary". Also, when Jonas starts to have his first stirrings, he takes a specially made pill. However, he thought that he liked feeling of Stirrings and wanted to feel it again. By this, Jonas is indirectly questioning why he is not allowed to feel those Stirrings.
Lastly, Jonas has the "capacity to see beyond", which simply put is the ability to see colours. While playing "catch and throw" with Asher at the recreation area, Jonas realized that the apple had changed but only for an instant. Because of Jonas's inability to comprehend what is happening to the apple, it is not clear at the point of time what is happening. This happens a few other times with the crowd of people and Fiona's hair. Though not very defined, it probably shows that Jonas is different from the rest of the people in the community because it only happens to him but not the others.
However, Jonas is a conformist and he tries to blend in with the rest of the community. For example, he didn't like it when Lily mentioned his eyes because they were different from the others. He also follows the rules and is very careful about precision of language. He completes the necessary volunteer work hours too.
Jonas is sympathetic. Even though he did not know the boy from the other community that didn't obey the playground area rules, Jonas "felt a little sorry for him". He also tried to comfort his mother when she expressed her fear for the repeat offender.
Not only that, Jonas is also rather loyal to his friends. When his mother told him that he would not be as close to his friends as he had been before the ceremony of twelve, Jonas said confidently that "Asher and I will always be friends".
Jonas is also rather mature. He thinks about the future. This is seen when Jonas confessed that he "[worried] a little about Asher's assignment" saying that "Asher's such fun . But he doesn't really have any real interest. He makes a game out of everything".
After receiving training to be the new receiver, Jonas constantly matures more throughout the book. This is a great contrast to the stagnant community whereby nothing ever changes. Jonas learns about the existence of colours, feelings, grandparents, love, snow, sunshine, war and many others. However, his community remains the same. It is joked about that by the time a change was made, the community members would have become elders.
♥ Monday, July 19, 2010
Photo Montage
A world in Jonas's perspective...
This picture depicts a person going downhill using a sled. This is rather similar to the first memory that Jonas receives at the Annex room. The Giver decided to start on this memory because he was using it to describe how weighted he was with the memories but Jonas did not understand. This memory was an exhilarating and surprising memory for Jonas as it was the first time he had experienced the tiny, cold, feather-like thing called snow, the sleds, the runners and what the term going downhill meant. During a short conversation with the Giver, Jonas hoped that they had those things once in while. Even trained for many years as they all had been in precision of language, Jonas could not find a word to describe the memory. His second memory of a sled however was not as pleasant.
This photo reminds me of baby Gabriel. Like Jonas, Gabriel has pale eyes which are considered a rarity in the community.While Jonas was trying to coax Gabriel back to sleep, he had accidentally transmitted the memory of the white sail and turquoise lake to him. Gabriel slept soundly after that. However, when Jonas tried to transmit the colour red in the geraniums to Asher, his friend cringed away from his touch. Also, when Jonas tried to transmit an awareness of the existence of animals to his father and Lily, they both perceived nothing. It seems as if the ability to receive memories is connected to the pale eyes. However, there is no clear connection mentioned by the author in the book.
This picture shows an aeroplane flying in the sky. This is connected to the first chapter whereby Jonas describes his feeling of fear upon seeing the plane fly over the community. It is also the latest incident where the council of elders had approached the Giver for advice.
This comic strip is mostly black and white in quality except for the apple. This can be linked to the scene where Jonas was playing with Asher at the recreation area. Jonas could neither understand nor describe his strange encounter when the apple had changed for an instant in mid-air. Because of Jonas inability to comprehend, it was not very clear what was happening with the apple at that point of time. It is however later understood that Jonas had started seeing the colour red, also known as “seeing beyond”. He also saw it in Fiona’s hair, the people in the auditorium, the sled and the top row of books in the Annex room.
After receiving the memory of a rainbow, Jonas finally learnt of the existence of colours and could see all of them in his ordinary life. However, the colours didn’t last long and the things always returned to their flat and hueless shade. He saw green in the landscaped lawn around the central plaza, orange in the pumpkins and the colour red in the geraniums outside the Hall of Open Records. After learning of colours, Jonas felt very strongly and said that it was not fair that there were no colours. The flat colourless shade of things implied that people did not have a choice of what they wanted. It is the same for spouses and jobs.
This picture shows a person taking an unknown liquid from a bottle. It depicts the scene in which Jonas’s father heartlessly kills the twin. His father had inserted a needle into a bottle, filling the syringe with a clear liquid. Jonas watches as his father inject the liquid into the baby's scalp vein, killing the infant in an instant. This is a key event which sparks off Jonas' escape from the community.
This picture depicts the Givers favourite memory. Though it is not stated in the book that it is Christmas, the descriptions are however evident that it is Christmas. In this memory, there was immense warmth, love and happiness in the atmosphere. However, the most prominent feeling was love. Jonas liked the feeling of love and hoped that it would be present in his community too.
This memory also sparks off Jonas to ask his parents if they love him. Instead of giving him a definite answer, they however chastise him for precision of language. They explained to him that love was such a generalized word that that it had become meaningless and almost obsolete. They gave him alternatives such as “Do you enjoy me?” or “Do you take pride in my accomplishments?”. Jonas is very taken back and shocked at this incident. He realises the shallowness of his parents emotions, not being able to know the real meaning and depth of love. Jonas seems to be the only one in the community, apart from the Giver, that can feel the depth of real emotions.
Grandparents were part of the Christmas memory. The concept of grandparents were at first very strange to Jonas as the Old never left their special place at the House of the Old. He learnt later that grandparents were parents-of-the-parents making him think about who were his grandparents. Through discussion with the Giver, Jonas realizes the vicious cycle of what is happening in the community, that after he and his sister grows up, his parents would live with the Childless Adults, then to the House of Old and lastly be released. Jonas himself would be busy with his own life that he would totally forget about them, not even attending the celebration prior to their release. After he applies for children himself, the vicious cycle would then repeat itself. He feels that grandparents make the family more complete.
The pills are first introduced into the book when Jonas starts having the Stirrings. After speaking of his dreams of wanting to bathe Fiona, his mother has a long talk with him and tells him that it is compulsory to take a pill each day in order to control the Stirrings. The word “stirrings actually refer to sexual desires. The pill is taken by the people in Jonas’s community so that they can curb these feelings. This highlights the dilution of feelings in Jonas’s community as such a natural feeling is curbed by a specially made pill.
In Jonas world, everything is nondescript, flat and has a hueless shade. The photo on the left is a picture of colour pencils of different colours, the way they should be. However, from the perspectives of the people in Jonas’s community, things would probably look like how it is in the picture on the right hand side(black and white in quality).
♥ Saturday, July 10, 2010
Short Extract
An extract taken from pages 97-98:
The Giver told him that it would be a very long time before he had the colours to keep.
"But I want them!"Jonas said angrily. "It isn't fair that nothing has colour!"
"Not fair?" The Giver look at Jonas curiously. "Explain what you mean."
"Well..."
Jonas had to stop and think it through. "If everything's the same, then there aren't any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things! A blue tunic, or a red one?"
He looked down at himself, at the colourless fabric of his clothing. "But it's all the same, always."
Then he laughed a little. "I know its not important what you wear. it doesn't matter. But-"
"It's the choosing that's important, isn't it?" The Giver asked him.
Jonas nodded. "My little brother-" he began, and then corrected himself. "No, that's inaccurate. He's not my brother, not really. But this newchild that my family takes care of- his name's Gabriel?"
"Yes, I know about Gabriel."
"Well, he's right at the age where he's learning much. He grabs toys when we hold them in front of him- my father says he's learning small-muscle control. And he's really cute."
The Giver nodded.
"But now that I can see colours, at least sometimes, I was just thinking: what if we could hold up things that were bright red, or bright yellow, and he could choose? Instead of the Sameness." "He might make wrong choices."
"Oh." Jonas went silent for a minute. "Oh, I see what you mean. It wouldn't matter for a newchild's toy. But later it does matter, doesn't it? We don't dare to let people make choices of their own."
"Not safe?" The Giver suggested.
"Definitely not safe,"Jonas said with certainty."What if they were allowed to choose their own mate? And choose wrong?
"Or what if," he went on, almost laughing at the absurdity,"they choose their own jobs?"
"Frightening, isn't it?" The Giver said.
Jonas chuckled. "Very frightening. I can't even imagine it. We really have to protect people from wrong choices."
"It's safer."
"Yes," Jonas agreed. "Much safer."
As his training progresses, Jonas starts to learn about the existence of colours and begins to see them fleetingly in his daily life. During a conversation with the Giver, Jonas expresses that it is unfair that nothing has colour in his society- he wants to have a freedom to choose between things that are different. However, he later realizes that if people had the power to make choices, they might “choose wrong”. This makes him feel frustrated as he is unable to come to a conclusion.
As shown in the extract, nothing in Jonas’s community has colour and therefore also symbolises a lack of choice. For example, as Jonas had said, they do not have the most basic choice of what colour things to wear everyday. This lack of choice also includes jobs and spouses too whereby they are all chosen by the council of elders. Though people unsatisfied can put up an appeal, it is however mentioned earlier in the book that a common joke in the community was that by the time a change was made, the community members would have become elders.
As Jonas matures, he starts to disagrees with some of the things that his community does. However, he still feels that it is safer to protect the citizens from making wrong choices. Jonas’s twelve years of being part of the community can probably still be seen where he describes choosing jobs as “very frightening”. Because everything has all along been decided for the citizens, they therefore do not know what freedom nor choice means. Therefore, it will definitely seem very intimidating for them to make their own choices when the need comes.
I beg to differ from Jonas as I feel that having a choice is not a scary thing at all. It is part of my society where everyone has to make choices at some point of our lives. For example, we have to choose which what subjects to study at school and ultimately, what job we want. I agree that people make wrong choices sometimes and that some are reversible while others are not. Everything has its ups and downs and I still think that the pros(freedom) outweigh the cons.
Last Wednesday, we started studying about “The Giver” in depth. Ms Li showed us three youtube videos entitled “The Handmaid’s Tale”. She instructed us to write whatever we thought on a worksheet that she had given us the day before. It had an oval in the middle stating the words "Features of a Utopian Society".
Before watching the videos, Ms Li gave us a brief introduction on the movie. She said that it was set in a dystopian community called the Republic of Gilead. The community was founded in the post-pollution world where humankind were so affected that only one out of a hundred women were fertile and could bear children.
Upon hearing the brief synopsis, my first thought was that the plot was a really weird one. I would never have thought that the depiction of a dystopian community would be one involving woman's fertility. The movie then started.
While watching the movie, I was rather disgusted by the practices of the community. They actually twisted the meanings of the bible just to justify the atrocities that they commit. For example, they tried to brainwash the handmaids by making them sing distorted lyrical hymns before bed.
At the start of the movie, it showed how Kate, the main character, was captured when trying to cross the border. I felt sympathy for her because she was forced to become a handmaid while her child was still wondering in the snowy landscape.
I felt very strongly against what the handmaid’s were forced to do. They were just treated as tools to produce children and were forced to participate in sexual activities. Not only that, the handmaids were considered as the property of the commanders they served. For example, Kate’s name after getting a placement was “of-fred”. The people running the country however made the handmaid’s role out to be one of "serving God and your country".
The handmaid’s were given severe punishments for minor transgressions. In the movie, a handmaid was given many brutal slashes on the leg just for a minor transgression. It was very disturbing to hear her painful cries and to see how her leg was covered in blood as a result of the punishment.
Also, when one of the handmaids was forced to share about her experience of being raped, the other women were forced to blame her and call her degrading names such as "hore" and "cheap". I felt completely outraged then. It wasn't her fault at all!
Throughout the whole movie, I felt that the most ironic thing was that the people running the handmaid’s camp were women themselves. I felt that they would have been able to empathize with the handmaids because they were of the same gender. However, they turned out to be the ones trying to brainwash the women instead.
I was a little disturbed by the scene where they showed the nuns being hung in public just because they wouldn’t engage in sexual activities and bear children. There was also another very disturbing scene where the nuns were being shoved into a truck while struggling and screaming that they would not go against their oath.
The Handmaid's Tale left a extremely deep impression on me. I feel that I am very lucky to be living in a society where women and men are of equal status. I fully agree with Ms Li that creating utopian communities will always result in elements of dystopia coming in.
When I first bought the book in December, I was not really eager to start reading it or studying it in-depth. Unlike the norm, the book’s cover wasn’t colourful or attractive as most children books would be. In fact, I thought that it would be rather boring. However, the phrase “never judge a book by its cover” is right. It turned out to be an interesting and unique novel.
While reading the book, I was a little confused at times. The setting in the book seemed vastly different from the world that I recognized. For one thing, jobs weren’t chosen for us but instead, depended on the qualifications we had. Furthermore, I could not understand the idea of release and why Jonas was called “a twelve”.
As I progressed more into the book, I gradually understood more and it became easier for me to catch up with the plot. I realized that the author was trying to portray a Utopia where everything is seemingly perfect and strictly controlled.
I felt that the utopia was strange in some ways. For example, Jobs and spouses were actually chosen for the people by the council of elders. I was rather amused by the fact that there was an occupation such as a birthmother. Though I can fully comprehend that a place with no starvation or jobless people would be conditions of a utopia, I didn’t see why politeness would be one of them. In the context of my world, it would seem really weird that we have to say “I accept our apology” every time.
The term released appeared many times in the book. It never really bothered me at first because my understanding of release was that those people would be sent to the “elsewhere” mentioned in the book. However, to my utter horror, I learnt that the term release actually meant death by euthanasia. I felt really disgusted because not to mention repeated offenders, the old and innocent newborn children were also sacrificed to maintain the utopia. The worse thing, in my opinion, is that no one actually knows what has happened to them or even feels sad for them.
I felt that the training sessions were all very fascinating. The exploration of different things such as snow and sunburn during the training sessions was really a great experience where I got to look at things from Jonas’s perspective. Things that seem fairly normal to me and however very new and unfamiliar to Jonas.
I personally feel that the giver is very noble as he is suffering alone in order to protect the community. Unlike other people in the community who are totally oblivious to any feelings, he had to bear the pain of losing his daughter. In the book, he is described as being very weak and in pain. His sufferings make my heart go out for him.
Throughout the book, I felt sympathy for Jonas and his community because there were just so much that they had to give up to maintain the utopia. Not only do they have no freedom of choice, they also have no idea what love, family, music, colour as well as emotions are. Jonas’s father felt nothing when he threw the body of the smaller twin into the rubbish chute!
I thought that it was rather understandable that Jonas wanted to leave the community. After being exposed to such heartless things that his community has committed, it would probably be quite hard for him to ignore it and act the way he usually did. Jonas seemed like a hero to me when he rescued Gabriel from the terrible fate of being released. However, like Jonas was, I also felt it was a little sad that he had to leave without saying his goodbyes.
I guess that the most exciting part and the climax of the book would be when Jonas actually sees glimpses of the elsewhere he has been looking for. I was really hoping to know what would become of Jonas and Gabriel in this new world. However, the story ended rather abruptly,living the fate of Jonas and Gabriel a mystery.I didn’t really enjoy the cliffhanger after so much excitement had been built up.
Louis Lowry’s idea of her utopia was described very clearly in the book and it was a joy reading it. After reading the book, I felt I was really lucky in the sense that I was able to see colours and have a family that really cared for me. Overall, I think that this book was a really good novel and I look forward to more discussion about this book in class.
Name : Sylvia
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♥ Thursday, July 29, 2010
♥ Saturday, July 24, 2010
Poem (Release)
Death was near me, But I could not see it. It was hidden behind a kind mask. The man behind the mask had no feelings. How could this man have the heart to Release an innocent baby who lay helpless? Perhaps the reason why was because the man Behind the mask had no feelings. He felt no pain nor did he feel joy. He felt no sadness nor did he feel happiness. And the innocent child had no choice; no one did. No one felt pain nor did anyone feel joy. No one felt sadness nordid anyone feel happiness. No one had choices in the community; it was a cycle. Just maybe the baby was better off Being released from this cycle Rather than having to grow up Like the man behind the mask And feel no pain or joy--no sadness or happiness. Sadly, the man behind the mask was my father.
This poem by an anonymous writer was written according to the scenario in which Jonas's father releases the smaller twin. The realization of what release means is a key event in the book which sparks off Jonas's escape from his unfeeling community.
In the Giver, babies, the old and repeat offenders are released form the community. To me, release just meant that a person would be going elsewhere, it never occured to me that it would mean death.
People in Jonas's community do not have feelings. The poem states that "the man behind the mask had no feelings". This is fairly accurate as his actions did not taunt him at all.He simply disposed of the body before leaving the room. This indeed is very heartless of him. Similarly, the poem questions "how could the man have the heart to release and innocent baby who lay helpless?"
The lack of real emotions is also seen in the part where Jonas asks his parents if they love him. His parents do not give him a definite answer and instead they chastise him for precision of language. They give him alternatives such as enjoyment and pride and explain to him that the term love is so generalized that it becomes almost obsolete. Jonas and the Giver are the only ones that have been exposed to real emotions and strongly believes that love is not what his parents make it out to be. The taking of a pill to prevent sexual desires is also another example of the lack of real emotions.
Towards the end of the poem, it mentions that "maybe the baby was better off [to] be released from this cycle". I agree with this statement as I think that the baby, having know nothing now, would be the best time to leave.
I feel that the people do not really have a choice because of their ignorance. They do not even know what they are doing! The community members unquestionably follow rules and over time, killing has become a routine that this horrible and senseless actions do not morally, emotionally, or ethically border them anymore. As mentioned by the Giver, "It's what he was told to do, and he knows nothing else."
I can fully sympathize with Jonas about how shocked he must felt especially when the one doing it was his own father. As discussed in class, creating utopian communities will always result in dystopia elements coming in. Jonas's community is perfect and flawless. However, to maintain this utopia, people who are deemed imperfect are released(killed) to maintain the utopia.
♥
The Characters
Jonas's Father
Jonas's father loves the newchildren. It was written in the book that his assignment as nurturer was not all a surprise because he had always found himself "drawn to the newchildren" and that he had sent most of his volunteer hours at the nurturing centre.
Jonas's father is caring. He couldn't bear to release Gabriel and had pleaded with the community so that Gabriel was labelled as "uncertain" and was given an extra year of nurturing. His efforts on Gabriel did not stop there. He also brought Gabriel home to personally nurture him because he did not trust the night-time nurturers. He broke the rule to checked out his name in order to enrich his nurturing.
He is also rather affectionate towards his own children. He helps Lily with her hair and calls Jonas by his pet name of "Jonas-bonas" and Lily as "Lily-billy".
However, there are also negative aspects to him. For one thing, he does not have feelings. For example, he loves newchildren but he however also kills them too. When asked what he does doing release, he casually lies to Jonas that he just has to make the newchild "all cleaned up and comfy". During the actual release process, he coldly and heartlessly kills the newborn in a matter of seconds before shoving the limp body into the rubbish chute. Killing has become a routine that it no longer seems to bother him anymore. The Giver said that "it's what he was told to do, and he knows nothing else".Furthermore, when Jonas asks him if he loves him, his first reaction to that is amusement followed by agreement to his spouse's statement that love is such a generalized word that it has become almost obsolete.
Jonas's Mother
In the Giver, Jonas's mother holds a prominent position at the department of Justice. She is described to be hardworking as it is stated in the book that she does"endless amounts of work even at home."
Mother is rather prejudiced too. It can be seen that she is strongly against Lily becoming a birthmother. She tells Lily firmly that "three years", "three births" and questions Lily if that is what she wants;"Three lazy years and then hard physical labour until you are old?". From this, it can be seen that there are certain stigmas to jobs and that mother is biased against the occupation of being a birthmother.
Mother is also sympathetic. She felt frightened for the second-time offender becuase it was stated in the rules that if there was a third transgressions, he would just have to be released. Also, when father described worry for an unstable newchild, she "murmured sympathetically" to father that she "knows how sad that must make [him] feel". This shows that she can empathize with people.
Lily
Lily is four years younger than Jonas and is Jonas's younger sister. She is a rather minor character in the book. However, some characteristics of her can still be seen.
Not much is said about Lily's appearance except that she has the dark eyes and that her hair ribbons were always undone and dangling by the end of the day.
It can be seen in the book that Lily is very talkative. When Lily said that she would be quiet because Gabriel was sleeping, Jonas had thought to himself," Some chance of that". It was also said in the book that "Lily was never quiet". Her mother had suggested that she could become a storyteller.
Lily is rather simple-minded. For example, she wants to be a birthmother just because she heard from a ten that Birthmothers "get wonderful food", "have gentle exercise periods" and mostly "play games and amuse themselves while they're waiting". Lily does not considered the outcome later of becoming a labourer. This shows that she is rather naive.
Lily is a little spoilt. This is seen in her impatience for waiting for people. She told her father that "there are certain people waiting for their comfort object". Also, she was "wiggling with impatience" when waiting for the evening telling of feelings to start.
Like the rest of the community, Lily has rather shallow emotions. During the evening telling of feelings, Lily said that she felt anger because a boy kept cutting the queue at the playground. However, with a short guided talk by her parents, Lily's anger dissipates very fast. However, in the later part of the book, Jonas expresses that what Lily felt was merely "shallow impatience and exasperation" and that real anger meant that the thought "of discussing it calmly at the evening meal was unthinkable".
Asher
Asher is one of Jonas's best friend. According to Jonas's account, he has a rather outgoing and cheerful personality. He is being described as being "such fun","doesn't have any serious interest" and "makes a game out of everything". Also, Jonas's father had said that it was such a joy nurturing Asher because "he never cried [and] giggled and laughed at everything".
Unlike Jonas, who is so particular about precision of language, Asher is the total opposite. He does not think before speaking and often "[scrambles] words and phrases until they were barely recognizable and often funny". One example of this is when he pronounces the word "snack" as "smack".
Asher is easily distracted. His excuse of being late for school was that he was just too distracted by the hatchery crew separating salmon. It is mentioned in the book that everyone in the class was smiling because they had heard his explanation so many times before.
Not only thats, he is somehow cannot receive memories by telepathy. When Jonas tried to transfer and awareness of the colour red to him, he was probably unable to perceive anything as he had asked Jonas uneasily what was the matter.
Fiona
Fiona is the girl that Jonas likes. She is described by Jonas as a "good student, quiet and polite, but [has] a sense of fun as well". She has rather "distinctive" red hair that the Giver said would drive the genetic scientist crazy.
At the ceremony of twelve, she was absent for a while because she was with her family unit to receive her new brother. She confides to Jonas later that she her brother is really cute but she doesn't like his name, Bruno, very much. The age gap between them is eleven years.
Fiona does not feel emotions. Like Jonas's father, she loves the old but however kills them too. The Giver told Jonas that she had "already [been] trained in the fine art of release". It is also said by the Giver that "feelings are not part of the life that she has learned". This shows that she is similar to the rest of the community.
Jonas
Jonas is the the main character in the Giver where everything is written from his perspective. Even before he is selected to be the next receiver of memory, it can already be seen that Jonas is slightly different from the other community members.
Firstly, Jonas has "pale eyes" which are considered a rarity in the community. When he sees Gabriel for the first time, he notices that Gabriel also has the "lighter eyes". He describes that these eyes gives a person a certain look- depth, as if one were looking into a clear blue lake. He realizes that he too has the look.
Secondly, as discussed in class, there has been a learnt obedience in the people of the community. It is seen in the first chapter whereby the citizens promptly adhered to the orders of leaving their bicycles where they were. Jonas however, has a mind of his own and and has his own views about rules unlike the unquestioning obedience of others. At the bathing room in the House of the Old, Jonas had questioned why it was necessary to keep oneself covered, saying that "he couldn't see why it was necessary". Also, when Jonas starts to have his first stirrings, he takes a specially made pill. However, he thought that he liked feeling of Stirrings and wanted to feel it again. By this, Jonas is indirectly questioning why he is not allowed to feel those Stirrings.
Lastly, Jonas has the "capacity to see beyond", which simply put is the ability to see colours. While playing "catch and throw" with Asher at the recreation area, Jonas realized that the apple had changed but only for an instant. Because of Jonas's inability to comprehend what is happening to the apple, it is not clear at the point of time what is happening. This happens a few other times with the crowd of people and Fiona's hair. Though not very defined, it probably shows that Jonas is different from the rest of the people in the community because it only happens to him but not the others.
However, Jonas is a conformist and he tries to blend in with the rest of the community. For example, he didn't like it when Lily mentioned his eyes because they were different from the others. He also follows the rules and is very careful about precision of language. He completes the necessary volunteer work hours too.
Jonas is sympathetic. Even though he did not know the boy from the other community that didn't obey the playground area rules, Jonas "felt a little sorry for him". He also tried to comfort his mother when she expressed her fear for the repeat offender.
Not only that, Jonas is also rather loyal to his friends. When his mother told him that he would not be as close to his friends as he had been before the ceremony of twelve, Jonas said confidently that "Asher and I will always be friends".
Jonas is also rather mature. He thinks about the future. This is seen when Jonas confessed that he "[worried] a little about Asher's assignment" saying that "Asher's such fun . But he doesn't really have any real interest. He makes a game out of everything".
After receiving training to be the new receiver, Jonas constantly matures more throughout the book. This is a great contrast to the stagnant community whereby nothing ever changes. Jonas learns about the existence of colours, feelings, grandparents, love, snow, sunshine, war and many others. However, his community remains the same. It is joked about that by the time a change was made, the community members would have become elders.
♥ Monday, July 19, 2010
Photo Montage
A world in Jonas's perspective...
This picture depicts a person going downhill using a sled. This is rather similar to the first memory that Jonas receives at the Annex room. The Giver decided to start on this memory because he was using it to describe how weighted he was with the memories but Jonas did not understand. This memory was an exhilarating and surprising memory for Jonas as it was the first time he had experienced the tiny, cold, feather-like thing called snow, the sleds, the runners and what the term going downhill meant. During a short conversation with the Giver, Jonas hoped that they had those things once in while. Even trained for many years as they all had been in precision of language, Jonas could not find a word to describe the memory. His second memory of a sled however was not as pleasant.
This photo reminds me of baby Gabriel. Like Jonas, Gabriel has pale eyes which are considered a rarity in the community.While Jonas was trying to coax Gabriel back to sleep, he had accidentally transmitted the memory of the white sail and turquoise lake to him. Gabriel slept soundly after that. However, when Jonas tried to transmit the colour red in the geraniums to Asher, his friend cringed away from his touch. Also, when Jonas tried to transmit an awareness of the existence of animals to his father and Lily, they both perceived nothing. It seems as if the ability to receive memories is connected to the pale eyes. However, there is no clear connection mentioned by the author in the book.
This picture shows an aeroplane flying in the sky. This is connected to the first chapter whereby Jonas describes his feeling of fear upon seeing the plane fly over the community. It is also the latest incident where the council of elders had approached the Giver for advice.
This comic strip is mostly black and white in quality except for the apple. This can be linked to the scene where Jonas was playing with Asher at the recreation area. Jonas could neither understand nor describe his strange encounter when the apple had changed for an instant in mid-air. Because of Jonas inability to comprehend, it was not very clear what was happening with the apple at that point of time. It is however later understood that Jonas had started seeing the colour red, also known as “seeing beyond”. He also saw it in Fiona’s hair, the people in the auditorium, the sled and the top row of books in the Annex room.
After receiving the memory of a rainbow, Jonas finally learnt of the existence of colours and could see all of them in his ordinary life. However, the colours didn’t last long and the things always returned to their flat and hueless shade. He saw green in the landscaped lawn around the central plaza, orange in the pumpkins and the colour red in the geraniums outside the Hall of Open Records. After learning of colours, Jonas felt very strongly and said that it was not fair that there were no colours. The flat colourless shade of things implied that people did not have a choice of what they wanted. It is the same for spouses and jobs.
This picture shows a person taking an unknown liquid from a bottle. It depicts the scene in which Jonas’s father heartlessly kills the twin. His father had inserted a needle into a bottle, filling the syringe with a clear liquid. Jonas watches as his father inject the liquid into the baby's scalp vein, killing the infant in an instant. This is a key event which sparks off Jonas' escape from the community.
This picture depicts the Givers favourite memory. Though it is not stated in the book that it is Christmas, the descriptions are however evident that it is Christmas. In this memory, there was immense warmth, love and happiness in the atmosphere. However, the most prominent feeling was love. Jonas liked the feeling of love and hoped that it would be present in his community too.
This memory also sparks off Jonas to ask his parents if they love him. Instead of giving him a definite answer, they however chastise him for precision of language. They explained to him that love was such a generalized word that that it had become meaningless and almost obsolete. They gave him alternatives such as “Do you enjoy me?” or “Do you take pride in my accomplishments?”. Jonas is very taken back and shocked at this incident. He realises the shallowness of his parents emotions, not being able to know the real meaning and depth of love. Jonas seems to be the only one in the community, apart from the Giver, that can feel the depth of real emotions.
Grandparents were part of the Christmas memory. The concept of grandparents were at first very strange to Jonas as the Old never left their special place at the House of the Old. He learnt later that grandparents were parents-of-the-parents making him think about who were his grandparents. Through discussion with the Giver, Jonas realizes the vicious cycle of what is happening in the community, that after he and his sister grows up, his parents would live with the Childless Adults, then to the House of Old and lastly be released. Jonas himself would be busy with his own life that he would totally forget about them, not even attending the celebration prior to their release. After he applies for children himself, the vicious cycle would then repeat itself. He feels that grandparents make the family more complete.
The pills are first introduced into the book when Jonas starts having the Stirrings. After speaking of his dreams of wanting to bathe Fiona, his mother has a long talk with him and tells him that it is compulsory to take a pill each day in order to control the Stirrings. The word “stirrings actually refer to sexual desires. The pill is taken by the people in Jonas’s community so that they can curb these feelings. This highlights the dilution of feelings in Jonas’s community as such a natural feeling is curbed by a specially made pill.
In Jonas world, everything is nondescript, flat and has a hueless shade. The photo on the left is a picture of colour pencils of different colours, the way they should be. However, from the perspectives of the people in Jonas’s community, things would probably look like how it is in the picture on the right hand side(black and white in quality).
♥ Saturday, July 10, 2010
Short Extract
An extract taken from pages 97-98:
The Giver told him that it would be a very long time before he had the colours to keep.
"But I want them!"Jonas said angrily. "It isn't fair that nothing has colour!"
"Not fair?" The Giver look at Jonas curiously. "Explain what you mean."
"Well..."
Jonas had to stop and think it through. "If everything's the same, then there aren't any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things! A blue tunic, or a red one?"
He looked down at himself, at the colourless fabric of his clothing. "But it's all the same, always."
Then he laughed a little. "I know its not important what you wear. it doesn't matter. But-"
"It's the choosing that's important, isn't it?" The Giver asked him.
Jonas nodded. "My little brother-" he began, and then corrected himself. "No, that's inaccurate. He's not my brother, not really. But this newchild that my family takes care of- his name's Gabriel?"
"Yes, I know about Gabriel."
"Well, he's right at the age where he's learning much. He grabs toys when we hold them in front of him- my father says he's learning small-muscle control. And he's really cute."
The Giver nodded.
"But now that I can see colours, at least sometimes, I was just thinking: what if we could hold up things that were bright red, or bright yellow, and he could choose? Instead of the Sameness." "He might make wrong choices."
"Oh." Jonas went silent for a minute. "Oh, I see what you mean. It wouldn't matter for a newchild's toy. But later it does matter, doesn't it? We don't dare to let people make choices of their own."
"Not safe?" The Giver suggested.
"Definitely not safe,"Jonas said with certainty."What if they were allowed to choose their own mate? And choose wrong?
"Or what if," he went on, almost laughing at the absurdity,"they choose their own jobs?"
"Frightening, isn't it?" The Giver said.
Jonas chuckled. "Very frightening. I can't even imagine it. We really have to protect people from wrong choices."
"It's safer."
"Yes," Jonas agreed. "Much safer."
As his training progresses, Jonas starts to learn about the existence of colours and begins to see them fleetingly in his daily life. During a conversation with the Giver, Jonas expresses that it is unfair that nothing has colour in his society- he wants to have a freedom to choose between things that are different. However, he later realizes that if people had the power to make choices, they might “choose wrong”. This makes him feel frustrated as he is unable to come to a conclusion.
As shown in the extract, nothing in Jonas’s community has colour and therefore also symbolises a lack of choice. For example, as Jonas had said, they do not have the most basic choice of what colour things to wear everyday. This lack of choice also includes jobs and spouses too whereby they are all chosen by the council of elders. Though people unsatisfied can put up an appeal, it is however mentioned earlier in the book that a common joke in the community was that by the time a change was made, the community members would have become elders.
As Jonas matures, he starts to disagrees with some of the things that his community does. However, he still feels that it is safer to protect the citizens from making wrong choices. Jonas’s twelve years of being part of the community can probably still be seen where he describes choosing jobs as “very frightening”. Because everything has all along been decided for the citizens, they therefore do not know what freedom nor choice means. Therefore, it will definitely seem very intimidating for them to make their own choices when the need comes.
I beg to differ from Jonas as I feel that having a choice is not a scary thing at all. It is part of my society where everyone has to make choices at some point of our lives. For example, we have to choose which what subjects to study at school and ultimately, what job we want. I agree that people make wrong choices sometimes and that some are reversible while others are not. Everything has its ups and downs and I still think that the pros(freedom) outweigh the cons.
Last Wednesday, we started studying about “The Giver” in depth. Ms Li showed us three youtube videos entitled “The Handmaid’s Tale”. She instructed us to write whatever we thought on a worksheet that she had given us the day before. It had an oval in the middle stating the words "Features of a Utopian Society".
Before watching the videos, Ms Li gave us a brief introduction on the movie. She said that it was set in a dystopian community called the Republic of Gilead. The community was founded in the post-pollution world where humankind were so affected that only one out of a hundred women were fertile and could bear children.
Upon hearing the brief synopsis, my first thought was that the plot was a really weird one. I would never have thought that the depiction of a dystopian community would be one involving woman's fertility. The movie then started.
While watching the movie, I was rather disgusted by the practices of the community. They actually twisted the meanings of the bible just to justify the atrocities that they commit. For example, they tried to brainwash the handmaids by making them sing distorted lyrical hymns before bed.
At the start of the movie, it showed how Kate, the main character, was captured when trying to cross the border. I felt sympathy for her because she was forced to become a handmaid while her child was still wondering in the snowy landscape.
I felt very strongly against what the handmaid’s were forced to do. They were just treated as tools to produce children and were forced to participate in sexual activities. Not only that, the handmaids were considered as the property of the commanders they served. For example, Kate’s name after getting a placement was “of-fred”. The people running the country however made the handmaid’s role out to be one of "serving God and your country".
The handmaid’s were given severe punishments for minor transgressions. In the movie, a handmaid was given many brutal slashes on the leg just for a minor transgression. It was very disturbing to hear her painful cries and to see how her leg was covered in blood as a result of the punishment.
Also, when one of the handmaids was forced to share about her experience of being raped, the other women were forced to blame her and call her degrading names such as "hore" and "cheap". I felt completely outraged then. It wasn't her fault at all!
Throughout the whole movie, I felt that the most ironic thing was that the people running the handmaid’s camp were women themselves. I felt that they would have been able to empathize with the handmaids because they were of the same gender. However, they turned out to be the ones trying to brainwash the women instead.
I was a little disturbed by the scene where they showed the nuns being hung in public just because they wouldn’t engage in sexual activities and bear children. There was also another very disturbing scene where the nuns were being shoved into a truck while struggling and screaming that they would not go against their oath.
The Handmaid's Tale left a extremely deep impression on me. I feel that I am very lucky to be living in a society where women and men are of equal status. I fully agree with Ms Li that creating utopian communities will always result in elements of dystopia coming in.
When I first bought the book in December, I was not really eager to start reading it or studying it in-depth. Unlike the norm, the book’s cover wasn’t colourful or attractive as most children books would be. In fact, I thought that it would be rather boring. However, the phrase “never judge a book by its cover” is right. It turned out to be an interesting and unique novel.
While reading the book, I was a little confused at times. The setting in the book seemed vastly different from the world that I recognized. For one thing, jobs weren’t chosen for us but instead, depended on the qualifications we had. Furthermore, I could not understand the idea of release and why Jonas was called “a twelve”.
As I progressed more into the book, I gradually understood more and it became easier for me to catch up with the plot. I realized that the author was trying to portray a Utopia where everything is seemingly perfect and strictly controlled.
I felt that the utopia was strange in some ways. For example, Jobs and spouses were actually chosen for the people by the council of elders. I was rather amused by the fact that there was an occupation such as a birthmother. Though I can fully comprehend that a place with no starvation or jobless people would be conditions of a utopia, I didn’t see why politeness would be one of them. In the context of my world, it would seem really weird that we have to say “I accept our apology” every time.
The term released appeared many times in the book. It never really bothered me at first because my understanding of release was that those people would be sent to the “elsewhere” mentioned in the book. However, to my utter horror, I learnt that the term release actually meant death by euthanasia. I felt really disgusted because not to mention repeated offenders, the old and innocent newborn children were also sacrificed to maintain the utopia. The worse thing, in my opinion, is that no one actually knows what has happened to them or even feels sad for them.
I felt that the training sessions were all very fascinating. The exploration of different things such as snow and sunburn during the training sessions was really a great experience where I got to look at things from Jonas’s perspective. Things that seem fairly normal to me and however very new and unfamiliar to Jonas.
I personally feel that the giver is very noble as he is suffering alone in order to protect the community. Unlike other people in the community who are totally oblivious to any feelings, he had to bear the pain of losing his daughter. In the book, he is described as being very weak and in pain. His sufferings make my heart go out for him.
Throughout the book, I felt sympathy for Jonas and his community because there were just so much that they had to give up to maintain the utopia. Not only do they have no freedom of choice, they also have no idea what love, family, music, colour as well as emotions are. Jonas’s father felt nothing when he threw the body of the smaller twin into the rubbish chute!
I thought that it was rather understandable that Jonas wanted to leave the community. After being exposed to such heartless things that his community has committed, it would probably be quite hard for him to ignore it and act the way he usually did. Jonas seemed like a hero to me when he rescued Gabriel from the terrible fate of being released. However, like Jonas was, I also felt it was a little sad that he had to leave without saying his goodbyes.
I guess that the most exciting part and the climax of the book would be when Jonas actually sees glimpses of the elsewhere he has been looking for. I was really hoping to know what would become of Jonas and Gabriel in this new world. However, the story ended rather abruptly,living the fate of Jonas and Gabriel a mystery.I didn’t really enjoy the cliffhanger after so much excitement had been built up.
Louis Lowry’s idea of her utopia was described very clearly in the book and it was a joy reading it. After reading the book, I felt I was really lucky in the sense that I was able to see colours and have a family that really cared for me. Overall, I think that this book was a really good novel and I look forward to more discussion about this book in class.
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