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.
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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.
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