Chapters 16 + 17: Thoughts / impressions / feelings while reading

Page 97 ll. 4 – 24:

Does the author describe a celebration of Christmas?

Page 98 ll. 19-21:

Why won’t the parents be a part of their children’s lives anymore? The children wouldn’t even visit their parents’ celebration of release. I think this is really sad, but because there are no feelings in the whole community, I guess they don’t feel so. I would say the people don’t consider at all what this release really means. This is only a rule and they comply with it.

Page 98 ll. 34 – 38:

This is the first time that the reader gets obviously to know that there is any love in the community → Jonas stands for all members.

Page 99 ll. 14 – 17:

When I read this I thought about how a world would look like without love.

Page 100 ll. 24 – 33:

Did Jonas give Gabriel more of his new memories? If yes, why did he do this? The memories would be away and released. So neither he, nor somebody can grasp them anymore. I think this is a little bit sad, even if Jonas only gave him small memories.

Page 101, ll. 12 – 16:

This is the proof that Jonas gave the memories completely away. I asked myself, whether he isn’t sad about having the memories no more?

Page 101, ll. 20 – 23:

Jonas leaves the pill out for the first time. Why exactly does he do this? Does he expect that something special would happen? I would say, the Stirrings will come back to him. Will he feel some love with them? Do they emphasize the feeling of love which he already received by the Giver?

Page 102, ll. 17- 21:

This excerpt proves that the Stirrings cause feelings. So in the community, it’s forbidden to receive these feelings. But why do they think that they are wrong. Why did they appoint this rule, to take the pill and so on? I guess they want to get rid of chaos which could be activated by feelings of for example love.

Page 104, ll. 1 – 10:

I perceived that Jonas friends are still together and are still playing games. I guess it was one point on which he was worried. Here’s the proof that there are still friends and games and that Jonas’ doubts and fear about losing his friends was without reason.

Page 105, ll. 22 – 27:

He mentioned that he would like to go for a walk or a ride with Fiona at the river. But he also said that this isn’t possible. I asked myself whether it’s impossible and whether there could not be a good friendship between a girl and a boy. Or why there couldn’t be a real relationship between the people.

Page 106, ll. 1 – 5:

What I asked myself the whole time was whether there are only bikes in the community?!

Page 107, l. 4 – 5:

Where is this “Elsewhere” which they always mention? Is it another, second ‘world’, but on the same planet or another community? And does nobody think about it, about what would happen on his or her release? Do they never ask and want to understand something ‘new’?

Chapters 13 - 15: Mind map

When I read chapters 13, 14 and 15 I thought about this world, Jonas lives in. I imagined a world in pure sameness and without all those memories, which the Receiver takes inside. I guess this world without decisions, colors and so far an own character would be very boring. So I made a brainstorming and a mind map in which I collected my ideas about this world and what effect it would have to everyone.

Chapters 11+12: Interview

Interview with The Giver about Jonas:

Interviewer: Hello the Giver! Nice to meet you and that you found some time to talk with me, I’m very delighted about this.

The Giver: Yes, nice to meet you, too. I’m interested in this conversation and I hope I won’t get too tired.

Interviewer: Oh, that’s a good introduction for what I want to talk about with you. You said now, you’re tired. I guess that’s because you’re very old now, isn’t it?

The Giver: Yeah, that’s in some point right, too. But that’s not the only and main reason for it. I did my work such a long time and it made me weary. When Jonas and I personally met the first time, I told him, too, that I look as if I should be scheduled for release very soon. But there’s enough time left to live.

Interviewer: That sounds well. So… you already mentioned your student, your successor in your talk, Jonas. All members in the community including me, of course, respect Jonas very much since now. But please tell me, how does it work, the training with him?

The Giver: So, you know that I can’t tell you exactly something about what we do and how my work with him is going on, that would be against the rules. But so far, I can say that he’s doing very well, until now. We had a good start and although we had only two trainings, he became more self-confident about the thing with the pain.

Interviewer: Seems like a good characteristic for a new Receiver, whatever this really means, but I guess Jonas does already know this. I can’t imagine quite well, whether this conferment (Übertragung) has an effect to you for example or the other members. Could you please tell me something about this?

The Giver: Yes, I can say that there won’t be a change for the community-members. Everything will remain the same as now. It will only be different for Jonas and me: He’ll learn new things and I will lose these. I guess that this sounds strange to you but I can't go into more detail.

Interviewer: I know, it’s forbidden. So I still have another question: There is a difference between this selection of Jonas and the other “normal” assignments, isn’t it?

The Giver: Of course, there’s a difference! Whether it is a big one difference, or it isn’t, is another question. But you can say that every assignment is important. Every assignment has to be supported in every year so we always need students for the assignments. In this case of Jonas assignment there’s the difference because when we work together, he takes step by step a little weight of my loaded shoulders. When someone else of the community is assigned, he or she gets the new information in an appointed space of time. But this time with Jonas, I don’t know how long time it will take me to teach him. We will see and so far how we already get, I’m content with our work.

Interviewer: So I see that you’re getting tired and I guess I asked all my questions. Thank you very much for this interview. I’m very delighted that you made it possible because I know how strict the rules in our community are. Thank you very much.

Chapters 9 + 10: Acrostic

Receive answers to any questions

Excepted dream-telling

Conceals the experiences from the others into secret

Even the Elders don’t have the knowledge about the past

Is allowed to lie

Volunteer hours gave no hint for what Jonas assignment would be

Experience of things nobody else would get

Respected by everybody

Old Receiver is tired of his work     

Forbidden to talk about the process to become a Receiver

Transmits all memories of the past to his successor

Hard and painful work

Every member in the community can’t imagine the meaning of common words

Most honored job

Everything will be explained

Memories of the whole world

Opportunities to experience things which no one else knows

Role of the Receiver in the community is very important
Yellow – one color which nobody knows

Chapters 7 + 8: Screenplay

Screenplay: News in the television in the evening

Announcer: Today, there was another day of Ceremonies. Like every year on the second day of them, had been the Ceremony of Ten, Eleven and Twelve. But the last one wasn’t the same as every year. The first children became their assignments like all the years before but then the Chief Elder left number 19 out and everybody in the crowd was surprised and thought she made a mistake. But of course, the Chief Elder never makes a mistake. After all children have been on the stage to receive their assignments, the Chief Elder apologized for creating anxiety down by the people. The crowd accepted the apology and Chief Elder went on and spoke directly to Jonas. She apologized for him as well and asked him to come to the stage. In contrast to her behavior to the other new Twelve’s she took her arm across his shoulders. She explained that Jonas, instead of has been assigned, has been selected. The audience was surprised and confused by this declaration. Chief Elder announced that Jonas has been chosen to be the next “Receiver of Memory”. She went into detail with saying that this selection for a new Receiver is very uncommon and rare and that there’s only one in the community. He would train his successor, so he would train Jonas, too. The actual Receiver until today had been our Receiver for a very long time and so the Committee of Elders decided to give a new person the most honored job in the community. That the Committee had no doubts when they chose Jonas, you can see it in our following live cut from the stage.

 (original video, “live from the stage”: )

Chief Elder: Jonas was identified as a possible Receiver many years ago. We have observed him meticulously. There were no dreams of uncertainty. He has shown all of the qualities that a Receiver must have.

Intelligence. We are all aware that Jonas has been a top student throughout his school days.

Integrity. Jonas has, like all of us, committed minor transgressions. We expect that. We hoped also, that he would present himself promptly for chastisement, and he has always done so.

Courage. Only one of us here today has ever undergone the rigorous training required of a Receiver. He, of course , is the most important member of the Committee: the current Receiver. It was he who reminded us, again and again, of the courage required.

Jonas, (turning to him but speaking in a loud voice) the training required of you involves pain. Physical pain.

[ You have never experienced that. Yes, you have scraped your knees in falls from your bicycle. Yes, you crushed your finger in a door last year. (Jonas nods)

But you will be faced, now with pain of a magnitude that none of us here can comprehend because it is beyond our experience. … ] But we feel certain that you are brave.

The fourth essential attribute is wisdom. Jonas has not yet acquired that. The acquisition of wisdom will come through his training. We are convinced that Jonas has the ability to acquire wisdom. That is what we looked for.

Finally, The Receiver must have one more quality, and it is one which I can only name, but not describe. I do not understand it. You members of the community will not understand it, either. Perhaps Jonas will, because the current Receiver has told us that Jonas already has this quality. He calls it the Capacity to See Beyond.”
Jonas: “I think it’s true, I don’t understand it yet. I don’t know what it is. But sometimes I see something. And maybe it’s beyond.”

Chief Elder (took her arm from his shoulders): “Jonas, you will be trained to be our next Receiver of Memory. We thank you for your childhood.”

[Crowd: “Jonas, Jonas, JONAS…” ]

At last I picked up some pictures to aid my idea of the evening news.

 

Chapter 6: Little guidance through the Ceremonies

This is a picture I created to show the new things for every year. In the chapter 6 were a lot of new information about the several Ceremonies.

Sources: 

http://www.king-t.de/bild/kuscheltier-stopfset-teddies-lea-und-leon-1-2908.jpg

http://imworld.aufeminin.com/dossiers/D20090212/Familie-124612_L.jpg

http://www.produkt-suchmaschine.com/images/products/122_/beasley-17-0607-usa-home-name-und-nummer-id267802.gif

http://www.swissmilk.ch/de/uploads/media/Familientisch300dpi_2_.jpg

http://www.hierfindestdu.com/bilder/simba/105868523.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41TdT6FwOHL.jpg

http://www.fahrradfreundlich.nrw.de/cache/pica/1/8/4/3/67941151425508/Fahrrad_3m.jpg

http://einvoll.net/ixi/wp-content/uploads/IMG_0755.JPG

http://www.magnum-versand.de/shop/Media/Shop/koehler_mod_107_einsatzkampfhose%20oliv.jpg

http://bzt.booztx.com/cache/products/1220x1596/15058476_OYSTERGREY_AOP1.jpg

http://www.johnleonard.com/Portals/51879/images//keys-to-success.jpg

Chapters 3 - 5: Diary Entry

Dear diary!

The last few days have been very interesting for me because I learned many new things.

At first, I have to mention that the newchild arrived a few days ago. Lily was very delighted when she saw him and she was impressed by his “funny eyes”, like she said. She compared them with mine but I didn’t like that. The light color of the newchild’s and my eyes were a rarity in the community, I only saw a young girl who had these eyes, too. So I took a long look to Gabriel’s eyes to find the effect of them to another person. This observation let me find out the eyes gave their owner a different look, a deeper one. I guess, I felt better after this but I don’t know how to value it and how much attention I pay to them.

Yesterday, I did my volunteer in the House of the Old. I washed an old woman named Larissa who was really nice. She began to tell me something about the release of Roberto, a man I also knew, I helped feeding him a few weeks ago. So I asked for the celebration of the release because children aren’t allowed to come and see one and for this reason I didn’t experience one as well. She told me that every celebration begins with the telling of someone’s life, after this followed the toast and everyone raised his glass, they cheered and sang the anthem. Roberto himself performed a good-bye speech and some other people said a few nice and kind words to him to wish him the best. Unfortunately, she couldn’t answer me exactly when I asked her what on the actual release happens. She only reported that Roberto leaved, as all the others did before, in the Releasing Room, but he looked happy and content. I liked the story and listening to her.

However, the more important thing for me happened today. As usual, we talked about our dreams this morning and so I had to mention what was strange for me this night. Instead of dreaming rarely and only in some separated pieces of a dream, I dreamed a whole, complete dream this night. It was very strong and emotional. I was in the House of the Old with Fiona again. What I felt in the dream really wasn’t easy for me to tell to the others. I just wanted Fiona to take off her clothes, get into the tub and to bathe her. But Fiona, of course, laughed and didn’t want to do this. I knew she wouldn’t do it and I guess I knew kind of that she shouldn’t do it. But the strongest feeling has been this wanting her to be naked.

Thereupon, Mother explained to me, this experience was my first Stirrings. Now I have to take some pills every morning like Mother and Father do it every day. They would stop the Stirrings. A little bit later when I leaved for school, just taken a pill for the first time, I still could remember the dream. But when I rounded a corner, the dream memories slipped away and I couldn’t get them anymore. Nevertheless, I’m not sure whether I like this effect of the pills. At least I was delighted by the dream and the feeling was more a pleasure than an agony or something like that for me. Maybe I will talk to Mother and Father this evening again about the pills, whether I could leave them out because I don’t know whether they do a favor to me.

I will report more later on. Jonas

Chapters 1 + 2: Characterization

Characterization of Jonas and how he would develop:

I read the first two chapters of the book, so I didn’t get Jonas’ complete character until now. But I will summarize how he acts and feels in these chapters and try to guess how his character will develop.

So at first I have to mention that Jonas is twelve years, which, so I would say, causes his first confusion about how he thinks he feel. The reader gets this to know in the very first sentences. A special thing what could be mentioned at this poinst, is that the author uses a third-person narrator, instead of writing in a first-person narrator. This creates a distance between the reader and the main-character Jonas, but has the advantage of giving an overview over all the persons and different characters.

Now back to the story and Jonas’ character. Instead of clearing his thoughts and feelings at the beginning, Jonas tells something about his past and one of his friends, Asher. The narrator compares Asher and Jonas and explains to the reader that Jonas is a person who deals carefully with words. In contrast to this stands Asher, who loves to talk and makes jokes the whole day.

At the end of this first part of the book, he finds out what he really feels and the daily talk about the day with his family begins.

I was surprised when I read the following like “apprehensive”, the family begins a discussion about what will happen to Jonas. He will become a Twelve in December and is worried about this. Later, in the second chapter, the reader gets to know, Jonas will find out what his employment will be. I guess he’s a sensitive boy, who maybe is worried fast.

I think this will change later on. He will be stronger, more self-confident and is pleased with himself. Because the book deals with jobs by now, I would say his work later will become important. So he has to be poised and a kind of convincingly and I guess this character trait will develop in the book later.

Pre-reading task: first expectations

As a pre-reading task I made a little brainstorming what the book would be about.
First a description of how the cover looks like: 

• Young, little boy stands on the left, an old man stands on the right
• Both are holding their hands up, but they don’t touch each other
• It looks like the sun’s shining through an window or anything else, because there’s only a spotlight which irradiate the two
• The old man wears dark, long and warm clothes, the young boy wears a long shirt which could be something like a dress, too
• You can’t see their faces, it looks like they don’t have a nose, a mouth and so on, but you can guess that there’re two male persons → older person has a beard, younger person has short hair

My personal short interpretation of what you can see on this cover:

• Young, little boy will become important ? → he and an old man are standing in the sun, the man turns his back to the direction of the sun, the young boy holds his face in the direction of it, young boy is ready for something new, old man shows this to the boy
• Connection between young boy and old man on the cover, although there’s an obvious distance between them on the picture
• They stretch their arms, if they would turn their hands, they could carry something on them → figuratively they carry something you can’t see, something supernatural