The Giver Extended Ending

(Author’s note: This is an extended ending to the book The Giver)

Speeding down the snow covered hill, with Gabriel tucked close, Jonas finally skidded to a halt. He has reached his Elsewhere, where there is love and happiness. It took all of his strength to get off the sled and start limping into the town. Despite being numb with cold and starving to death, Jonas was happier that anyone in all of the memories he received. He could finally show Gabriel the hope the world really has to offer. Once he reached town square, he collapsed with exhaustion.

Jonas woke up, still feeling weary, but strangely not hungry any more. He was in a white bed with strange tubes attached to his arm. Suddenly, he realized that Gabriel wasn’t with him. After one frantic moment, he found him lying in a similar bed, sleeping soundly. In a moment, all of his stress left him. We made it. He thought to himself. Finally, he succumbed to the warm temptation of his bed and slept.

Jonas woke to the sound of Gabriel crying. It has been a week since he fainted from exhaustion. He would finally be let out of the hospital. He has been thinking about this day, with fear and excitement at heart. Where would I go? He thought. As the day went on, he finally filled out the paper work, (which was hard to do without a parent) and left the hospital. He stocked up on supplies and headed farther into Elsewhere which held his destiny.

Changes for the Better

(Author’s Note: This is an essay about the change of the main character of The Giver throughout the novel)

Jonas lives in a small community in the future. It is supposedly perfect, where nothing ever goes wrong. Everything is convenient and there are no surprises. A world like this has its disadvantages as well. For example, since the crops need to be grown, there can be no winter snow. Also, since kids need to be treated equally, there can be no specific birthday parties. Every year, all of the kids aged 1 – 11 all advance a year through a ceremony. When they grow up a year, new things are introduced to them. Jonas is 11, so this year he will be assigned an occupation. During the ceremony, he was given the role of “The Receiver of Memory”. It was his job to keep the memories of the past so that the community didn’t have to carry that burden. “You will be faced now with pain if a magnitude none of us can comprehend.” It took a lot of courage to accept that role, but not enough to complete the task at the end of the novel. He changed over the course of his training with the help of his mentor, “The Giver”

Jonas was nervous the first time he walked into “The Giver’s” room, as would anyone be when they blindly walked into an unknown experience. When Jonas met his mentor, he explained the job in better detail. He would be transferred the memories for him to hold onto. He would receive happy memories of sunshine, sledding, rainbows, and animals, but also painful ones of war, and poverty. In the future, people can’t handle more pain than a scrape to the knee. Only a select few can take on the role of “The Receiver”. Lately, he has seen changes in some objects around him. He is now beginning to see the color that lacks in his world.

As Jonas’s training goes on, he begins to receive more and more complex feelings. One day, he receives the memory of love. He is a little confused about this feeling, so when he goes home, he mentions it to his parents. They laugh at him and tell him that the word was maybe the most meaningless word in their time. It would be crazy for a child in our time to go home and ask their parents if the loved them, and get this for an answer. From this moment on, Jonas believes that his world that he grew up in wasn’t fit to live in. He began to want something more.

As his want grew, the need for action did also. He could not stand it any longer. He talked with his mentor, and they both agreed that action was necessary. They took days, but they devised a plan. It was dangerous and could get Jonas killed, but Jonas felt that it wouldn’t matter. His current life wasn’t worth living. It was that kind of bravery that made Jonas the character he was at the end of the book. When he heard his named called at the ceremony, he had no idea what obstacles lie ahead. He developed the courage needed to save himself from his world.

The novel mainly revolves around Jonas's courage, and the source of this strength came from his love of Gabriel. Jonas's love drove him to taking  him along even though he knew if they were caught, they would be killed. Jonas ends up saving Gabriel by taking him before he could be released. Having Gabriel along did bring advantages. It gave him the morale to continue onto his duties of giving the memories back. Without Gabriel, Jonas would have never made it.

Jonas could have never made it to Elsewhere in the beginning of the book, nor would he want to. Jonas learned many lessons through the memories, lessons teaching him what he truly wants in the world. His goal in the end was to find a safe place for Gabriel, and this drove him to becoming what he was at the end of the book. Jonas learned many lessons from the memories, and we can learn some from his struggle against society. We must remember “Memories are forever”.  It may seem that things in life such as a nice house, a job, or a car could be the most crucial thing to focus on, but the simplest things like love and family should always be more important.

Changing a World

(Authors note: This piece is about an important quote from The Giver)

            Jonas lives in a small community in the future where there is just sameness. He lives with his parents, little sister, and a troubled toddler named Gabriel who his father is taking care of.   In his community you do what you are assigned and that’s that. However, when he turned twelve, everything began to change. He was assigned the honorable role as ‘The Receiver of Memory’ and was scheduled to begin training immediately. His role was to carry the memories of the past. In the future, there is no true pleasure and no pain. His mentor is ‘The Giver’ who was the previous receiver and he teaches him about the past. He shows Jonas wonderful things like animals and sledding, but also very painful things, like war and poverty. The only reason for him is to hold memories so that other people don’t have to.

            As Jonas’s training goes on, little Gabriel is restless at his house. He has a year to learn to sleep soundly at night so he can be assigned to a family. Jonas had to promise the government that he would not get attached to this child, because if he failed, he would be put down. Jonas keeps Gabriel calm by feeding him just portions of peaceful memories. Jonas loved Gabriel very much, like a little brother. One day, The Giver gave Jonas the memory of love. It was a family gathered around a Christmas tree opening presents. Jonas was changed by this. He wanted more out of the worthless life people were living in the community. That night, when he was comforting Gabriel, he told him “Things could change Gabe. Things could be different.”

            This quote was pivotal in the novel, because it gave him the drive to do something about the lack of emotion in the community. He and The Giver devised a plan, a plan so simple, but would change the future for the entire community. He would give the memories back to the people. Jonas would be killed if he were caught, so he ran away in the black of night leaving the memories behind. Gabriel was scheduled to be killed, so he took him too. His love for him urged him onward into the unknown. Jonas rode on his bicycle for days until he and Gabe were starving to death. Just as he was about to give up, he reached a place in his memories. He saw civilization, then he collapsed.

            Looking back, this quote set up the climax. It showed the drive Jonas had to make the world a better place. He loved Gabriel in a place where love doesn’t exist. His parents ‘liked’ him and ‘enjoyed his company’, but never loved. Jonas and Gabriel shared a bond that no one had felt for decades, maybe even centuries. It was that bond that led Jonas to the final destination in this book, and to freedom.

Jonas's World

 (Author's Note: This is a Character development piece)
Jonas is a normal kid living in the future where there is neither pleasure nor pain. That is until he has been given the high honor of receiving all the memories from the past. His mentor, “The Giver”, teaches him about how many necessary things in our time get lost into a future with no difference. Jonas receives memories of sledding, sunshine, sailboats, and other fantastic things, and he is the only one who can actually feel happy. However, he also acquires memory of war and hate, making him the only one who can feel pain. He feels alone, because he wishes some of his friends could comprehend what he is feeling.

                 

As Jonas’s training goes on, the urge to show people the memories of the past grows. The only time in recallable history where the citizens actually had memories was when the last receiver died. After that, all the memories went loose and the citizens took hold of them. There was much chaos and confusion, and The Giver had to step in to help everybody. Jonas now realizes that this world isn’t worth living in if no one can experience what true love and true pain really is. The Giver feels the exact same way so they devise a plan. Jonas needs to give away all the memories he received from The Giver to the public. The whole purpose of The Giver is to hold all the burdens of emotion, but he and Jonas want to give all of it back. Jonas will be killed if anybody found out what he was doing, so he took his bike and ran for it. He peddled and peddled until he reached a place from his memories, where he finally collapsed.

           
Jonas came a long way from the small 11 year old he once was. He used to wonder what job the government and was afraid of choices. With such little age, he acquired so much wisdom. He is a dynamic character because his whole perspective of life changes in the span of this book. He realizes there are more important things than work and games, things like love and compassion; things that his world lacked. This novel teaches us that everyone has the right to live and to love, and no one should say otherwise.