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.