Dear Rosemary...

Dear Rosemary,

I have learned so much as the Receiver as I am sure you had too. I learned about things beyond our communities understanding, I learned about happiness, I learned about pain. I experienced and suffered all the memories passed down to me and I have held the heavy burden of this society. I have learned so much, as I know you had. But I have realized now how ignorant and selfish this community is. Keeping away the freedom of life from us, just to make life easier. I now fully understand why you would want to be released, although I do not have have this option I cannot fully escape the society so I am left with the only other option. Running away.

As we both know this community is strict on the laws of sameness, they know nothing about feelings and emotions, and nothing about the freedom of choice and it has been this way for very long. "Listen to me Jonas, they can't help it, they know nothing." (pg. 153)“There’s nothing we can do. It’s always been this way. Before me, before you, before the ones who came before you. Back and back and back.” (pg.154) I know you and I have learned about this society and their way of life compared to the one we could have have like in all the memories, despite the pain and suffering that comes with the happiness and joy of the past we both know that living with freedom of choice is the best way to live. With this we also know that changing our world would be impossible to negotiate, therefore I now know the real reason behind why you applied for release. Your father told me that the city went into panic after you had left, they could not manage all the pain and experience of all the memories at once, although I knew this was your plan and your only way of truly showing the community the freedom of choice, I am sorry to tell you it did not turn out as I know you might of planned. The community simply forgot about the "horrific" incident, forgot about the memories and forgot about you and this is exactly the reason that has persuaded me to leave.

Your father and I are convinced that the only way our community, our world will go back to the way it once was is if I run away, Elsewhere. Elsewhere, where there are colors, feelings freedom. When I do leave we both know that all the memories I have been given will spread into our city, leaving it's citizens to experience all the memories I have left good and bad. This will take them into asking help from your father, guidance, and that's where he will simply show them all that living in freedom is the only way to live. There the world will go on and our future generations will carry out this way of life for years and years to come. Although of coarse there is that chance of it turning out differently, there could be negatives, my trip away from my family and loved ones could just be in vain. But I will never know, I can only hope for the best.

Finally I end this letter with a thank you, for showing us, your father and I, that there is a way out of our pointless world and a way into freedom.

Thank You Rosemary,

Jonas.

The Giver Blogpost 4 ✎

" Gabriel's breathing was even and deep. Jonas liked having him there, though he felt guilty about the secret. Each night he gave memories to Gabriel: memories of boat rides and picnics in the sun; memories of soft rainfall against windowpanes; memories of dancing bare-footed on a damp lawn.

"Gabe?"

The new child stirred slightly in his sleep, Jonas looked over at him.

"There could be love" Jonas whispered.

The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away"

I think these particular paragraphs explain a lot about the choice and freedom in Jonas' society though they are brief. First of all I want to point out that choice is a freedom. The act of decision making is what sets you apart from others and what lets you speak without hindrance or restraint.

When Jonas threw away his pill, he did it for one reason and one reason only, because he was selected as the receiver. If he had not been presented with all the knowledge that came with the memories, he would have not known that throwing away the pill was the right thing to do. He was able to use his free will to make the right choice. The power of knowledge can set you free. All his life Jonas had been presented with knowledge that came to a limit, the constraint of their society, the ignorance of the citizens around him. Elsewhere and the things in it where never spoken of, not even the color, or the items elsewhere were presented to the citizens of this society.

Another example of when Jonas made diffucult choice, was when he passed on the memories to Gabriel. He knew it was against the society's rules, he knew it was against even the instructions from the Giver. Yet using his knowledge from emotions and memories and his new found freedom he decided to. This is what I think sets Jonas apart from everyone else, the way Jonas decides, hte way he thinks the freedom he has.

Lit Circle Blogpost 2 ✏

Why does Jonas find the instruction about lying so disturbing?

I found this question very interesting when I read it out of the three, so I immediately chose it. I also thought this question made me think about the answer carefully.

As we have all repeated many times before, Jonas lives in a extremely controlled society, one that goes by the moral of "sameness" this means nothing and no one can be different, no one can be a "someone" In this controlled society there are obviously rules, and very strict ones at that. All his life Jonas has been raised to not only obey these rules, but live by them. And out of these millions of rules, (that seem to be able to fill large books) one of the very large one is to never lie.and this is exactly the rule that The Receiver is able to break. "He had never, within his memory, been temped to lie. Asher did not lie, Lily did not lie, his parents did not lie no one did..." (pg.71)

Now, Jonas was obviously surprised after reading this, and the question that I have to answer is why. This is what I think. As I wrote earlier Jonas has been raised to follow all rules in his community constantly to the extent that even without thinking he does so. For example when talking to the Giver he accidentally interrupted, without even thinking he apologized, only to again follow the rules as the was no apologizing in the Annex room. "I apologi- Jonas began, and then stopped, flustered, remembering there were to be no apologies." (pg. 91) I can understand why Jonas would be so surprised when a big change in his life is made and know this because I can definitely connect.

Very recently I joined touch as an afterschool activity, and on the first day were described the rules, and one of the most important was to always pass backwards. At first I thought this was going to be quite an easy rule to follow, but I was proved wrong. All my life I have been taught to pass forward to get closer to the goal and this seems logical. And at the time I guess this new rule could too. But when I got on the field I noticed this small change became big. I hadn’t noticed that I was passing forward that I did it automatically just as Jonas had apologized automatically as well. When I came home I noticed my connection and realized why it felt like such a change to Jonas and why he might of felt uncomfortable.

I hope to find little things like this that I can connect to later on.

The Giver, Blogpost ✎

How do you feel about the "standard practices" and "rituals" in the community?

The rituals in this community are extremely different to the rituals we practice. Almost everything in their way of living is different to the way we live ours. The way the choose their family, job, even their death date.

I find it very interesting when it comes to how they get their families. They way the are chosen for them is very different to they way we choose ours. First of all when finding a spouse they have to apply for one to the committee, then the elders take years to examine the individuals, and try to find couples that balance each other out, for example Jonas’ parents balance each other out with his mothers great intelligence and his fathers calm nature. Second part to getting a family that is different from our society is when the “family unit” receives a child. Again, the family unit has to apply for another member, then in December in the annual ceremony the families that applied for a child, are given one with the name already chosen.

Secondly, I come to the selecting job part of the community. I think this difference in the society is particularly interesting because it plays a big role in all the individuals lives. I find it very surprising that one of the biggest decisions in their lives are made for them, there future career. This decision happens like so, the elders are constantly watching every child from birth, they pay particular attention to there interests and skills to find out what job would suit them the most. Again this is also very different to our community.

Lastly I want to talk about the difference between our types of deaths, and their “release” dates. There are three different occasions in which you could be released, or “put to sleep”. The first is when you are already very old and your time has come, to say goodbye, this is when being released is celebrated, the second is when your are a new born and there might be some sort of problem you may be released, in this occasion the release is always sad. Finally the last occasion where you could be released is when you have broken a serious rule in the community, this is always frowned upon.

Now, again as I said all these “rituals” are very different to the way we do things in our world. And you might think this is all wrong, that their way of living shouldn’t be so controlled, that maybe they should be able to make their own choices, especially about their own futures, and I agree, but the thing is, they don’t know any better. They have never experienced anything different, they don’t know what’s good or bad, all they have is there controlled way of living.