What a thought provoking book this is. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The idea of their community being "perfect" was fascinating. There was no crime, no hunger, no rudeness, no laziness, no lying. With very stringent rules anything bad is not allowed. The speakers all over the town would remind them of these rules, pointing out when someone tried to disobey. No one can be different, everyone is the same. The same clothes, same house, same furniture, same bicycles. From year 1 to year 12 each child is given something different. Nines get bicycles. Sevens get coats with round buttons on the front. Misbehaviors are corrected with a whipping stick. Family units can be set up as a request. Children are assigned to a family. Careers are assigned at age 12. The initial thought is that this community is perfect. No one is allowed to make mistakes, their free agency has been taken away. It all starts to look worse, much worse as Jonas, the main character, receives his assignment. He is to be the new receiver. As he begins training with the current receiver it all unfolds. The receiver holds all the memories of past, back, back, and back. He is ready to be released, and is training Jonas, so he is now the Giver and Jonas the Receiver. He transfers the memories by putting his hands on Jonas' back. He transfers memories of things Jonas has never experienced, seen, or heard of. The first memory of sledding and snow and hills is very exciting for Jonas. The weather is controlled, there is no sun, there is no snow, it just is. One of the most unusual things that unfolds is that in order to be in sameness all color is taken away. No one can see colors except the receiver who has the memories of color. Jonas feels love for the first time as a memory of Christmas Eve is passed to him. Jonas becomes so concerned that all the people are missing out on these fantastic emotions, colors, weather, landscapes. He pleads with the Giver to find a way for the people to remember or actually learn all these things. The Giver explains that the only way is if Jonas disappears and then all his memories would flood the peoples minds. Jonas decides to make a sacrifice for the greater good. He doesn't want to harbor all the memories to himself for his entire life and never share them. He leaves his community on his bike, and endures weather and starvation. A sidenote here, Jonas takes a baby, Gabriel, with him. Jonas' father is a Nurturer, he works with the babies for their first year until they are assigned to a family. There is talk of releasing babies when they just don't progress as they should. There is not an understanding of what release means. Jonas requests to learn this memory. He is shown a recording of the releasing ceremony of an identical twin. His father injects the baby with some kind of poison and the baby dies, released. Jonas is terrified of this concept, as he should be. He hears Gabriel is set to be released. He saves him by strapping him in the bicycle seat and taking him away with him.
I realized that living in an ideal world, ideal home, ideal family, at least the utopian ideal, requires that some things that are so necessary would have to be given up. Mostly our free agency would be lost. To create a civilization without crime, without lying, without laziness, without differences would be horrible. Yes, a lot of hurt and disappointment would be taken away, but you lose, love, family, color, heat, cold, rain, sun and snow. What would life be like without all these things... basically I imagine a world in shades of gray, just going along with the motions, but not enjoying anything really. That is not how life was intended. We are sent here to make choices, to be tried and tested, to experience all emotions, to love, to have a family that really belongs to you.
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