The Giver by Lois Lowry | Chapter 17

[0:10]In chapter 17 of The Giver, the community is given an unexpected holiday. As Jonas heads off to find his friends, he thinks about how not taking his morning pill combined with the memories from the Giver has changed the way he perceives the world. He enjoys the pleasurable dreams that come at night, and he can now see all colors of the spectrum. His feelings are heightened, but he knows they're unique to him. He finds Asher and Fiona who are engaged in a game with other children. They're playing good guys and bad guys, but Jonas realizes to his horror that they're actually playing a game of war. Jonas begs them to stop and tries to explain to Asher and Fiona what war is. Asher's just annoyed that Jonas has ruined the game. Fiona offers to ride with Jonas by the river, but Jonas realizes that the time for a relationship has passed. Jonas is overwhelmed with a sense of loss. He wishes he could make his friends understand what he knows, or return the love he feels for them. But he knows without memories, they can't. In the family dwelling that night, Gabriel is learning to walk, a cause for celebration. But Father now brings a discipline wand home each night in case the new child misbehaves. Father mentions that he wants to get a good night's sleep because the twins will be born the next day and he will have to prepare one for the nurturing center and perform a small ceremony of release for the other. He will make the second new child comfy and then wave bye-bye. Jonas asks if this is when someone from elsewhere comes to get him, and Father says that it is. Jonas is overwhelmingly feeling the profound isolation the Giver had warned him about. Now, he experiences the full range of emotions, and he understands pain and suffering on another level. He questions rules and guidelines he never even wondered about before, and he begins to realize there are serious flaws in this society. Before Jonas understood love, he couldn't want it. Before he knew about colors, he didn't miss them. He had no reason to feel anger or frustration, longing, or discontent.