Elsewhere?

Summary

    

      Jonas left as he planed. He took his father's bike, some food, and also took Gabriel. He didn't regret what he was doing, but he was thinking what would had happened if he had stayed with the community. Some planes came everyday and looked for both of them, but they couldn't find them. They passed everyday, until none appeared one day. They started to know new things like real animals, woods, and then found a hill. The hill was just as the one in the memory of snow, and in it he found a sled, and went down in it like he did the first time. He constantly gave memories to Gabriel, to help them both. Jonas mantained walking until he heard what he thought was music, and people singing. They have gotten where they wanted to go. 

 Quotes 

"If he had stayed in the community, he would not be. It was as simple as that. Once he had yearned for choice. Then, when he has had a choice, he had made the wrong one: the choice to leave. And now he was starving." (174)

   This was one of the worries of Jonas when he was in the trip with Gabriel. He had to "starve" but made what he needed to to survive. He even cried with Gabriel because of many reasons, including their hunger and thinking about what he had left behind in his society. 

"For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing. Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps, it was only an echo." (180)

   I liked this because it shows how happy Jonas is when he thinks he has found what he was looking with Gabe, Elsewhere, but there is something that tells me that that is not over yet. That they have not gotten all what they wanted. And that makes me think a lot about what is going to happen next. 

To conclude...

  Jonas just wanted to go somewhere else, and he got there. But the journey wasn't easy, because they had to stay some days without eating, and worrying on what was happening next. Jonas even stopped to think about himself and just about other people, especially Gabe.  But have they really gotten elsewhere?

Rosemary

Summary

     When Jonas entered the room, he saw The Giver with his hands in his face, he said he wanted to help, and The Giver gave him some of the pain he was feeling in that moment. He gave Jonas the memory of War. The next days, The Giver tried to give Jonas a lot of happy memories, he gave the memories of some holidays and family. He saw what The Giver called grandparent, and he said he would want one because the family he saw looked more complete with them. Gabriel continued to sleep in his room, and he gave tiny memories to him on the night. Days later, Jonas went to look for Asher, and play with him, but he was playing with other kids, and Jonas noticed it was a game about war, even though Asher and the others didn't know. But he knew he couldn't give away the memories. Jonas asked The Giver about the last person who tried to train to be the Reciever, he old him tht her name was Rosemary. He told him she only trained for five weeks, and the she asked for the released. Jonas later was very curious about the cermony of release, because he had heard his father talk about it. He asked to see the release his father had made that morning, and he discovered that the ceremony was to make that person die, an go to other place. He and The Giver make a plan for Jonas to escape and go elsewhere. Jona wanted that The Giver went with him, but he said that when he was gone, he wanted to go to and stay with his daughter. Jonas didn't know who was she, and The Giver said "Her name was Rosemary".   
                            

Quotes 

"Memories are forever." (144)

 This quote may look very simple and short, it is, but has a lot of things to tell. It's trying to show how memories, even though they are not true or yours, can make a lot of difference, meaning that if they pass through many people, it can last forever. 




"It's the way they live. It's the life that was created for them. It's the same life that you would have, if you had not been chosen as my successor." (153)

 I liked this quote because it shows how the society in which Jonas is or was living, is so perfectly organized nobody can't change it, and only Jonas and The Giver know the truth, that is why he says they don't know nothing. 

To conclude...  

 Jonas has learned about how his society is, and why it is that way, and that is why he wants to escape. Now we know about the girl who failed to be the new reciever, Rosemary, why she failed and that she was actually The Giver's daughter. 

"Call me The Giver"

Summary

       

Jonas was recieving the memory of snow, and he was playing and having fun with things he had never seen before. When he opened his eyes, he realized that he was still lying down, and that he haven't moved a little. He started to ask questions to the Reciever, and they started to talk about climate. The Reciever gave Jonas two more memories, and he didn't tell what where they or how they were called. He could recognize one, "sunshine", but he didn't know what was the other one, he only knew it was really hurtful. The Reciever told him it was a "sunburn". Then he told him it was enough for the first day, and Jonas, just before leaving, asked how he was supposed to call him. He responded, "Call me The Giver". The next morning, Jonas was with his friend Fiona, and she saw what he thought was "seeing beyond", Fiona's hair changed. He went to the Giver to ask him, and told him his expiriences when he had seen things "change". The Giver told him he ws starting to see a color, red, and that he could see all colors at the same time, and tht he would do too later. He made Jonas lie down and try to transmit the memory of rainbows. After some days, Jonas learned he colors and their names. He could see them, but just for a moment, The Giver explained that it would take sometime too see them all the time. The Giver later expained Jonas how his life was, and how Jonas' will be. He knew that The Giver felt a lot of pain, and he remembered that the Chief Elder told him he will feel pain when recieving the memories. He told that to The Giver, and he started to give Jonas memories of pain. He later was sleeping with Gabriel, and he gave him a memory without knowing. When he realized that, he wondered himself if he would tell this to The Giver, and he decided he wouldn't.

Quotes 

  "He was free to enjoy the breathless glee that overwhelmed him: the speed, the clear cold air, the total silence, the feeling of balance and excitement and peace." (82)

    This happened when The Giver gave Jonas the memory of snow, while he as having fun with the sled going down the hill. This feeling that transmits this quote is very similar to the feeling people feel when they doing thigs that they like.  

   "He wondered what lay in the far distance where he had never gone. The land didn't end beyond those nearby community. Were there hills Elsewhere? Were there vast wind-torn areas like the place he had seen in memory, the place where the elephants died?" (106)

    I liked this because Jonas was very curious about things around him like myself, and also wants to discover things a lot of people don't know, because their society was created and made that people dont know about things that happened generations before. 

 To conclude...

           Jonas has to trust the Giver because he will give him the memories of the past in a way that will bring him great honor and wisdom. The memories will make Jonas be one of the most honored and respected men in his society, but in the cost to feel a lot of pain.

How it all started

Summary 

      The story is about a boy named Jonas, who was just thinking about one thing: The Ceremony of Twelve. This is a special ceremony in which "The Elders" decide which kind of ocupation people will have. When he gets home he and his family start to talk about what were they feeling. Jonas admits he is no feeling good, and decides to explain his feelings with one word: apprehensive. He is insecure because he doesn't want to be chosen to do something he doesn't like. 

        

   Jonas' parents decide that they need to talk in private. They tell him that the elders always will be sure to give that person the thing is going to be best for him/her. Jonas' dad talks about how he have always liked the "newborn" and the elders noticed that and that is why he is a nurturer. At that moment Jonas realized there was no real good reason to be scared or insecure, because elders will help him to be what he needs to be. Jonas remembers one day that he was playing with his best friend, Asher, and they were trowing an apple back and forth in recreation period. He remembers when he threw the apple to  Asher, and he thought he had seen the apple change, just for an instant.. He brought the apple home nd started to make it "change" again, but he couldnt. Jonas and his family started narrating their dreams they had, and when Jonas told what he had dreamed, his mom said that he har his first "stirring" and that he needed to take some pills to stop having that, but Jonas tried to grasp back the strange feeling ¡s he had felt, but the stirrings were gone.

Quotes

         "After Twelve, age isn't important. Most of us even lose track of how old we are as time passes, though information is in the Hall of Open Records... What's important is the preparation for adult life, and the training you'll receive in your Assignment." (17)

        This make me really reflect on how the society on the book is a lot different than the current one. It shows how those people are used to see how people at a very young age start to prepare to be ready for their adult life, and do difficult choices and the right things. It kind of surprises me how a boy like Jonas is "not ready" for something like this even though he is incredibly smart. 

         "For a contributing citizen to be released from the community was a final decision, a terrible punishment, an overwhelming statement of failure." (2)

           This shows how it matters a lot what other people think of you, you can be a great person but if you treat badly others they will not care what other people say, only what they think. A single mistake can change completely how people think of you.

To conclude... 

        Jonas needs to know that be insecure is not going to help in any way, and that he always needs to trust people with more expirience than him, like the elders, which are always going to help him and do the right thing to make him happy.

The new Reciever of memory

Summary

          The ceremony of Twelve came, Jonas and his family were ready to go to the auditorium, after they got there, Jones went through the crowd to be with his group. Before the ceremony started both Jonas and Asher agreed that whatever the Elders decide they will be okay, and it is going to be the best choice for them. The ceremony began, and they started to call the people to go to the stage in order, by using the number originally given when they are born, adn Jonas was waiting until they call number nineteen, which was his number. When thy called Asher, he quickly walked to the stage, and the Chief Elder made a short speech and then she assigned Asher the Assistant director from recreation. Then they called the next numbers,and afterthe next numbers,and after number eighteen, they called number twenty. Jonas was really nervous and confused, he thought that maybe they had made a mistake, but he knew the Chief Elder make no mistakes. They had called everyone but him. The Chief Elder apolagized to everyone, especially to Jonas, because she knew he made everyone nervous. She called Jonas to come into stage, and told everyone he had not been assigned to anything, but he has been selected. He had been selected to be the new "Reciever of memory".  He got a folder in which they had written the new rules he had to follow. Most of them didnt really surprise him, but the final one was not very simple to follow. "You may lie". That was the last rule. The next day he presented hiomself where he needed to go, and he entered his new room. He saw a man sitting in a chair watchiong him, and Jonas recognized it was the old Receiver. He told him that his job is to tranmit all his memories, from the past. The memories of the whole world. The Reciever explained how he shapes the future by 
re-expiriencing the memories. He talks about snow, sleds, and other things, but Jonas doeasn't understand. The Reciever makes him lie in bed and makes him relax. He says he's going to transmit the memory of snow. 

 Quotes 

  "But when he looked out across the crowd, the sea of faces, the thing happened again. The thing that had happened with the apple. They changed. He blinked, and it was gone. His shoulder straightened slightly. Briefly he felt a tiny sliver of sureness for the first time." (64)

      This was exactly what had happened with the apple, when Jonas and Asher were playing in recreation period. The Chief Elder had said that this was an ability that she didn't understand, and that it was the capacity to see beyond. That was basically what made the elders start to think that Jonas could be the new Reciever of memory, and that is why it is important. 

  "Simply stated, although it's not really simple at all, my job is to transmit to you all the memories I have within me. Memories of the past." (77)

      The old Reciever told this to Jonas when he was trying to explain what the function of the Reciever was. It was to transmit the memories of the whole world, even before the people started to control the society in that way. And it was for a reason. Everyone doesn't know this, but the Reciever. 

To conclude....

      Jonas has been selected to be part of the most important assignment in the community. His training will be very difficult, there will be physical pain, in a kind that he has not yet expirienced. We know that the old Reciever failed training with the last apprentice to be the Reciever. He can transmit the memories from the past that only knew him and his ancestors.