The Giver

Jonas throws a fit, refusing to go home. The Giver contacts the proper authorities through his speaker and asks them to tell Jonas’s family that he will need to stay the night for extra training. “I will take care of that, sir. Thank you for your instructions” (152), the voice in the speaker says. Jonas mocks the voice, saying: “I will kill people, sir. Old people? Small newborn people? I’d be happy to kill them, sir” (153). The Giver says Jonas’s father and the person talking into the speaker cannot help their terrible actions because they do not know or understand what is going on: “It’s the life that was created for them. It’s the same life you would have, if you had not been chosen as my successor” (153).

Jonas is broken by the fact that his father has lied to him and asks the Giver if he’s been lying to him as well. The Giver says he has not. Jonas wonders if Fiona is as callous as his father. The Giver says that feelings aren’t part of her existence. He and Jonas are the only ones who truly have them and understand their importance. Jonas knows he cannot return to life with his family. The Giver says they’ll make a plan together, but Jonas is confused, as the Giver himself said before that nothing could be done. However, the Giver now realizes that life has not always been the way it is at this moment. In the past, there were feelings. There was love. The worst part of being a Receiver, he says, is the loneliness, not the pain. Sharing memories reduces loneliness and can help people cope with pain.

The Giver and Jonas craft a plan that involves Jonas leaving the community the day of the December ceremonies, just after midnight, when he’s least likely to be spotted. If he’s caught, he will probably be killed, so they must be careful. Jonas will leave a note for his parents that says he’s going for a bike ride by the river before the day’s ceremonies. He’ll actually go the Annex to see the Giver. When Jonas doesn’t show up before it’s time to leave for the ceremonies, his parents won’t say anything because his rudeness “would reflect on their parenting” (159). They’ll also assume he’s going to the ceremonies with Asher or the Giver. Since the Giver visits other communities, he has access to a car with a driver. He would arrange for this car to take him on one of these visits early that day. Before departing, the Giver would send the driver on an errand and hide Jonas in the car’s storage area, along with a supply of food. The Giver will tell the community that Jonas was lost in the river and begin a Ceremony of Loss.

Jonas wants the Giver to come with him, but the Giver says he needs to stay and help the community change for the better: “If you get away, if you get beyond, if you get to Elsewhere, it will mean that the community has to bear the burden themselves, of the memories you had been holding for them. I think that they can, and that they will acquire some wisdom” (155-156). If he accompanies Jonas, the community will likely destroy itself because it will be thrown into chaos by its inability to manage feelings and memories. Jonas suggests that he and the Giver could just leave without caring about the rest of the community, but that this would be futile because caring is “the meaning of everything” (157).

The Giver tells Jonas that he has the courage to make this difficult escape and promises to give him the strength he needs. The Giver also says he’s grateful to Jonas, without whom he never would have figured out how to make change happen. Before Jonas departs to start enacting the plan, the Giver decides to share a special memory with him. The Giver says his first experience of seeing beyond was actually "hearing beyond" (180). He heard music. Jonas urges the Giver to keep this treasured memory. However, he agrees to receive every one of the Giver’s memories of strength and courage in the time they have left together. The Giver says that once his healing work is done, he intends to be with his daughter, Rosemary.

The escape plan falls apart, and Jonas must leave earlier than expected. He has no time to stop at the Annex and hide in the Giver’s car. This is because he must escape with Gabriel, a variable he and the Giver hadn’t considered when formulating their plan. Gabriel was sent to the Nurturing Center to sleep overnight, and he cried and fussed. The night crew “couldn’t handle it” (164)and everyone involved in decisions about newchildren—even Jonas’s father—agrees that the Gabriel should be released the next morning. Jonas steals his father’s bicycle, which has a child seat on the back for Gabriel to ride on. He gives the baby a memory of a hammock swaying among some palm trees. Jonas hopes he has enough strength for his journey even though he wasn’t able to receive the last few memories the Giver had saved for him. He knows his life will never be the same. It will lack the order and discipline he’s used to, but he is not scared or regretful. He just hopes the Giver knows he will miss him.

As Jonas pedals, his legs ache and become numb. He and Gabriel stop by a stream to rest, eat, and play. They do this when it is light out and unsafe to travel. To get Gabriel to sleep in the daylight, Jonas transmits a memory of “deep, contented exhaustion” (168). There are lots of things to worry about since Jonas has committed a variety of crimes—going out at night, stealing food and a bike, abducting a child—but the most ominous threat is the airplanes overhead. Jonas knows that the pilots can’t see color but that their aircraft can sense heat in the landscape below. He gives Gabriel memories of snow each time the planes fly by, and they both feel cold. After a while, the planes stop coming. And in time, Jonas’s muscles grow stronger. He soon feels confident that he has “enough strength of his own” (168).