Symbolism In The Giver

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Pages: 2

In Jonas’s community, the citizens have no choices, hence the Elders assigned their partner, child, or jobs. Chief Elder, one of the highest positioned person in the community, announced their job in the Ceremony of Twelve. Usually, people get assigned their work, but Jonas was different; He got selected to be a Receiver. All the people in the community were surprised. Giver is the most “honored” job in the community, said Chief Elder. However, being a Giver is a curse because the Giver needs to endure painful suffering, discontentment, and death.

Firstly, being a Giver is curse because they need to experience a deathly pain. In The Giver, Jonas experienced the memory of “warfare”, and on the next day, he did not want to go to the Annex room next day. He experienced a nightmare; the smoke filled the atmosphere. He also saw people starving, dehydrating, and groaning with pain. There was a pool of blood surrounding him, so he thought of suicide. Another
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Rosemary, again, is a perfect example for this. In chapter eighteen, the giver told the story about Rosemary, and he explained that she asked for release herself. She could not bear with the pain that the Giver gave to her. Jonas is another example of death too. He tried to escape from the community, and he was about to faced death for few times because of wounds, hunger, or cold weather. It is unsure that Jonas died, however there might be a scenario that Jonas died after escaping to elsewhere. Jonas and Rosemary were both feeling some discomfort to the community that they were in. The last decision for the Giver/Receiver that cannot deal with the pain might be death.

To sum up, being a Giver is a curse because it affects both the Giver him/herself, and their community. Giver is a special job, but on the other hand, they need to receive painful memories. Ordinary people might think that giver is an honored job, but it actually has quite a lot of weak