Reading Response

            Power, the ability to do or act, force and strength, power can mean money or even just sheer strength, but to Jonas, the main character in, “The Giver by Lois Lowry, power meant memories. During the Ceremony of Twelve, a place where twelve year olds receive their future jobs, Jonas finds out that he had been elected to be the Receiver of Memory. The current receiver that is called Giver by Jonas, transfers memories of pain, joy, feelings, and color to him. As he grows on to receive more memories, he yearns for a life outside of his current one. This Utopian society that Jonas lives in seems that the government has all of the power, but really it’s Jonas who has because he has the potential to receive memories that were stolen from the community and transfer them to other people.

            In the beginning of the book, everyone in Jonas’s community feels the exact same way about each other. If they do feel anything unusual they are forced to take a pill each morning that is administered by the government. For example, “‘It was your first Stirrings… you’re ready for the pills’…he swallowed the pill. The feelings were gone. The Stirrings were gone.” (37-39) This proves that there weren't any feelings allowed in Jonas’s community. It seemed that the government had the power because they were controlling people’s emotions and dreams. Another example of this is in the book, jobs, families, and numbers of children are all determined by the government. People didn't get to decide by themselves, it was already decided. This made it seem again, that the government had all the power, but in reality Jonas had the real power because he was the one who carried all of the memories stolen from the entire city.

            Towards the middle of the book, Jonas started to receive more and more memories and in time he learned the ability to pass them on. The government warned him not to give it to anyone but Jonas did anyway. He passed on peaceful memories to a young toddle named Gabriel. For instance, “Each night he gave memories to Gabriel: memories of boat rides and picnics in the sun; memories of soft rainfall against windowpanes; memories of dancing barefoot on a damp lawn.”(161) This shows how by transferring memories to another person, Jonas is breaking the governments rule and in that way, Gabriel has free will unlike every other person who do not own any memories. Another example is, after Jonas escapes the government with Gabriel and the memories the author writes, “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.”(225) after looking back at his community, Jonas has the thought that someday there might be music if he can find other people and pass on the memories that were lost. To him, memories are wonderful and because the government is hiding that from his home, it makes Jonas more determined to use his version of ‘power’ and help restore what was once lost.

            Therefore, although the government is ruling everything and everyone, Jones is the one with all of the memories that people have lost. Memories is what the government fears that if people of the community get, it would turn into utter chaos. That’s what Jonas has, and he is the one with all of the power, not the government. He can give these sacred memories to people and potentially take away the ‘power’ of the government. Memories are power, and that’s what Jonas has. 

Julia Nowak 811