THE GIVER PROJECT

This project is based on evidence from the book The Giver, by Lois Lowry, all points of the arguement are built on my findings from this book. I hope you enjoy!

OVERVIEW OF THE GIVER

• The Giver is told in the point of view of a twelve year old named Jonas who lives in a perfectly controlled society that has eliminated war and hunger and encourage equality so everyone gets the same opportunities and no one is forced to go through physical pain.
• Jonas's family takes in a Newchild named Gabriel who won't sleep.
• At the Ceremony of Twelve, where all twelve year olds are Assigned a position in the community, Jonas is given the job of the Reciever of Memories.

OVERVIEW PART 2

• As the apprentice to an old man called the Giver, Jonas recieves memories of everything from war to snow to sunburn as he takes in the memories the community has tasked him with keeping safe.
• Jonas realizes that if the community were to spread the memories among themselves the burden could be greatly lessened and no one would be shaded from the truth.
• The Giver and Jonas create a plan for Jonas to escape and disperse the memories to the community. But on the night of the escape Jonas takes Gabriel with him when he finds out Gabe is scheduled for release.

MY POINT:
You CAN experience happiness without experiencing mental or physical pain.

Three Reasons:

• The people of the society find joy in things like helping take care of a Newchild or riding a bike for the first time. They do not have to experience pain to be happy about these things.
• Jonas felt joy in sledding before he recieved the painful memory of sunburn.
• Lily, Jonas's sister, felt joy when she met Gabriel, the Newchild, for the first time.

REASON ONE:

QUOTE

• The children in the community experience happiness as they played their imaginary game and "dropped to the groud and lay suppressing giggles" (Lois Lowry 133).

QUOTE ANALYSIS

• Jonas's childhood friends have only experienced a crushed finger or a sprained ankle, and even then they were immediately treated with medication to heal quickly. Yet when they get free time they spend it with their friends, playing and laughing like the kids in our own society. In fact, living a life without pain has opened them up to an even happier life than even we experience because they can play a game of war without being burdened by real memories of war like Jonas.

REASON TWO:

QUOTE

• When Jonas went sledding down the hill "he [Jonas] was free to enjoy the breathless glee that overwhelmed him" even though he hadn't experienced the pain of sunburn yet (Lowry 83).

QUOTE ANALYSIS

• Before Jonas ever feels war, sunburn, broken bones, or death, he felt simple joy in going down a hill on a sled. He described the experience as breathless glee and this supports my arguement because it shows that even someone who has felt multiple excrutiating moments of pain, felt happiness before any of those things happened, he might have even been happier before he Recieved those memories.

REASON THREE:

QUOTE

• "Lily squealed in delight" when she held Gabriel for the first time and felt uncontained glee at the sight of the Newchild (Lowry 20).

QUOTE ANALYSIS

• Lily has never felt mental or physical pain. She lives a life that has been managed so she never will have to experience pain. Yet, she still feels joy when she holds this small Newchild. She feels delight just like a person in our society might feel towards a baby. Therefore, you do not have to feel pain to experience happiness.

THANK YOU: