The Giver is a 1993 American children's novel by Lois Lowry.
It is set in a society which is at first presented as a utopian society and gradually appears
more and more dystopian.
The novel follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth year of his life.
The society has eliminated pain and strife by converting to "Sameness," a plan that has
also eradicated emotional depth from their lives.
Jonas is selected to inherit the position of "Receiver of Memory," the person who stores
all the past memories of the time before Sameness, in case they are ever needed to aid in decisions
that others lack the experience to make.
When Jonas meets the previous receiver—The "Giver"—he is confused in many ways.
Additionally, the Giver is able to break some rules, such as turning off the speaker which
listens to peoples' conversations in their homes, and lying to people of the community.
As Jonas receives the memories from the Giver, he discovers the power of knowledge.
The people in his community are happy because they do not know of a better life.
They have been shielded from pain, sorrow, sickness, disease, hunger etc., but in doing
so they have also lost out on many of the things that give life depth and meaning like
sunshine, love, color, and music.
Thus, Jonas and the Giver face a dilemma.
Should they offer the community a life full of love, variety, knowledge, and choice if
it means losing the comforting safety inherent in their current life of innocence and order?
Together they hatch a plan to share the full spectrum of what life has to offer with the
whole community - a decision that will have immediate drastic consequences on everyone,
but especially on Jonas himself.
The Giver won the 1994 Newbery Medal and has sold more than 10 million copies.
In Australia, Canada, and the United States, it is a part of many middle school reading
lists, but it is also on many challenged book lists and appeared on the American Library
Association's list of most challenged books of the 1990s.
The novel forms a loose quartet with three other books set in the same future era: Gathering
Blue, Messenger, and Son.
Plot Jonas, who is eleven years old, is apprehensive
about the upcoming Ceremony where he will be assigned his job.
In his society little or no privacy is allowed; even private houses have two-way intercoms
which can be used to listen in for infractions of the rules.
However, the rules appear to be readily accepted by all, including Jonas.
So it is without real protest that he initially accepts his selection as the Receiver of Memories,
a job he is told will be filled with pain and the training for which will isolate him
from his family and friends forever.
Yet, under the guidance of the present Receiver, a surprisingly kind man who has the same rare,
pale eyes as Jonas, the boy absorbs memories that induce for the first time feelings of
true happiness and love.
Also, for the first time, Jonas knows what it is to see colors, to feel sunshine or see
a rainbow, and to experience snow and the thrill of riding a sled down a hill.
But then he is given the painful memories: war, pain, death, loneliness, and starvation.
These are memories of the Community's deep past.
Jonas learns that the Community engineered a society of "sameness" to protect its people
against this past, yet he begins to understand the tremendous loss he and his people have
endured by giving their memories away, embracing "sameness", and using "climate control".
In his "community", which is under extreme control, there is no suffering, hunger, war,
and, as also, no color, music, or love.
Everything is controlled by "the Elders," who are looked upon in a very positive light,
though they control whom you will marry, whom you receive as children, and what you will
be "assigned" as a job.
Jonas aches with this newfound wisdom and his desire for a life Elsewhere blossoms.
But the final blow for Jonas comes when he asks the Receiver what "release" is.
The Giver says that he could show him, and allows Jonas to watch a present-day tape of
his own father, a seemingly kind and loving man, "releasing" a baby twin by giving him
a lethal injection.
Like any other "aberration" from sameness, identical twins are against the rules, so
the smaller of the two is dispatched like garbage, without the one who conducted the
release understanding the true meaning of the action.
Together, Jonas and the Giver come to the understanding that the time for change is
now, that the Community has lost its way and must have its memories returned.
The only way to make this happen is if Jonas leaves the Community, at which time the memories
he has been given will flood back into the people.
Jonas wants the Giver to escape with him, but the Giver insists that he will be needed
to help the people manage the memories, or they will destroy themselves.
The Giver also wants to remain behind so that when his work is done, he can be with a child:
Rosemary, a girl with pale eyes who ten years earlier had failed in her training to become
the new Receiver of Memories and who had asked to be released.
The Giver devises a plot in which Jonas will escape to Elsewhere, an unknown land that
exists beyond the boundaries of the Communities.
The Giver will make it appear as if Jonas drowned in the river so that the search for
him will be limited.
In the meantime, the Giver will give Jonas memories of strength and courage to sustain
him and save up his meals as Jonas's food and water supply for his journey.
Their plan is changed when Jonas learns that Gabriel, the baby staying with his family
unit, will be "released" the following morning.
Jonas has become attached to the baby, who also has unusual pale eyes, and feels he has
no choice but to escape with the infant.
Without the memories of strength and courage promised by the Giver, Jonas steals his father's
bike and leaves with Gabriel to find the Elsewhere.
Their escape ride is fraught with dangers, and the two are near death from cold and starvation
when they reach the border of what Jonas believes must be Elsewhere.
Using his ability to "see beyond," a gift that he does not quite understand, he finds
a sled waiting for him at the top of a snowy hill.
He and Gabriel ride the sled down towards a house filled with coloured lights and warmth
and love and a Christmas tree, and for the first time he hears something he knows must
be music.
The ending is ambiguous, with Jonas depicted as experiencing symptoms of hypothermia.
This leaves his and Gabriel's future unresolved.
However, their fate is revealed in Messenger, a companion novel written much later.
In 2009 at the National Book Festival, the author Lois Lowry joked during a Q&A, "Jonas
is alive, by the way.
You don't need to ask that question."
Literary significance and criticism The critical reception of Lowry's work has
been polarized.
The Giver has become something of a canonical work among educators who believe that young
adult audiences respond best to contemporary literature.
These teachers postulate that "teenagers need a separate body of literature written to speak
directly to the adolescent experience [...] and plots that revolve around realistic, contemporary
topics".
According to this view, a "classics-only" curriculum can stunt a developing reader's
appetite for reading, though some teachers argue the opposite viewpoint, and press to
keep older works on the reading lists.
Lowry's novel has also found a home in "City Reads" programs, library-sponsored reading
clubs on city-wide or larger scales.
Waukesha County, Dane County and Milwaukee County, Wisconsin chose to read The Giver,
for example, as did Middletown, Connecticut; Bloomington, Illinois; Valparaiso, Indiana;
Rochester, Minnesota; Central Valley, New York; Centre County, Pennsylvania; Montgomery
County, Maryland and others.
Some adult reviewers writing for adults have commented that the story is not likely to
stand up to the sort of probing literary criticism used in "serious" circles.
Karen Ray, writing in The New York Times, detects "occasional logical lapses", but adds
that the book "is sure to keep older children reading".
Young adult fiction author Debra Doyle was more critical stating that "Personal taste
aside, The Giver fails the Plausibility Test", and that "Things are the way they are because
The Author is Making A Point; things work out the way they do because The Author's Point
Requires It".
Natalie Babbitt of The Washington Post was more forgiving, calling Lowry's work "a warning
in narrative form", saying:
The story has been told before in a variety of forms—Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 comes
to mind—but not, to my knowledge, for children.
It's well worth telling, especially by a writer of Lowry's great skill.
If it is exceedingly fragile—if, in other words, some situations do not survive that
well-known suspension of disbelief—well, so be it.
The Giver has things to say that cannot be said too often, and I hope there will be many,
many young people who will be willing to listen.
Awards, nominations, and recognition Lowry won many awards for her work on The
Giver, including the following: The 1994 Newbery Medal – The John Newbery
award is given by the Association for Library Service to Children.The award is given for
the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
The 1994 Regina Medal The 1996 William Allen White Award
American Library Association listings for "Best Book for Young Adults", "ALA Notable
Children's Book", and "100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000."
A Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book Booklist Editors' Choice
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A 2004 study found that it was a common read-aloud book for sixth-graders in schools in San Diego
County, California.
Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association named the book one of
its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children."
It was one of the "Top 100 Chapter Books" of all time in a 2012 poll by School Library
Journal.
Adaptations Oregon Children's Theatre premiered a stage
adaptation of The Giver by Eric Coble in March 2006.
Subsequent productions of Coble's one-hour script have been presented several American
theatres.
In the fall of 1994, actor Bill Cosby and his ASIS Productions film company established
an agreement with Lancit Media Productions to adapt The Giver to film.
In the years following, members of the partnership changed and the production team grew in size,
but little motion was seen toward making the film.
At one point, screenwriter Ed Neumeier was signed to create the screenplay.
Later, Neumeier was replaced by Todd Alcott and Walden Media became the central production
company.
Diana Basmajian adapted the novel to full-length play format, and Prime Stage Theatre produced
in 2006.
Actor Ron Rifkin reads the text for the audio book edition.
A PC computer game based on the novel was planned by Edutainment Software company Brøderbund
in 1995, however it was plagued by delays.
Eventually the game was scrapped following the company's sale to The Learning Company,
however some audio clips of the game have made their way into other media.
The Lyric Opera of Kansas City and the Minnesota Opera co-commissioned and staged a new opera
based on the novel in January 2012.
It was presented in Minneapolis on 27–29 April 2012, and was webcast live on 18 May
2012.
Film
A film is being adapted which was given the green light in December 2012.
Jeff Bridges is set to play The Giver and Brenton Thwaites will play Jonas.
Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes, Alexander Skarsgård, and Taylor Swift will also appear in the film.
It is scheduled for release in North America on August 15, 2014.
References
External links Lois Lowry's Newbery acceptance speech
The Giver study guide, themes, quotes, teacher resources