The Giver By Lois Lowry: Character Analysis

Imagine a society where there is no such thing as love, hate, joy, sorrow or pain. In the book The Giver, by Lois Lowry, the main character Jonas is desperately trying to live the life he has been denied. The people in his community are living a life full of sameness and do not have the ability to experience any emotion. When Jonas is assigned the difficult job of Receiver; a job that requires him to receive all the memories of joy, sorrow and pain of the past, he realizes that it is up to him and The Giver to change things. In the novel, Jonas learns that a life without emotion is not a life worth living. We see this to be true when Jonas receives his first memory of love and discovers its power, and when he comes to believe that it is …show more content…
They do not understand emotion, because they have been denied the opportunity to experience it. For example, adults are not allowed to choose their own spouses, birthmothers are not allowed to raise their own children, and identical twins can’t exist because it would simply be too confusing. When Jonas witnesses his father, who is a nurturer, murder a twin baby and then dispose of it like a piece of garbage, it is too much for him to handle. “ Jonas felt a ripping sensation inside himself, the feeling of terrible pain clawing its way forward to emerge in a cry” (151). He becomes filled with disgust and anger for his father. The Giver then tells him that because the people don’t know what emotion is “ they can’t help it. They know nothing” (153). The people blindly follow orders and the life that was created for them. Jonas now knows the value of human life, and knows that it is a thing that should be cherished until natural death. The people of his community cannot possible understand this, therefore, there is no value or meaning to life. Jonas is determined to right this wrong. It is ironic that his plan for escape is done because of his love for the people of his community that have never actually experienced

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Character Analysis Of Jonas In The Giver By Lois Lowry