Garner

Ryan Garner
Mrs. Szymczak
ALA 7
25 October 2016
Giver Final Essay
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for ages 10-24 (Youth Suicide Statistics).
Normally in Jonass society, no one ever kills themselves. Jonas is the main character in the
book, The Giver, by Lois Lowry. Jonas's job is to be the Receiver of Memories. A Receivers
job is to hold memories so that the rest of the community does not have to. His predecessor,
Rosemary, is told to have failed her job. Rosemary failed her job because she applied for release.
Once one applies for release, people must give them release. The catch is, where Jonas lives,
"release" is actually a euphemism for being killed. For a release, a needle with killing fluid is
injected into someone. People can apply for release, or get released if not in perfect physical
condition. She was given horrible memories such as ones of poverty, hunger, and terror.
Rosemary applied for release shortly after receiving the traumatic memories. Rosemarys release
was an example of suicide because she injected the needle into herself, she knew what release
was, and did not like her job.
To commit suicide, there must be a physical aspect involved. For an example, if a person
jumps off of a bridge the action involved is doing so, jumping off of a bridge. One example
Rosemarys release was an example of suicide was that she injected the needle into herself. For
a release to be true, a needle must be injected into someone and the needle must contain a killing
fluid. The fluid is normally injected by a Nurturer. In Rosemarys instance, she injected the

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fluid into herself (Lowry 151). Rosemary wanted her life to end as fast as possible, so she
injected the needle herself. Since the fluid kills, the action Rosemary did is considered suicide.
Not only did Rosemary inject the needle into herself, but she also knew what release was.
In the act of suicide you kill yourself. Rosemary would not act to inject a needle into herself
without knowing what release actually was. The book does not state this directly, but the
detail that Rosemary knew what release was is probably inferred by many readers. Rosemary
told them that she would prefer to inject herself (Lowry 151). Thus, as said in the quote,
Rosemary knew what release was and preferred to inject the needle into herself.
The main reason for Rosemarys suicide was probably that she did not like her job. To be
a receiver of memory, one must hold good and bad memories, so when the Giver of Memories
dies, all of the memories do not get released. The bad memories Rosemary obtained were those
of hunger, terror, poverty, and those of the like. Though Rosemary was not ready to get the bad
memories, she wanted them so she could make the Giver more comfortable. The old and the bad
memories cause pain to the holder of them. Giver did not want to give them to Rosemary that
early. Once the bad memories were given, Rosemary loathed how the people lived in starvation
and poverty. Rosemary did not like her job because the bad memories were too much for her to
handle. Rosemary at that point wanted no more bad memories, and decided to commit suicide.
As the book states, She asked for release, and they had to give it to her (Lowry 143).
Not liking her job was almost certainly a main reason for Rosemarys suicide. Other
reasons were that she injected the needle into herself and she knew what release was. Rosemary
injected the needle into herself because she thought she wanted to take action in her release.
Also, Rosemary would not ever ask to inject the needle into herself if she did not know what
release was. She did not like her job because it was difficult to grasp the way the people lived in

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the bad memories. Rosemary, the previous Receiver of Memories, was the first, and last, person
in Jonass community to ever commit suicide. At least the second leading cause of death for 10s
to 24s was only done once in Jonass community. And it was donce once by the one and only
Rosemary.

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Works Cited
Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York, NY, Dell Laurel-Leaf, 2002.
Youth Suicide Statistics - Parent Resource Program. Parent Resource Program,
http://jasonfoundation.com/prp/facts/youth-suicide-statistics/.