The Giver - Essay

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Describe an idea or issue in the text.

Explain why this idea or issue interested you.

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The Giver by Lois Lowry is a dystopian novel about a young boy named Jonas who lives in a
strict community that is not as perfect as the residents believe it is. Over the course of the
novel, the idea of the importance of memory is introduced to the readers. This idea is
interesting because it shows us how crucial memories are in the feeling of emotions, how
memories aid us in making the correct choices for ourselves and the people around us, and
how becoming the Receiver of Memory for the community influences how Jonas grows and
develops as a character.

The Giver shows us how important memories are in enabling us to feel and control our
emotions. In the community, only the Giver and Jonas, the Receiver of Memory, have access
to memories. Therefore, only they are able to feel complex and deep emotions like love and
pain, while all other members of the community only feel shallow emotions. “But he knew that
they could not understand why, without the memories. He felt such love for Asher and Fiona.
But they could not feel it back, without memories. And he could not give them those.”
(Chapter Seventeen , Page 171) This quote shows us Jonas’ feelings of melancholy at not
being able to receive love in return from his friends, the quote uses short sentences to convey
the disjointed way Jonas is thinking. It emphasises how Asher and Fiona, people without
memories, are unable to grasp the depth of emotions such as love and pain. This shows us
how important memories are in feeling emotions, and how we may never experience strong
emotions like the rest of the community who have no access to memories.

The way Lowry presents the idea of the importance of memories to us throughout The Giver
allows the reader to see how memories affect our ability to make choices, and to judge
whether the choice is correct or not. This comes down to something as simple as choosing
the colour of one’s clothes in the morning, or something that has an impact on the lives of all
the people living in the community. “I want to wake up in the morning and decide things! A
blue tunic, or a red one?” (Chapter Thirteen, Page 127) This piece of dialogue that Jonas
says to the Giver reveals the endless choices that having memories allow us to make. Just
by receiving the memory of colours, Jonas is now able to choose from a variety of things,
even if the choices are something as mundane as dressing in the morning. In this passage,
we are able to see how excited and hungry Jonas is for the freedom to choose that having
memories gives him, and the capacity for wanting change that the memories have awakened.
By gaining memories, Jonas now has the ability to choose and make the correct choices for
the people he loves; seen in his choice to leave the community to save Gabriel from release
and to give the memories back to the rest of the community.

The idea of the importance of memory is particularly interesting in the way it influences Jonas
and the way he develops over the course of the novel. Jonas at the beginning, like everyone
else in the community, does not realise the importance of memories and also does not have
any memories or knowledge of events beyond his own life. However, as the Giver transmits
more and more memories to him, he is able to experience complex emotions, and witness
events that he has never experienced living in the sheltered community, leading to Jonas
realising the truth about his community and his decision to leave the community, a choice he
makes because of the memories he has received from the Giver. “But he has come this far.
He must try to go on.” (Chapter Twenty-Three, Page 220) This quote from Jonas’ inner
monologue as he escapes the community with Gabriel shows how much he has grown from
being the young boy without memories. With the memories he has received from the Giver,
he has realised the need for change in the community. Now that he has already gone so far
on his journey to Elsewhere, the courage and hope that he has gained from having memories
is displayed in his determination to keep on going with Gabriel. Through Jonas’ character
development, we are given an interesting glimpse of the contrast between a person who does
not have memories and a person who does, showing us how important having memories is in
being a real person who is able to feel emotions, make decisions, and grow to become a
better version of themselves.

In The Giver, Lois Lowry shows us how important memories are and what a society without
memories would be like. With memories, we are able to feel complex emotions with depth,
without memories, we can only feel shallow versions of stronger emotions, unable to grasp
the concept of emotions like love and pain. Similarly, memories allow us to make choices,
and help us to understand how to make the correct choices. This is all evident in the way that
Jonas’ character develops over the novel; his growth from an ignorant child to someone who
is able to break out of the community’s influence to make the correct choices highlights the
importance of memory and makes it a compelling and interesting idea for the the reader to
explore throughout The Giver.