The Giver Chapters 1-4

Chapters 1-4

Jonas is apprehensive about the coming December, not frightened. He remembers that being frightened is something more sinister, like the time he had seen a jet fly over the community twice. A voice in the speakers had told everyone to seek shelter immediately and later revealed that a pilot-in-training had made a navigation error. This was a serious error and he would be 'released'. Jonas understood that being released was the ultimate punishment for any contributing citizen. Jonas is eleven years old, and he goes to class with other eleven-year-olds. He fondly remembers the time his friend Asher, another ‘eleven,' had confused the meaning of the word 'distraught' with distracted, when he had failed to arrive for class on time. Jonas didn't make such mistakes, he is careful about his language. He is apprehensive about December but not frightened.

In the evening, Jonas's father begins the 'feelings' ritual, generally, Jonas fights with his seven-year-old sister, Lily, for the opportunity to begin sharing his feelings, but today he let her go first without complaint. She tells them all of visiting sevens from another community who failed to observe the rules of their play, and her family helped her resolve her straightforward feelings of anger. Jonas's father went next, he is a 'nurturer' and responsible for the care of the community's children until they turn one. He is worried about a child who isn't growing fast enough and maybe released if the committee makes that decision. Releasing young children is a rare and sad affair, while the release of the elderly is always a celebration of a life well-lived. Jonas's father wants to bring the baby home, to care for him, as he is certain that the nighttime nurturers are not competent enough. Jonas understands that some of them haven't even been allocated a spouse because they lack the ability to make that connection.

Jonas's mother works in the justice department and experiences rage when she has to administer justice to repeat offenders. The community doesn't entertain offenders beyond a second time, there is no third chance but only release. Finally, it is Jonas's turn, and he tells his parents about his apprehension for the Ceremony of Twelve. His parents send Lily to bed while they speak to Jonas in private about his ceremony. The Ceremony of Twelve is the last one in a child's life, it is when the child is given his assignment for life. Ceremonies are held every year in December, the Ceremony of One is the first and in it, a child is assigned to a family and given a name. Jonas recalls when they had received Lily, he had been five at the time. The community is governed by many rules, like the rule about bicycles. Children are given bicycles at the Ceremony of Nine, but most children learn to ride much earlier by the elder siblings. Rules are difficult to change, and serious changes are sent to 'the Receiver', the most important elder, for approval. The mundane rules can be decided by the committee of Elders. The rules extend deep into the personal lives of the citizens, even family units need to have one male and one female child.

His father attempts to comfort him about the ceremony by sharing an account of his own, however, he had known what assignment he would be given beforehand. He was always spending his time with the new children, and the elders had observed this. Jonas understands that the elders spend a great amount of time observing the elevens and make the decision with significant forethought. He worries about his friend Asher, who makes a game out of everything, but is certain that he will always be friends with him. His mother explains that life changes after the Ceremony of Twelve, he will have less time for recreation, and spend more time with the people from his vocation. Their discussion ends when Lily enters the room and asks that she be given her comfort object, a stuffed elephant, even though both of the kids have no true idea of what an animal is.

Jonas's father brings the troubled baby home, his name is Gabriel. Jonas's father knew his name even though the baby hadn't gone through the Ceremony of One. Lily loves little children, and she sees the pale eyes of the baby and compares them to Jonas's eyes. Jonas doesn't like that, he knows that it is rude to bring attention to any detail that sets the individual apart, and Joans's eyes are rare. Lily reasons that Jonas and Gabriel could have the same birthmother, and she wishes that she is assigned to be a birthmother. Their mother doesn't appreciate that sentiment and tells Lily that there is no honor in that assignment as birthmothers are only allowed three births. Then they are sent to be laborers until they join the house of the Old.

Jonas reasons that Lily might be better as a Speaker, and would enjoy making the announcements all day. The announcements never mention anyone's name but everyone eventually learns who is being addressed. Jonas recalls the embarrassment he felt when an announcement had been made about him. He had taken an apple from the recreation room because when he had been playing catch with Asher using the apple, he had seen it change in mid-air and then revert. Jonas brought the apple home to examine it more closely but it had been just an apple. The rest of the evening was spent as all others, it was a quiet and reflective time to prepare for the coming day.

Jonas goes out to complete his volunteer hours and looks for his friend Asher so that they can spend some time together. The freedom of choosing where to spend the volunteer hours was rare and it did not apply to the rest of the hours in the day. Jonas finally finds Asher's bicycle parked at the House of the Old with just one other, that of Fiona's. She is a fun-loving person much like Asher. The attendant at the reception is happy that a few people are volunteering because and they need the help since the schedule has been strained by a releasing ceremony that was held earlier in the day. The attendant validates Jonas's signature with a stamp and Jonas recalls how an eleven-year-old was turned away from the Ceremony of Twelve because he hadn't completed all of his mandatory volunteer hours. Unlike most of the other eleven-year-olds, Jonas had volunteered at a lot of different places, so now he is unsure of what his assignment will be.

Jonas helps Larissa with her bath and likens it to his father helping baby Gabriel bath. Adults and children are forbidden to see another's nakedness, and the only exceptions to the rule were the elderly and the babies. Larissa tells Jonas of Roberto's releasing ceremony, she describes it as a pleasant affair. They had talked of Roberto's achievements which had been many, and then Roberto had been led to the releasing with an expression of pure bliss. Jonas asks Larissa about the fate of the people who were released, but Larissa is just as unaware as he is. Those who are released are simply led out of a door to the releasing room, but children aren't even allowed in the room.

Analysis

The Giver is written from the perspective of the 11-year-old, Jonas. The account of his community may have sinister undertones for the reader, but Jonas doesn't indicate any disquiet about the regimented lifestyle that his community leads. The citizens of this world follow 'rules' instead of laws, and thus the governing body is not seen as a state but rather a concerned parent. The rules described in these initial chapters detail a totalitarian government that dictates minute details of its citizen's lives. Children are only allowed to own bicycles after the age of nine and are required to give up their stuffed animals at the age of eight. Families are selectively created by the committee of elders, while spouses are allocated and they then have to apply for children. Normal familial relations are seemingly non-existent, and parents interact with their children using phrases that seem practiced or learned.

Rituals are an important motif and they permeate throughout Jonas's world. Citizens gather at the end of the year to mark annual milestones in children's lives. The process of apology is ritualized as well and is evident in the manner Asher apologizes to his classroom for being late. The response to an apology is always the same, as citizens have to vocally accept the apology. In the evenings, the citizens are required to share feelings in their family unit. All of these rituals help the state control the emotional states of their citizens, while they may appear harmless in essence. The combined effect of all these rituals leads to the creation of citizens whose emotions are controlled by society. The state also surveils its citizens, so that things as small as loose ribbons and missing apples are tracked and announcements are made to reprimand the offending citizen.

In chapter 3, the reader learns about another disturbing feature of Jonas's seemingly utopian world. The children in his society are sourced from assigned women who then have to relinquish the child to the nurturers until the Committee of Elders decides to allocate the child to a suitable family unit. The women of this vocation are referred to as 'birthmothers' and are only allowed to have three children over three years. They are then assigned to perform labor and are doomed to that lowest stratification of their society until they are released. In the initial chapters, we are made to believe that release is the ultimate punishment for the citizens who fail to obey the rules of society. We then learn that the elderly are also 'released' at the end of their life. Jonas seems to believe that 'release' involves relocation to 'Elsewhere', but the reader can decipher a darker reality to this process.