This photograph shows part of what Jonas sees in the Christmas memory. He learns about the existence of grandparents. He begins to realise the sad and vicious cycle in his community, that after he grows up, his parents would live with the Childless Adults, then move on to the House of Old and lastly be released. Jonas would be too busy with his own life to even know or care about his parents anymore and would soon forget about them. He too could apply for children and then the vicious cycle repeats itself. He feels that with grandparents around in the memory, the family seems more complete and he wishes that he could know who his grandparents were.
This picture shows Jonas' point of view when he first arrives at the Annex for his first training session. He is surprised and amazed by the number of books in the Giver's annex. It is the first indication to Jonas about how different life will be as the reciever of memory as books were not allowed to normal citizens. The Giver uses his books to ascertain Jonas' "seeing beyond" capacity. He asks Jonas to look at the top row of books. When Jonas informs him that the thing he understands as "seeing beyond" has happened again, the Giver tells Jonas that he is beginning to see the colour red. Also, books is one of the subjects that Jonas and the Giver talks about. The subject of books come out when Jonas and the Giver discuss about leading a normal life with the memoriesn they hold. The Giver tells Jonas that he can still live a relatively normal life. He could apply for a spouse and children. However, the Giver adds that there will be a whole part of life that he cannot share with his family such as letting them see or have access to the mountains of books he is to keep.
This is a cartoon depiction of the escape scene in The Giver. The boy in the middle is Jonas, carrying with him Gabriel as they escape the community together. The light of a search plane shines on Jonas as he stands in a snowy background. To his left and right are his parents and the Giver repectively. They are a dull colour, unlike Jonas. It symbolizes the escape from the colourless world of the community. This part of the book is the most exciting, evoking feelings of apprehension and worry in the reader. As Jonas battles with the elements outside his sheltered, climate controlled community, his bond with Gabriel is inevitably strengthened.
This picture shows a syringe being filled with an unknown liquid from a bottle. This depicts what Jonas sees as he watches the video of his father releasing the twin. He watches as his father emotionlessly and coldly injects the liquid into the baby's scalp vein, killing the infant in a matter of seconds.This is the key event that sparks off Jonas' escape from the community. It evokes a sense of shock,, horror, anger and grief.
This photograph depicts Jonas' point of view when he first starts to take his Stirrings pill. Stirrings are foreign to him, something unexplained. When he first experiences them, his mother gives him a long talk and tells him that it is compulsory to take the pill in order for the Stirrings to be gone. She also adds that the pills are to be taken throughout his adult life, even until he reaches the House of Old.
The word "Stirrings" is jargon, used by the author. It actually means sexual feelings. The pills that are taken by the people in Jonas' community are to curb these feelings in order that the people are under total control. This brings to mind the dillution of feelings in Jonas' community. Such natural, human feelings are not allowed in Jonas' community and are prevented by a specially made pill.
This picture shows red flowers that stand out from their black and white background. This reminds me of the part in The Giver when Jonas, after experiencing the memory of the rainbow and starts to see all the colours, places his hand on Asher's shoulder, trying to transmit the awareness of the colour red in the geraniums outside the Hall of Open Records. However, nothing happens to Asher and Jonas awkwardly makes the excuse that they need more watering to hide his real intention. From this incident, it can be seen that Jonas is so eager to share his new found knowledge with others, especially his best friend Asher, that he violates the community rule of not having any physical contact outside the family dwelling. Jonas' failed attempt of transmition also leaves him with a sense of loneliness because his friends are unable to understand what he is experiencing.
This picture shows the memory of a rainbow that the Giver transmitted to Jonas after a long conversation about Jonas' experiences with "Seeing Beyond". After this memory, Jonas' life changed. His life became more vibrant and he began to appreciate the different colours. Jonas began to see colours in his very own community. In the book, it says that Jonas fell in love with colours, reacting very strongly when the Giver explained that the people chose to give up colour when they went to Sameness. Jonas learns the names of all the colours and this new found knowledge about it makes him start to think about choices. He explains to the Giver that it is unfair that nothing has colour and tells him that he wants to have a choice on what colour tunic to wear.
If I were to look through the eyes of anyone in Jonas' community, it would have looked something like this. Everything would be hueless and colourless. It would have been like living in a black and white movie. The community would just be bleak and dull. It would be unlike that Jonas would see through his eyes after he recieved the memory of a rainbow. Everything suddenly had colour and shade to it.
Everything in Jonas' community has a nondescript shade, hueless and flat. Everyone in his community, with the exception of Jonas himself and the Giver, are unable see colours. If there were colour pencils in Jonas' world, they would have looked like this to everyone, even Jonas before he learnt about the existence of colours. Colours, in The Giver, represent individuality and diffrentiation. Colours represent individuality and diffrentiation because if everyone could see colours, different people would have different colour preferences. Jonas' colourless community also represents a lack of freedom and choice. Since everything is the same flat, hueless shade, the people in Jonas' community are deprived of the freedom to choose things of diffrent colours. This lack of freedom of choice also extends to the choice of spouses and jobs. Choices are made for the people by the council of elders, not by individuals themselves.
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This picture shows an eye, with a pale, light pupil. It reminds me of Jonas' pale eyes, which is a distinguishing feature that sets him apart from his peers. In The Giver, almost everyone in Jonas' community has dark eyes. Only very few, like Jonas,The Giver himself, Gabriel, and a female Six, have pale eyes. It is said in the book that light eyes were a rarity and hence made an individual seem different from the rest. It seems that those with paler eyes are not only different because of their look, but also in another way. Both the Giver and Jonas have pale eyes, and are able to experience memories, emotions, see colour and in the Giver's case, hear music. When Jonas tried to soothe Gabriel back to sleep one night, he accidently transmitted a memory to Gabriel, and Gabriel was able to recieve. Gabriel, like Jonas also has pale eyes. This coincidence is not accounted for in The Giver, and the author does not make a connection between pale eyes and being able to recieve memories.
This photo shows a boy trying to catch an apple. The apple in mid air, turns a bright shade of red, standing out against the hueless, colourless background. This depicts the scene in The Giver when Jonas starts to experience what the Elder later refers to as "Seeing Beyond", or put simply, seeing colours. Jonas starts to see the colour red in the apple one day when he and Asher tosses an apple around in the recreation area. Jonas catches a glimpse of red in the apple while it was in mid air. The change that Jonas describes in the apple causes him bewilderment and utter surprise. The way the apple had "changed" is very foreign to him, leaving him no way of aptly describing it. This capacity to see the colour red is what sets him apart from the rest of his peers and is also a factor considered when he was selected to be the next Reciever of Memory.
