Chapters - 22 & 23.

Chapter – 22.

Gradually the landscape changes. The road becomes narrower, untended by the road crews. It gets increasingly difficult for Jonas to maintain his balance on such wobbly and bumpy roads. Once Jonas’ bike hits a rock and Jonas falls, badly bruising his knees in the process. While the bike overturns, Jonas instinctively reaches for Gabriel, trying to keep him from any harm.

Jonas then starts riding in the morning, with all fear of the searchers, who seem to have disappeared into thin air, gone. Now he is faced with new fears of the unknown perils. He realizes that the safety and survival of Gabriel depends entirely on him, his strength.

They encounter more streams now from which they drink water. They also see their first waterfall, wildlife (i.e. birds, deer and a reddish-brown creature). All this is new to him and he stops his bike time and again to look at wildflowers, or the way the wind rustles in the trees. He has never experienced such exquisite happiness in his life before.

Now the most nagging fear gnawing at his stomach is the fear of starvation. In order to satiate his hunger, Jonas tries to fish from a stream. He catches two silvery fish after many tries with a makeshift net. He hacks them into pieces and feeds on the raw flesh. He even tries catching a bird!

At night, as Gabriel sleeps, Jonas keeps awake, trying to recollect the memories, the memories of the roasted meats at banquets, birthday parties with frosted cakes, fresh fruits picked from sun-baked trees). But then when the memories are gone, he is left with a growing sense of hunger. Now he thinks about how each dwelling in their community is provided with food. When he had the chance, he made the wrong choice and now he has to starve. But staying back would not have helped as he would have lived a life devoid of feelings, colour and love. Besides, Gabe would have had no life at all! Then Jonas notices for the first time in reality what he always yearned to see – hills. They also get wet in the rain, so different from what he had seen in the memories.

Gabriel now starts crying due to hunger, cold and weakness. So does Jonas for similar reasons. But he suffers for one more reason – his inability to protect and save Gabriel.

Chapter – 23.

Jonas, despite all the discomforts, is now sure of the existence of Elsewhere, which cannot be far away. All his hopes of getting there are fast diminishing with the snow piling fast all around him.

The ever alert and curious Gabriel puts his head against his chest, feeble and shivering. Jonas takes off his vest and holding him (Gabriel) close to him, he envelops the dirty, torn blanket around them. A steep hill is ahead, which will be difficult to climb even under normal circumstances, but now the mounting snow has made the ride almost impossible. When the bicycle cannot move any further, he gets off and the bike falls sideways. He has an overwhelming desire to lie down beside it too, in the softness of the snow and the warmth of the oblivion of sleep.

Yet he moves on as he is a fighter, with the fear of the memories leaving him. He tries to transmit the memory of sunshine (warmth) to Gabe, the only person left to love, bringing temporary relief to both of them.

Jonas begins the upward climb. The warm memory is gone and they feel cold again. Fortunately, Jonas is back to being alert ; the transitory memory has restored his will to survive. He stumbles, unable to get up, he grasps at a wisp of memory of warmth and begins climbing and moving forward.

The top of the hill seems so far away, but he trudges on. As he approaches the summit, despite the physical hardships and all, he feels happy recalling the happy times (parents, Lily, Asher, Fiona and the giver). He arrives at the crest of the hill and can feel the ground becoming level.

Excited, he calls out, “I remember this place, Gab.” It is not a thin recollection but a different kind of memory, something for keeps, something of his own. Through the blinding storm, bitter-cold wind, he rubs Gabriel to keep him alive. He is confident of warmth and light ahead.

Jonas finally finds the sled, hugging Gabe tightly, he settles on it, least afraid of any likely pain this time in the real situation. His heart is filled with new hope. He wills himself to protecting Gabe and against losing consciousness. The runners speed through the snow with the wind whipping at his face, to the final destination, Elsewhere, beckoning to the promise of the future and holding the past at the same time.

He then finds the lights through the windows of the rooms – red, blue and yellow lights on the trees in houses where families celebrate Love and keep memories. He can hear music and people singing, positively waiting for them. Behind him, from the place he has left behind, there comes music too. But it is just the echo.

The End

Chapter - 21.

Chapter – 21.

The whole day the more Jonas thinks about the plan, the more assured he is of the success of the plan. But that evening at his dwelling something happens that makes the plan fall apart and he runs away.

During the evening meal, Father informs about the decision they took in the afternoon regarding the future of Gabriel, who made life hell for the night workers at the Nurturing Center, when in Jonas’ absence, he was sent there. Gabriel is to be released. Jonas acts normal, despite this shocking disclosure, and cleverly learns from his father that the release is to take place next morning as the people at the Center have to get ready for the Naming Ceremony in December.

Jonas leaves right after dusk with the community quite still. He cycles past the Central Plaza on his way to the river stealthily. He has no fear or regrets, but only sadness at the thought of leaving behind his best friend. He knows it in his bones that with his ability to hear beyond, the Giver can hear the final good- bye.

Jonas on reaching the other side of the bridge, stops to look back at the place of his childhood. A place where everything is orderly and where nothing unusual ever happens. He hurries on thinking about the rules he has already broken and the punishment awaiting him if he gets caught. Firstly, he has come out of the dwelling at night. Secondly, he has stolen the left-over food kept at the doorsteps for collection. Finally, he has stolen though reluctantly, his father’s bicycle with the attached child-seat, for he has also taken Gabriel!

Jonas gave Gab a very soothing memory of a swinging hammock under palm trees on an island with the sound of languid water lapping against the beach. Gab slept soundly after Jonas had taken him from the crib and strapped him into the attached seat.

He knows that he has the remaining hours of the night before people of his community become aware of his escape. He has to rely on his own courage. He stills himself not to tire as the distance between the communities grows. His legs start aching and become numb. At the break of dawn, he finds himself at a strange place with trees dotting the fields here and there on either side of the road. As Gab stirs, Jonas unstraps him and feeds them both with the food and with water from the stream across the bumpy meadow. Then in order to restrengthen his weary limbs, in a place hidden in the trees, he goes to sleep after cuddling Gab tightly and letting him fall asleep with the memory of exhaustion. The fugitives sleep through their first dangerous night together.

Their flight becomes rountined in the course of the next few days: sleep in the day and the endless ride at night. But what frightens them the most are the searching planes. Sometime they fly so low overhead that looking through the trees and underbushes, Jonas can see the face of the pilot. In order to avoid getting caught by the heat detection devices of those planes due to their body warmth and heat, like he has learnt from his science and technology studies, Jonas transmits the memory of snow to Gab. Both of them will shiver after the planes are gone and go back to sleep.

Jonas wishes that he had received the memories of courage and strength from the Giver before fleeing. Gab will sometime during the night warn him about an approaching plane when they come unannounced. At such times Jonas will rush to the nearest trees and make themselves cold with the memories. As the signs of human habitation lessen, Jonas will be constantly on the watch, readying themselves for any oncoming plane. But the frequency of the planes becomes few and far between until the day when there is not even a single plane.

To be continued .....

Chapter - 20.

Chapter – 20.

Jonas is so devastated that he does not want to get back home. He is exasperated at the utter lack of feelings in their community. The Giver then informs his family through the Speaker that he will stay with him that night for additional training.

Jonas is particularly angry with his father for lying to him. He asks the Giver if he lies to him as well. The Giver tries to comfort Jonas by telling him that people do what they do in their community due to their ignorance and as per the instructions. He goes on to tell Jonas then that after the meal, they will sit together and make a plan.

Jonas is not impressed as he feels that there is nothing they can do to change. The Giver tells him there was a time long back when people did have emotions like pride, love, sorrow and pain. He also tells Jonas that the worst part of keeping the memories is the feeling of loneliness one gets without sharing them with anyone. Memories, he tells Jonas, need to be shared and having Jonas in his room in the last one year or so has helped the Giver to figure out a way to change things in their community.

The Giver and Jonas spend the rest of the night hatching the plan in great detail. If it fails, Jonas will be killed (but to Jonas, it matters little). He requests the Giver to accompany him in his escapade. The Giver has to stay back for if both of them are gone; the people in their community will suffer from the protection of the memories. When Rosemary, who was trained for only five weeks and had mostly pleasurable memories, was lost, the memories came back to torture the people of the community and they panicked. Even Jonas had a tough time at the start of his training. So the Giver will have to stay back to help the people cope with the loss of Jonas.

Jonas wonders if they will find a new Receiver, once he is gone. But that will take years as there is only one girl aged six, Katharine, with the qualities of a Receiver. He asks the Giver to come along with him without bothering about the rest of the community people. But then Jonas feels guilty as he realizes that it is important for the Giver to stay back. The Giver informs him that now Jonas has the colors and courage, he will give him strength through music, due to his ability of hearing-beyond, something he has kept hidden from everyone else secretly..

Back in his dwelling, Jonas lies to his parents like they do to him. At school, he goes over the plan in his mind. For the next two weeks, the Giver will give him memories of strength and courage to prepare him for his journey to Elsewhere. The night before the December Ceremony, he will slip away, in defiance of an important rule for the citizens not to leave their dwellings at night.  Making sure to avoid getting caught by anyone including the Food Collectors and the Path-Maintenance Crews, he will go to the riverbank and leave his bicycle and clothing in bushes. Then he will proceed to the Giver’s annex for the last time.

Next morning the Giver will ask for a vehicle and a driver. On their arrival, he will send the driver on an errand and help Jonas hide in the dickey (storage area) of the car along with some food. Next, they will be on their way to the bridge. It is nothing unusual, considering the fact that the Giver’s responsibility includes meeting the elders of the other communities.

Jonas’s parents, in the meantime, will be irritated with the note he has left on bed. They will still wait for him with increasing anger and finally leave for the Ceremony without him. They cannot share anything about Jonas with anyone in the hall as it will reflect badly on their parenting. But as the day progresses, people will be concerned and eventually Searchers will be sent out.

The Giver will be back by then. Finding the people in confusion and chaos, he  will go to the auditorium and inform them that Jonas has been lost in the river. He himself will then preside over the Ceremony of Loss, chanting Jonas’ name loudly at first, and then doing it slower and slower till the memory of Jonas is removed from their minds.

That night (the night they made the plan) at the annex, the Giver finally informed Jonas of his intention of changing the people and making them whole once again. Once his job was done, he would like to reunite with his daughter. To Jonas’ utter surprise, the Giver then informed him (Jonas) that his daughter was none other than Rosemary.

To be continued …….

Chapters - 18 & 19.

Chapter-18.

Lying in the Giver’s bed, Jonas asks him if he ever thinks of release. The Giver replies that he thinks both about his own release as well as the subject in general. He also informs Jonas that he (Giver) cannot ask for release till the new Receiver is trained.

In conversing, the failure of the last Receiver crops up. Jonas requests the Giver to talk about the last Receiver. The Receiver-to-be, so the Giver informs Jonas, was selected, the Ceremony held, and the crowd cheered as they did for Jonas.

She, for it was a girl, was frightened. Remarkably serene, self-possessed and intelligent, she was excited about her first day of training as Jonas was. Rosemary, with her luminous eyes and inquisitive mind, had the same vitality. The Giver felt love for her like in the memory of Christmas, like he does for Jonas. The training began well. She received the memories well. The Giver found it difficult to transmit the painful memories. In five weeks, the Giver gave her happy memories – a ride on a merry-go-round, a kitten to play with, picnics. Her laughter lit up the otherwise quiet room. Then like Jonas, she also asked for the difficult memories. So she was given loss and loneliness – a child snatched away from its parents. The memory stunned her. Jonas can visualize her looking shocked in the bed.

The Giver gave her delights, but she insisted on him transmitting the painful ones, so he gave her anguish of different sorts – Poverty, Hunger, Terror. As the Giver sounds pained reminiscing it, Jonas stars stroking his hand reassuringly.

One afternoon after a hard session of training, she got up frowning, put her arms around him, kissed him on the cheek and was gone. She did not go home but went directly to the Chief Elder and asked for release. Jonas knows that he will never do anything like that as he is the successor. Jonas wonders what will happen if he gets released through accidents. It will be far more disastrous as Jonas has received a year of memories. It was disastrous when the community lost Rosemary as the memories which are forever, came back to them and they did not know how to deal with them.

The Giver finally tells Jonas that unlike last time, when due to his own grief, he did not help the people through, if something happens to Jonas, he will try to help them. But he needs to think about it. Giver, with troubled eyes and thoughts elsewhere,  asks Jonas not to go near the river.

Chapter-19.

Jonas then tells him that he has asked about release as one of the twins is to be released that day. He wonders if the twin has been released by now. The Giver informs him that as the Receiver, he has the right of access to anything. If he wants to watch the release, he has to ask for it as all the ceremonies are recorded and kept in the Hall of Closed Records. He next, puts the switch of the Speaker to on and requests for the video recording of the release of the twin.

The black screen above the row of switches comes alive, showing a carpeted, windowless room, with a bed, a scale, a table with equipment and a cupboard. Soon Jonas’ father accompanied by the Assistant Nurturer enter the room, carrying the newborns wrapped in soft blankets. He unwraps them and keeps them on the bed. Both are males. Next, he lifts them on the scale. One is found to be weighing exactly six pounds, the other five pounds ten ounces. He helps them by putting the wrappers back on and hands the heavier one to the Assistant. Jonas happily thinks that his father is now going to clean the weaker one up and make him comfy. The Giver asks Jonas to watch the proceedings without talking.

His father opens the cupboard, takes a syringe, fills it up with a clean liquid from a bottle. He then injects the content in a vein on the top of its forehead until the syringe is empty. The baby squirms and its head falls to the side as it becomes limp. Jonas realizes that his father has actually killed the baby. For a moment he has the same choking sensation as the memory of life leaving the light-haired kid on the battle-field comes back to haunt him again! Eventually, the Nurturer, disposes of the dead body by putting it in a carton and shoving it out through a door on the other side of the room. 
Afterwards the Giver talks about how they let him watch the release of Rosemary and how brave she was in releasing herself, as the Giver watched helplessly. Jonas is horrified by the release and lets out a painful cry.

Chapters - 16 & 17.

Chapters 16-17.

Chapter – 16.

Jonas feels terrible after the Memory of the War. He has no choice as he has been selected to bear the burden. So he goes back to the annex and receives many pleasant memories from the Giver for many days like the Memory of the Birthday party celebrating the joy and uniqueness of being an individual; Museums with their colourful paintings; Memory of the Horse ride with the sense of the close bonding between humans and animals; the Memory of the Campfire (the joy of Solitude) and finally the Memory of Christmas (Warmth, Love, Happiness etc).

He is much taken by the concept of grandparents and feels it will be nice to have them around in their community despite the apparent risks involved. On his return home that evening, he asks his parents if they love him. His bemused parents tell him that love is a generalized term and therefore, obsolete and inappropriate. But they enjoy his company and pride in his achievements. Jonas lies to them for the first time, despite his strong feelings of love.

Gabriel in the meantime has slept peacefully in his room for four consecutive nights. Each night Jonas gives him memories of picnics, boat-rides, dancing barefoot on a damp lawn and of the soft rainfall against the windowpanes. But not so surprisingly either, when Gab is taken away from his room, he starts sleeping fretfully again. So he comes back till the habit of good sleep is formed in him. The Nurturers are optimistic about his future. Jonas feels the need for love in their community and does not take the pills again!

Chapter – 17.

A rare and unexpected holiday is declared in their community. On such days substitute Labourers take over all the necessary tasks. Happy like the other citizens, Jonas starts looking for Asher and rides to the playfield. He has not taken the pills for the past four weeks and does not want to go back to the world of no feelings! As a result and due to the memories, he can keep the colours for long now. While cycling by the riverside, he realizes that now he can look at the river in its entirety – its colour, history and light all included!

He finds most of the children playing the popular game of the good guys and the bad guys ( A game of war). Some of them are pretending to be struck by the enemies, and clutching their chests or shoulders, they drop down to the ground, giggling.

Despite Asher’s threats, Jonas goes out to the ground and nearly cries out in pain recollecting the dying kid on the battlefield. Asher blames Jonas for being a spoilsport. He asks Fiona, looking very beautiful at that time and Asher, not to play such a game anymore. Asher takes offence and tells him that he is the Assistant Director of Recreation and what they were doing, is not Jonas’ area of expertise ('expertness'). Next moment Asher realizes his rudeness and apologizes to Jonas. Fiona, nervous, asks Jonas if he would like a walk by the riverside. Having declined the offer politely, Jonas sits by the storeroom, He is overwhelmed with a sense of loss (of friends, childhood etc.) and sadness. He also understands his helplessness in not being able to change anything.

Back in his dwelling, father wants to go to sleep early as the twins to-be-born next day, have been detected to be identical. So he will have to release the weaker one. Lily then starts thinking aloud if the weaker of the twins may be sent to Elsewhere after his release from their community and in due course of time gets to meet the other twin during a school trip and what if they switch their places and all. Mother regards Lily to be highly imaginative and opines that it will be nice if she is assigned the job of the Storyteller. Thus encouraged, Lily shares a better idea for one more story. Her idea of the possibility of everyone like Father, Jonas, Asher, the Chief Elder, herself. in the community having a twin Elsewhere is cut short by father reminding her about bed-time.

Chapters 13-15.

Chapter – 13.

As days, months pass by, Jonas begins to see colors. Giver tells him that it will take him long to keep the colors for long, but Jonas wants to choose and decide for himself.

Jonas feels it will be nice if Gabriel can choose the toys by their colors for himself. He feels sorry for his groupmates, who are satisfied with their lives and there is not much Jonas can do for them.

One day he has a disturbing experience. Under the touch of the Giver’s hand, he finds himself in an alien, wind-swept land, with a clear blue sky overhead. He can, from behind the bushes, hear the poachers killing an elephant and the huge animal falling down with a loud thud. He finds them hack the tusks from the dead body. When they are gone, its mate comes out into the open from behind the bushes and lets out a heart-wrenching cry.

That evening on his return home, when father is busy combing Lily’s hair, he tries to transmit the memory of the giant animal to them, by placing his hands on their shoulders, without any success.

Time and again by talking to the Giver, he comes to know about the role of the giver in their community. A new receiver will always have some net set of rules. The Receiver leads a lonely life and counsels the Committee of Elders as and when required. Due to the failure of the last receiver, who took away with her the memories, which were released to someplace easily accessible to the community people, there was absolute mayhem in their society. The Committee realized the importance of letting the Receiver keep the painful memories.

Somedays when the receiver is in pain due to the weight of the memories, he will ask Jonas to go away. Jonas then will take a walk by the riverside, trying to test the power of the memories by himself. He will stand at the one end of the bridge and wonder what lies at the other end, beyond the land of the communities over there. Does it lead to Elsewhere, where he had seen the dead elephant? Finally, when he keeps on asking the Giver for the painful memories, the giver gives him one.

Chapter – 14.

Jonas gets transported to a steeper hill with a light snow falling. He is delighted to find himself on a sled, going downhill. But then he loses control to the speed and steepness as the sled turns sideways, starts spinning and hits a bump.

Jonas is thrown off, in mid air before falling down with a twisted leg under him. He hears the next moment a bone cracking as if a wild fire is licking at the torn flesh and bone. Great fear overtakes him as he lies stupefied with excruciating pain. He starts throwing up with blood dripping from his face. Then he is back in the annex.

Back home, he refuses his father's offer of medication (against the rule for the giver), nor does he discuss anything related to his training ( against the rule again). He goes up to his room early and feels sorry for his family as they have no idea of pain. In his dream, he relives the anguished memory.

From then on, Jonas starts receiving painful memories of the past. But each painful memory is followed by a pleasurable one: a sail on a green, blue lake; the orange sun going sown behind the mountains and so on. After receiving the Memory of Hunger and Starvation one day, Jonas cannot help asking the giver what wisdom they could possibly derive from this memory. The Giver, in reply, talks about the time before his birth, when the Community members wanted Birthmothers to be assigned four births so some family units could have the pleasure of an extra child. This was mainly to solve the problem of the labour shortage. The Giver advised them against the idea based on the Memory of Starvation. As population increased many moons ago. so did hunger resulting in warfare at the end!

Jonas finds the idea of keeping the painful memories by the giver and the Receiver revolting and wants to change the existing rules. Unfortunately, both of them realize that it is almost impossible.

Gabriel in the meantime is growing up. Even then Jonas’ father is not sure if he is to be released or not. Mother thinks it will be a good idea as without him she can sleep peacefully. Anyways, Jonas’ father informs them that he is busy with the possibility of the release of the weaker of the twins. Hearing him talking about release, Jonas starts thinking of Elsewhere and wonders if Larissa, who has been released recently, will be there at the other end of the bridge, to welcome the weaker twin. The thought of Larissa makes Jonas protective of Gab and he seeks permission from his parents to let him keep watch over Gab in his room for the night. This will also let his parents sleep well.

That night Jonas keeps awake In his room as he keeps an eye on Gab. Gab sleeps peacefully and so does Jonas finally. He is awakened by the restlessness of the child. He goes upto the crib and puts his hand on the child’s back. He starts patting the whimpering baby rhythmically, calling up the memory of the wonderful boat-ride in the lake in the process.

Suddenly the realization of unknowingly transmitting most of the memory to Gab dawns on him. He tries to retain whatever little of the memory he is left with, before retiring to bed.

Just before dawn, as the child starts whining again, Jonas purposefully transfers the rest of the boat-ride memory to him. He knows that he can always receive the memory of the boat-ride in a lake, on an ocean from the Giver. He wonders if he should inform the giver. He decides against it as he is neither a qualified giver, nor is Gab a selected receiver!

Chapter – 15.

Next day, on entering the Giver’s room, Jonas finds him rocking on the chair, his face covered with both hands, in utter pain. Concerned, Jonas asks him if he can help in any way. The Giver requests him to take some of his painful memories away. Lying on the bed, Jonas is let in a far-flung, foul-smelling land with the atmosphere thick and heavy with yellow, brown smoke. He finds a badly injured horse die in front of his own eyes and hears someone lying nearby whisper pitiably for water. Inspite of his unbearable pain, he laboriously moves his hand to his side to get the metal container in order to pour water in the parched mouth of the dying lad, no older than himself!

Some water goes down the soldier’s  mouth, some down his grimy chin. He coughs up blood and drenches his apron. Then he is gone. With heaps of dead, injured, mutilated bodies of humans and animals lying all around, accompanied with the nauseating stench, Jonas decides to face Death with open eyes. He finds himself in the annex with the Giver sitting close by. The giver apologizes to Jonas for the painful memory. 

To be continued ........

Chapters 10-12.

Chapter – 10.

Jonas arrives at the very ordinary-looking annex and at the bequest of the friendly but respectful attendant, hurries to the Giver’s room. What catches his attention almost immediately on entering, are the stacks of books almost reaching up to the ceiling. He becomes aware of the man sitting on a chair near the table. He recognizes the man. He is the elder who seemed different from the other elders at the Ceremony.

Wrinkled and pale-eyed with lots of puffy, shadowy muscle around them, the Giver picks up a conversation by informing Jonas that he (Giver) is not  as old as he looks, but his job has aged him. He goes on to inform Jonas the time when he had to undergo the same process,  He regrets that his experience with the last Receiver ended in a failure as he is not perfect.

His job now is to transmit all his memories of the whole world to Jonas. Memories that date back to generations before. He has been weighted down by all those memories as he experiences them alone day in and day out, in his room. It is like going downhill on a sled through deep snow. Then the giver realizes that his words mean nothing to Jonas as Jonas does not know anything about snow, sled or downhill either.

The Giver then asks Jonas to move to the bed and lie down in order to transmit the Memory of a Rainbow to him.

Chapter – 11.

Jonas is made to experience the Memory of the Snow. While one part of his consciousness is lying on the bed, the other part is sitting uptight on a sled, undergoing a downhill ride.

He is thrilled by the speed, clear-cold air, the complete silence all around and the feeling of peace. By transmitting a tiny memory of the snow, the Giver becomes visibly relieved. Jonas, in the meantime, has a thousand questions racing through his mind.

The Giver then prepares Jonas for the second memory, the Memory of Sunshine. This time Jonas is asked to get the word (sunshine), without being told in advance. And when Jonas goes on insisting what the Chief Elder meant by his training would be painful, he is given the Memory of Sunburn.

When he gets back to the real world again, he can see the Giver, sitting on the upholstered chair, looking completely drained and sad. He permits Jonas to call him The Giver.

Chapter – 12.

Though Jonas slept soundly, he does not share his dream of the down-hill sled-ride with his family. He is happy with the dream and disturbed at the same time by what he has seen lying beyond the snow in the dream.

At school, the other twelves are excitedly talking about the experiences of the training. Jonas has to keep quiet as they have never known anything about height, wind or cold. Besides, he also feels that he does not have the precise language to describe his experience with the Giver.

After school, he proceeds towards the House of the Old with Fiona. As Fiona hurries inside, he can see something change in her hair for a fleeting moment. It is the third occurrence of this kind and Jonas decides to seek help from the Giver.

Back in the Annex, he informs the Giver the reason for his late coming and shares the incident of the change in Fiona’s hair along with the two other times; while playing with Asher with the apple and in the faces of the crowd in the auditorium.

The Giver then asks him to lie down to make a little test to confirm his belief about Jonas. Jonas is asked to recollect the beginning of the first memory of the previous day on his own. When Jonas shows his surprise, the Giver asks him to concentrate harder to go back in time to the memory.

Jonas can recollect the memory effortlessly. He can see that the sled has the same quality but it stays. The Giver informs him that what he has seen is the colour red. Fiona has red hair, the people in the audience have tinges of red on their faces. There were colours before they opted for Sameness. He also informs Jonas that when he gains enough wisdom, he will be able to see the different colours as well. Finally, to help Jonas have a clear concept of colours, the Giver decides to give him the Memory of the Rainbow.
To be continued ......

Chapters 6-9.

Chapter – 6.

The whole family attends the December Ceremony, held in the Auditorium, not far from their dwelling. It starts off with the Naming Ceremony, where newborn children are handed over to different families by the Nurturers. Gabrielle at Jonas’ father’s plea is given a reprieve and an additional year of nurturing before Naming and Placement.

The community also mourns the untimely loss of Caleb by naming a newborn after him in the Replacement of Loss Ceremony. Jonas sits through the Ceremonies of Two, Three and Four, which he always finds boring. Fours, Fives and Sixes are given a tunic which fastens down the back. The sevens get a front-buttoned tunic. By the time a child is eight s/he gets her first share of independence with a tunic with smaller buttons and pockets. The first day’s ceremonies concludes with the Eights.

The nines are given bicycles with their name tags attached on the final day. The ceremonies of Ten and Eleven are equally boring and time-consuming. The ten year old females have their braids snipped and the males have a more manly, short haircut with their ears exposed.

The Committee of Elders assigns each twelve with the assignment meticulously, based on his/her interests and abilities. Even the Matching of Spouses is done after a close observations based on the disposition, intelligence, energy level and interests of the partners. The matching of Jonas’ parents is monitored before they can apply for a child.

Chapter – 7.

The Ceremony of Twelve begins with the initial address of the Chief Elder, who is the leader of the Community. She first talks about the recollection of their childhood, preparation and responsibilities of adult life. Then she appreciates the hard work and meticulous observations of the Committee of Elders. The audience applauds as the Committee stands up.

Next, she calls out number one, Medline, who is made the Fish Hatchery Attendant. Number two, Inger is made a Birthmother, followed by the appointment of number three, Isaac, as the Instructor of Threes.
The Chief Elder reminds the gathering about the childhood of number Four, Asher and the reason why he could not be assigned as the Instructor of Threes ( Snack-Smack incident). He is made the Assistant Director of Recreation. The Ceremony continues and soon it is Fiona’s turn. She becomes the Caretaker of Old. But the Chief Elder skips Jonas’ number and calls out Pierre, whose number should have come after Jonas'. Jonas feels disgraced and does not know what he may have done wrong.

Chapter – 8.

The Chief Elder apologizes to the audience for the discomfort /anxiety caused. She apologizes to Jonas in particular and calls him on to the stage. She also informs the audience that Jonas has not been assigned but selected. His selection as the Receiver is a very rare occurrence indeed.

As the last selection proved to be a failure, they had to be very careful not to choose the wrong one. She goes on to inform them that Jonas was identified as a Receiver long ago. A Receiver in the making must have the following qualities:

1.     Intelligence – Jonas is a top student.

2.     Integrity – Jonas made occasional transgressions but promptly reported for chastisement.

3.     Courage – He is very brave,

4.     Wisdom _ He will acquire wisdom from the training, and

5.     He must have the capacity to ‘see beyond’.

Though Jonas feels fear flutter at this, on looking over the audience, he thinks he finds them change. After thanking him for his childhood, the Chief Elder leaves him alone on stage. The audience shows their acceptance of Jonas’ new role by chanting his name slowly at first and their shouting of his name reaches a crescendo afterwards.

Chapter – 9.

As Jonas comes out, he is treated very respectfully by the Community members. Even Asher seems a bit awed in his response to Jonas’ congratulations.

Back home, his parents are very proud as the Receiver is a rare selection. They tell Jonas hesitatingly about the last Receiver, whose name was not to be mentioned. Back in his room, he opens the folder to find the single page containing the rules:

Rules:	Jonas’ reactions to the rules:
1.     Jonas is to present himself at the Annex behind the House of the Old after school.	Jonas finds out that his schedule leaves him no time for recreation.
2.     He is to go back to his dwelling right after the training hours.	As above.
3.     He is exempted from the rules regarding rudeness. He may ask questions and will receive answers	Jonas finds the rule unnecessary.
4.     He is not to discuss his training with anyone.
5.     He is prohibited from dream-telling.	This is not a problem, but what if he dreamt? Would he lie about it?
6.     He is not to ask for medication related to his training.	He realizes that if he crushed his finger again in the door, he would receive medication. Would he continue to receive the pills?
7.     He can never apply for release.	He has no intention of doing so.
8.     He may lie.	The last rule worries Jonas no ends as it is against the teaching of precise language and what if on turning twelve, everyone has the same rule in his/her folder?

To be continued .....

The Summary of the Novel.

 I must have taught Lowry’s ‘The Giver’ some eight years back. I still remember how I felt at that time, at the end of my tether without any notes, without even any knowledge of the novelist. I remain grateful to Mr.S.K.G., my colleague at that time, who helped me with the summary of the novel some months after I had started teaching.

I am as knowledgeable about Louis Lowry today as I was some eight years back. Naturally, I had to depend on the information provided at the back of the novel about the authoress. After I had spent some time on the title, cover illustrations and the blurb as I was supposed to as per the teacher’s manual, what follows is all I could talk about her in the first class:

Louis Lowry is a popular woman writer. She is a vociferous reader and avid movie-goer. She is a good cook and has a great collection of books on cooking. She has a kind of personal library with racks full of books. She is also a great photographer and the cover of ‘The Giver’ is her own artwork. She has written a number of novels, essays and short stories, mainly for young children like you. Unfortunately, she lost her only son due to an airplane crash some years back.

Then it was time to introduce the novel. I told them that ‘The Giver’ is her best book till date. Years of experience and research have gone into the writing of the novel. One such experience relates to her father, who, at that time, was in a nursing home, having lost his memory. On a particular day during her visit to the hospital, Lowry realized that if one is left without memories, one has no pain. It was at that precise moment that she began to visualise a society in which the pains of the past are deliberately forgotten. I must have asked the students to share their memories, inorder to make them realize the importance of memory for connecting to the past, for a better, brighter future. I concluded the first lesson by asking the students to go through the first chapter of the novel during the weekend.

Today, exactly six months after I took over standard XA from Madam Bidha, while writing the summary of chapter – 12 on the board, the thought of blogging the summary came to my head. It must have been prompted by the memory of the time when I felt lost and lonely with very little help from anywhere to let me have a sure shot at the novel. Another factor might have gone behind the thinking – this afternoon when I was in my class (XI SC.’B’), I came across many copies of a book called “Concise Physics” authored by one of our most mild-mannered, soft-spoken and decent of all colleagues, Mr.Krishnamoorthy.

Now as far as my writing motives and potentials go, I can’t see myself as a writer even in the remotest future. But this afternoon in the seventh period in standard- X, while summing up the chapter on the green board for the students, I thought: Why don’t I start blogging the summaries of the chapters I’ve taken a lot of pains to make for my class? It might not amount to much, but even if it helps a handful of students to comprehend the content of the novel better, I shall deem my work not to have gone in vain.

Summary of The Giver: 

Chapter-1

Jonas is worried about the job to be assigned to him during the upcoming December Ceremony. He knows ‘frightened’ is not the right word to describe his feelings for the occasion. He was frightened when the pilot flew over their community. The pilot was to be released subsequently. Jonas’ family has the practice of sharing their feelings at the end of the evening meal. Everyone has to share their experiences. Finally Jonas talks about his worry about the December Ceremony.

Chapter – 2

Father comforts Jonas by telling him that December is the time for excitement and fun. Jonas agrees with his father and remembers the December his family received Lily, his sister.  Father also talks about the December he turned 12, but he already knew the job he was to be assigned.

 He also talks about the rule he has already broken by looking up the child’s name in the Naming List to help him with his nurturing. His father also has broken another rule by trying to teach Katya, his sister, to cycle before she was nine.

The most important elder in their community is the Receiver. He is the one responsible for rule-changes. Jonas considers for a moment the likelihood of being selected a Nurturer like his father, as he spends most of his times with new children. Jonas wonders about the jobs to be assigned to him as well as to his friend, Asher.

Chapter – 3.

Jonas’ father brings home the child with pale eyes. Lily’s remark about the same colour of their eyes annoys Jonas.

Lily tells them that she would like to be a birthmother. But the family thinks that may not be a good idea. Mother tells her there is no honour in the job. Birthmothers are treated very well for three years, and then they become labourers till they enter the House of the Old. Father suggests that it is best to be a Nurturer, if she likes babies and Jonas thinks the assignment that would suit Lily best is the Speaker.

Thinking about the Speaker reminds him of what had happened at the recreation Centre the day he was playing catch and throw with Asher. As he threw the apple to Asher, he thought he had seen it changing. To resolve the suspicion, he took the apple home. Later on, he was chastened for his unruly act.

Chapter – 4.

Jonas looks for Asher and finally finds him at the House of the Old along with Fiona, a friend.

He thinks of Benjamin, one of his group mates, who spends all his volunteer hours at the Rehabilitation Centre. People have no doubt about his assignment as he has excelled there making machines and methods. But Jonas did not praise him as it would be against the rules of the community.

He gets inside and decides to bathe Larissa, an aged inmate. Larissa talks about the release of Roberto, who, in her words, led a vibrant life (At one time he was the instructor of Eleven, became a member of the planning Committee and designed the City Plaza).

Regarding his release, Larissa tells him that first there was the telling of his Life, followed by a toast and the chanting of the National Anthem. Roberto then delivered a farewell speech. Others did the same and finally very contented and happy, Roberto entered the release room. Jonas, curious, tells Larissa that he would have loved to be there during the release.

Chapter – 5.

At the daily ritual of dream telling, Lily shares her dream of being caught by the Security Guard for riding her mother’s cycle. Mother talks about her dream in which she was being chastened for an infraction/infringement. Father has no dream to share.

As children in their community join in the dream-telling by the time they are three, they do not know if Gabrielle dreams.  Then Jonas, though uncertain about the details, shares his dream. He was back to the Bathing Room with Fiona standing by a tube. He was trying to tell her to take her clothes off and get into the tub though he knew it was not the right thing to do.

Father asks him about his strongest feeling during the dream. It was, says Jonas, the feeling of wanting. Mother thanks him for his dream and asks him to wait as Father and Lily leave the room. Mother tells him that the strongest feeling he experienced was what is called stirrings. He has to take pills to keep the feelings of stirrings away. She informs him that many people in their community take pills till they enter the House of the Old.

As Jonas leaves home to head for school, the feelings of the pleasurable stirrings are gone.

To be continued .......