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 ......