The Giver: Summary

Jonas lives in a community that is perfect. Everyone lives in something called a family unit. In a family unit there is one mother, one father, one boy, and one girl. Though, the mother does not actually give birth to the children. Designated birthmothers give birth to new children. People in the community are assigned jobs at a special ceremony when they are 12 years old.  The community is ruled by a council and someone called the Chief Elder. In this community, there is no color. This year Jonas will receive his assignment. But, at the ceremony Jonas is chosen for a very special job. The receiver of memory. No one has been picked to be the receiver of memory for a long time, because the last time this happened it was a disaster. Jonas learns why this job is so important. The receiver of memory has memories of what everything was like before humanity decided to change like this. The receiver of memory is the only person that can see in color. The Giver is the person who gives Jonas these memories. Jonas’s father is a nurturer, and he has been caring for a boy named Gabriel. Gabriel has trouble falling asleep at night, so his father brings Gabriel home. If Gabriel keeps doing this, he will be released from the community. When someone is getting released, it is because they are very old, they have committed three serious crimes, or something is wrong with them when they are a baby. Everyone thinks that when someone is released, they go somewhere else, but what actually happens is that someone injects them with a medicine so that they die. When Jonas finds out the way things were before, he gets mad at the people who changed their lives to this. Jonas and The Giver devise a plot so that Jonas can run away. Jonas takes Gabriel with him because he knows that Gabriel will be released otherwise. Jonas takes his dad’s bike, and he starts riding away. He has been riding for a few days now, and he is very hungry and cold. Then, he approaches a large, snowy hill. It takes him a long time but he finally reached the top. When he got there, he saw the lights of people in a town.