Analysis and Summary of The Giver by Lois Lowry Essay

The ending of “The Giver” was mainly left to the interpretation of the reader. Some may say that both Jonas and Gabe had died during the end, meanwhile others say that what Jonas had seen was real, and that he survived. Many readers believe that Jonas and Gabe had perished and what Jonas had seen was a mirage, although I don’t all believe this. The ending of the novel was very loosely written and so it is terribly hard to decide what the true meaning to the end was for this story.

It is during the end of the book that  it seemed that Jonas was dying, this I believe; after all, he was exhausted, starving, and very weak while trying to keep Gabe safe. I believe that during the ending scene, Jonas was dying and only that. Jonas as well as Gabe were suffering and Dying from hypothermia, it didn’t seem as if they were dead though. Information as to the fact that he was dying, such as the memories of his life being presented to him so suddenly provided evidence to this, but not once was it shown that he was dead; just dying.  What Jonas had seen may have been a mirage. Since he had traveled for many miles on end and starved for many days while taking care of the young toddler, Gabriel, his mind may have become weak. He may have thought about the good times less and less while escaping and being afraid for both himself and Gabriel, then saw what he wanted to see to help lift his spirits. As we know Jonas was able to feel the memories and so maybe the memories of light were presented as a mirage. He may have only seen the mirage because he could feel and see his memories, this works for music too, Jonas may have imagined what music was and what he heard most likely wasn’t real. It is in the ending of “The Giver” that both Gabe and Jonas started to die, Jonas started to hallucinate.

The book “The Giver” is a novel about a young boy realizing that although things may seem fine, they really aren’t. His community has rituals that are similar to that of a cult, the community will sacrifice those who seem weak as well as those don’t abide by the rules. The novel is set in a dystopian society where no one (except the Receiver) has/should have any knowledge about the past. Jonas makes a plan and in the end he feels that he chose the wrong one. Overall this story has an average plot. I wouldn’t advocate for others to read this book since it wasn’t the best and seemed a little too slow for my tastes. It had little action and was mainly about Jonas explaining the weird things he is realizing in the community. Personally I would rate this book a 6/10 on a scale. The book wasn't that great and I would not recommend it to anyone, the most I would ever do is ask if they read the book before and leave it at that.

“The Giver” had a very loose ending. It wasn’t that specific about what exactly happened. Overall the book wasn’t all that good. In the end I believe that Jonas had hallucinated the lights and music. Jonas didn’t seem to die, but he was dying in the end along with Gabriel. I would personally rate this book a 6/10 for how good dystopian books go (although this is the only one I have read).