Jonas Character Analysis in The Giver by Lois Lowry

“He found himself angry, now; irrationally angry at his groupmates, that they were satisfied with their lives that had none of the vibrace his own was taking on. And he was angry at himself, that he could not change that for them”(Lowry, 99). The dystopian novel, The Giver, by Lois Lowry tells the story of Jonas. In the novel, we follow Jonas, who is about to turn 12, and get his assignment (his job). However, at the ceremony of 12, he does not get assigned, rather, he gets selected to be the new Receiver of Memories. The Receiver’s job is to bear all memories from the past, before Sameness, and to give advice to the council. Throughout the novel, Jonas changes from a naive boy to an aware young man as a result of receiving memories, and learning what release actually means; through this change, the author reveals the theme of the novel is the importance of human connection.

Initially, Jonas experiences the first memory The Giver shows him, snow and sleds. Early in the novel, Jonas believes that “... And now you don’t have it anymore! I took it from you!” (Lowry, 83).Thus, Jonas changes in that he receives new memories, and learns more about life before Sameness. He starts questioning why people got rid of things like colors, and grows frustrated that the rest of the community is content with their lives, and content with their ignorance. Later in the novel, Jonas realizes that “The Giver alone holds the true pain and pleasures of life… It’s time for Jonas to receive the truth.” (Lowry, back of book). Thus, Jonas changes because he starts to receive memories of human civilization before Sameness. Jonas starts to question everything he has ever known, due to his receiving of memories. Ultimately, Jonas becomes more aware of what life was like before the Sameness came into effect, which allows the reader to understand that life inside of the community does not have any human connection at all. Thus, the reader understands and appreciates the sheer importance of human connection.

At the start of the novel, Jonas knows, even before gaining new memories, how grim of a statement it is to say that someone will be released. Because he has been conditioned since birth, Jonas originally thinks that “...he knew what a grim statement it had been. For a contributing citizen to be released from the community was a final decision, a terrible punishment, an overwhelming statement of failure.” (Lowry, 2) Therefore, Jonas experiences a change in his view of release, he knows that it is a grim statement for one to say that somebody will be released, but he doesn’t know exactly what it is. But Jonas will eventually learn the truth about what release truly is. By the end of the novel, Jonas discovers that “...He killed it! My father killed it!” (Lowry, 150). Thus, Jonas changes because he realizes that his father’s job is to kill newborns who are either identical twins, or underweight, or extremely misbehaved. This has quite a large impact on Jonas, as his father is the one killing the infants, and he lies about it to everyone, and acts like it’s fine, like it’s ok to kill innocent babies. By the end of the novel, Jonas has become a courageous young man, and has chosen to leave his community in search of Elsewhere, to find others, which connects to the theme of the importance of human connection.

Jonas’s change in terms of innocence to being burdened with knowledge is influenced by receiving memories and finding out what release truly means. Also, it allows Lowry to explore the theme of the significance of human connection. Through the course of the story, Jonas learns about life before The Sameness, and learns more about the nature of humanity, and learns about release. The Giver shows readers that if society continues to try to eliminate all differences, then society will recede in its evolution as people, and everyone will go to Sameness. Then no one will be unique, and nobody will remember anything of human evolution as people in general. And society will need a Receiver of Memories, to hold on to the memories, and that receiver would probably get fed up with everyone accepting the simplicity and blandness of their lives. “He found himself angry, now; irrationally angry at his groupmates, that they were satisfied with their lives that had none of the vibrace his own was taking on. And he was angry at himself, that he could not change that for them.” (Lowry, 99). If you lived in this community, and you wanted things to change, what would you do to inspire that change in others?