Lois Lowry’s The Giver



Lois Lowry’s The Giver

A Guided Reading

Chapter 1

1. The name Jonas comes from the Biblical name Jonah. What would expect from a boy named Jonas, given the Biblical allusion? (If needed, read the article “Jonah” found at .)

2. What conclusions can you draw about a society where it is against the rules for a plane to fly over the community?

3. What it the tone of the first page?

4. Diction means the word choice that an author uses. Lowry uses the word dwelling in the line, “Jonas had dropped his bike on its side on the path behind his family’s dwelling” (2). What is the connotation of the word dwelling? What are the connotations of the words house and home? Why would Lowry use dwelling instead of house or home?

5. What do you think the word released means?

6. Jonas apologizes to Asher on page 3. Why does he do this, and how does he feel about his actions?

7. Why does Lowry use the phrase learning community? What phrase would we use instead?

8. What is a tunic?

9. We know that public apologies are required, that there is a standard form for the apology, and that there is a standard response to it. What conclusions can we draw about this society so far?

10. Jonas decides he is apprehensive, not frightened. He considers other words as well: eager, excited. What are the connotations of apprehensive, eager, and excited?

11. What do you notice about the phrase, “like all parent—all adults”?

12. Why wouldn’t Jonas want to talk about his feelings on this night?

13. Considering what you have noticed so far about the precision of language in this society, why is the following quotation ironic?

Neither child knew what the word [animals] meant, exactly, but it was often used to describe someone uneducated or clumsy, someone who didn’t fit in. (5)

14. What would a society miss if it didn’t have animals?

15. Lowry introduces two new words: newchild and newchildren. Why do you think she created these words for her book? What are their connotations?

16. Name three uses of the “occasion of release” (7).

17. What do you think the “committee” is that Father refers to?

18. What do you learn about marriage in the sentence, “Most of the people on the night crew had not even been given spouses [. . .]”?

19. Lowry uses the phrase the family unit several times in this chapter. What is the connotation of this phrase, and how does it differ from the connotations of the word family?

20. What do we learn about connections with other communities?

21. What does Mother feel about the repeat offender?

22. At dinner, everyone must share feelings, but there is little discussion about them afterward. What do you think about this?

23. Compare the dinner table conversation in this chapter with a typical evening mean in your family or in the family of someone you know.

Chapter 2

1. The official birthday of all the children is celebrated in December. What is associated with this month?

2. What does it show about this society that there are always 50 newchildren who celebrate the Ceremony of One each December?

3. What does it show that parents must submit an application to get a child?

4. What conclusions can you draw about a society that does not name its babies until they are officially one?

5. Gabriel’s name comes from the angel Gabriel in the New Testament. Lowry picked the name for a particular purpose. What would you expect from a baby name Gabriel, given the Biblical allusion? (If needed, read the article “Gabriel” on World Book Online or go to .)

6. In this rule-driven society, why is it all right for Father to break the rule about not looking at the Naming list, and why is the bicycle rule “one of the few rules that was not taken very seriously and was almost always broken” (13)?

7. What is the connotation of the word elder?

8. Who is the most important Elder?

9. In what ways is the description of the committee similar to modern views of how committees work?

10. Children are known by their “age group.” What age are you now, and how would you feel about being known primarily by your age group?

11. Jonas thinks about his volunteer hours. Describe a volunteer job that you or someone you know does, and say why it is a good thing to do.

12. What is involved in the Ceremony of Twelve, and how are Assignments made?

13. What would it be like in a society where age didn’t matter after you reached twelve?

14. Children are put in an Assignment group after the Ceremony of Twelve, based on their life’s work. What would be the pros and cons of being placed in a group like that at such a young age?

15. What is the connotation of the phrase comfort object?

16. Lily’s comfort object is a stuffed elephant; Jonas’s is a bear. Why do you think they have stuffed animals even though this society does not have any real ones?

Chapter 3

1. What is different about Jonas’s eyes, Gabriel’s, and those of a female Five that Jonas knows?

2. Why is it considered rude to draw attention to differences among people?

3. What would life be like without mirrors?

4. What does Jonas mean by depth?

5. Why doesn’t Mother want to Lily to be a Birthmother?

6. Lily refers to a friend who lives around the corner as a “Ten.” What would it be like to be identified by a number?

7. Why do you think Birthmothers are limited to three babies?

8. If Birthmothers don’t get to see the newchildren, why would they want the Assignment?

9. After Jonas takes an apple from the recreation area, he apologizes to the Recreation Director the next day. This is a society based on apology, among other things. What can you conclude about such a society’s expectations?

10. This society also has many “standard procedures.” Describe some things that are “standard procedures” at home and at school.

11. Why would this community require Asher to play catch?

12. The paragraph on page 24 about the apple makes it clear about color in this society?

13. What do you think Jonas sees when the apple changes?

14. Why would a society require identification badges or nametags on everyone?

15. Lowry mentions the color of the baby’s eyes again at the end of the chapter. Why does she emphasize this?

Chapter 4

1. Jonas notes that he enjoys the free time to choose his own volunteer hours because so much of his life is “regulated.” Make a list of what is regulated in his society, and then make a list of what is regulated in your life.

2. Why do most Eights start volunteering for Recreation Duty?

3. This society stresses punishments and chastising. What do you think it says about their values?

4. What is wrong with Asher’s bike?

5. What do you think of the community’s decision to withhold an Eleven’s Assignment because his volunteer hours were not done?

6. Why has Jonas done his volunteer work in many different places in the community?

7. In this supposedly perfect society, why would there be a blind person?

8. What conclusions can you draw about a society where no one sees another person unclothed?

9. Why is it good for the children to help the Old?

10. What is the tone behind Larissa’s comment, “And of course, all lives are meaningful”? (31)

11. What happens at the Celebration of Release?

12. Why does Jonas ask where Roberto went?

13. What do you think happens in the Releasing Room?

14. Why do you think children are not invited to the Celebration of Release?

15. What is the tone of the conversation between Larissa and Jonas?

16. What anthem do you think that they chant at the Ceremony of Release?

Chapter 5

1. The family shares its dreams each morning. What is the purpose in doing this?

2. Jonas doesn’t dream very much, but one night he dreams about being in the bathing room at the House of the Old. What is the significance of the dream?

3. “Thank you for your dream” is a standard phrase in the community. What are some standard phrases we use in daily life, and why are they important?

4. How does Jonas’s dream show that he is changing?

5. Food is delivered and the remains of each meal are picked up. What are the implications of this food preparation system?

6. What are Stirrings, how are they treated, why does society want to control them, and what are the implications of controlling them?

7. It is not acceptable to talk about things that are different. What are the benefits and disadvantages of living in such a society?

8. Why do many in the community ignore the Speaker’s pronouncements?

9. How does Jonas feel about the Stirrings?

Chapter 6

1. What is interdependence? Give an example in modern-day life.

2. What does a bicycle symbolize?

3. Gabriel has been given another year to grow before he is named and assigned to a family unit. He could have been labeled Inadequate instead. What are the connotations of the words inadequate and adequate? Describe something that would be considered inadequate in today’s society.

4. What is the connotation of the label Uncertain?

5. Labels are an important part of Jonas’s society. What labels have you noticed already, and what purpose do they serve? How can they help as well as hurt?

6. What is the significance of the pledge that each family member signs?

7. Why do you think there is seldom a large age group between children?

8. Why does Jonas like the name Gabriel more than Bruno?

9. Describe the Ceremony of Loss and the Murmur-of-Replacement Ceremony, and write what you think about them?

10. What ceremonies do we observe at moments of loss in our own lives, and how do they help people?

11. Why do you think Lowry chose the Biblical name Caleb? (If needed, read the article “Caleb” at ).

12. What is the difference between release and loss?

13. Why do you think Gabriel sleeps soundly this night?

14. Lowry uses the words chastise and chastisement frequently. What is the connotation of these words?

15. What is the denotation of the word transgression? What is the connotation? What kinds of actions are considered transgressions in Jonas’s society? What would be some transgression’s in our society?

16. Why are Fritz’s mistakes considered serious?

17. Why does Lowry mention again that the community overlooks the rule about children not riding bikes before they are a Nine?

18. Why does Jonas ask Asher if he knows anyone who has left?

19. What qualities must match in order for two people to get approval to marry?

20. What do you think about the system of matching spouses and requiring a three-year wait before applying for children?

21. What story does Asher tell about a person ten years earlier who applied for release?

Chapter 7

1. What would it feel like to be known by numbers instead of names?

2. What is significant about the statement, “But it evened out, as it always did, by Three”?

3. Who is the Chief Elder, how is he or she chosen, and how often does the position change hands?

4. What does it say about a society that sees the Assignment of Birthmother as one “lacking in prestige”?

5. Why is Asher chastised by his group leader?

6. What punishments are used for small children?

7. Why didn’t the Childcare specialist forgive Asher’s mistaking smack and snack?

8. What does the emphasis on correct language say about Jonas’s society?

9. Why does the Chief Elder say to each Twelve, “Thank you for your childhood”?

10. The Committee of Elders decides what each Twelve’s Assignment will be. What do we know about this powerful committee?

11. How does Jonas feel when his number is skipped?

12. How does the rest of the community react?

13. Comment on Jonas’s thought: “What had he done wrong?”

Chapter 8

1. Why does Jonas feel only “humiliation and terror”?

2. Why do you think the Chief Elder waited to reassure both Jonas and the group?

3. She says, “‘Jonas has not been assigned [. . . . he] has been selected.’” What is the difference in the connotation of assigned and selected?

4. What is your first impression of the current Receiver?

5. Why doesn’t the Chief Elder want to discuss the failure of the last Receiver?

6. What is life like for the Receiver-in-training?

7. What are the five qualities that a Receiver of Memory must have?

8. What does the word integrity mean?

9. What does the word courage mean?

10. Why does she comment on the physical pain?

11. What do you think she means by “‘the Capacity to See Beyond’”?

12. What happens as Jonas looks at the audience, and to what does this connect?

13. How is Jonas feeling as he speaks?

14. How do you think the audience changes as Jonas looks at them?

15. Why does the community start chanting his name?

16. What is the tone—the feeling—as the chapter ends?

Chapter 9

1. Jonas is feeling different for the first time. Describe a time when you or someone you know has felt different.

2. How has the community already started to change its reactions toward Jonas?

3. If being the Receiver is not “‘a job,’” as Mother puts it, what is it?

4. What does the phrase Not-to-Be-Spoken mean?

5. What happened to the previous Receiver-in-Training?

6. What are Jonas’s reactions to his new rules?

7. What is the difference in connotation between hungry and starving?

8. What is the paradox in rule #8, and why does it bother him so much?

Chapter 10

1. What is the connotation of the phrase, citizen-in-training?

2. Why does the Attendant stand when Jonas comes in?

3. What conclusions can you draw about a society where no one locks the door?

4. What do we know about a person who “‘doesn’t like to be kept waiting’”?

5. Comment on the sentences, “A bed for sleeping. A table for eating. A desk for studying.” What do these details tell you about Jonas’s society?

6. What three books are in every home in Jonas’s community?

7. Why does Jonas notice the Receiver’s eyes?

8. Why doesn’t the Receive respond with the standard accepting-of-apology answer?

9. Why does the Receiver say that Jonas is now the Receiver?

10. How old does the Receiver seem to Jonas?

11. Why does the Receiver seem hesitant to being the training?

12. Why do you think the Receiver failed the last time he trained the new Receiver?

13. How is the Receiver supposed to train Jonas?

14. Why are apologies not required?

15. What does the Receiver mean by “‘memories of the whole world’”?

16. What does Jonas mean by the statement, “‘I don’t know what you mean when you say ‘the whole world’ or ‘generations before him.’ I thought there was only us. I thought there was only now.’”

17. What does the Receiver mean when he says, “‘And here in this room, all alone, I re-experience them again and again. It is how wisdom comes. And how we shape our future.’”?

18. Why would he be weighted with memories?

19. Why does he compare thinking about memories to sledding?

20. Why doesn’t Jonas’s society allow the speakers to be turned off?

21. How does Jonas’s society regard the old, and how does our own society regard its senior citizens and aged people?

Chapter 11

1. What is happening to Jonas as the old man places his hands on Jonas’s back?

2. What happens to the old man’s memories when he transmits one to Jonas?

3. What has been gained and lost with the advent of Climate Control?

4. What are the connotations of the word Sameness?

5. What does the old man mean when he says, “‘I have great honor. So will you. But you will find that that is not the same as power’”?

6. What is significant about the Receiver’s using the sense of touch to transmit memories?

7. Why does the old man start with these particular memories of snow and sunshine?

8. Why does the old man not want to respond to Jonas’s comment that he knew “‘that there would be pain’”?

9. Why does the old man say, “‘Call me The Giver’”?

Chapter 12

1. How is Gabriel progressing?

2. Why is Jonas drawn to the place that keeps reappearing in his dreams?

3. Why would a society want to function where everyone, young and old, seems to be punished if they disobey?

4. Why would this society want or need a discipline wand for the Old?

5. How do you think Fiona’s hair changes when Jonas looks at her?

6. Why does Lowry have red be the color Jonas first starts to see? Think literally and figuratively.

7. What did society give up in its decision to accept Sameness?

8. How does The Giver feel when he says, “‘We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others’”?

9. Why does Jonas say, “‘We shouldn’t have!’”?

10. Discuss The Giver’s response to the above statement.

11. Why does The Giver decide to give Jonas the memory of a rainbow?

Chapter 13

1. Why are choices so important to Jonas?

2. Why is it “‘the choosing that’s important’”?

3. Jonas tells The Giver, “‘We don’t dare to let people make choices of their own [. . .] We really have to protect people from wrong choices.’” And when The Giver says that their way is safer, Jonas replies, “‘Much safer.’” Discuss the meaning and implication of this attitude.

4. Look at the comments and questions The Giver offers Jonas in the above discussion:

“ ‘It’s the choosing that’s important, isn’t it’”

“ ‘He might make wrong choices.’”

“ ‘Not safe?’”

“ ‘It’s safer.’”

Is The Giver seems really agreeing with Jonas about the need for fewer choices? Explain.

5. Why is Jonas getting angry with his friends?

6. What does Jonas feel after he is given the memory of the elephants?

7. Why can’t he transmit a memory to Lily?

8. What have we learned so far about this society’s attitude toward death?

9. What has Jonas learned about death by receiving the memory of the elephants?

10. If Jonas has a spouse, what limitations must he observe?

11. What is The Giver’s purpose in this society?

12. Discuss the following statement by The Giver: “‘I wish they would change. But they don’t want change. Life here is so orderly, no predictable—painless. It’s what they’ve chose.’”

13. Why has the society chosen this kind of life?

14. What happened to the memories that were release when the last Receiver failed?

15. What happened when “‘[e]veryone had access to memories’”?

16. Why must pain and knowledge be “‘contained’”?

17. What is the significance of The Giver’s statement, “‘They know nothing’”?

18. Comment on The Giver’s statement, “‘It’s just that . . . without the memories it’s all meaningless.’”

19. What does Jonas wonder as he looks off in the distance?

20. Why does The Giver say, “‘I can’t shield you forever’”?

Chapter 14

1. Why does The Giver refuse to give Jonas pain medication after the memory of breaking a leg?

2. How do you think he feels when he does this? How do you know?

3. What is Jonas finally truly understanding when he gets home?

4. Why does every session now include painful memories, and why does The Giver always end on a happy note?

5. Why is it necessary for Jonas to know pain? Give an example.

6. How did The Giver persuade the Elders not to shoot down the plane?

7. What function do Jonas and The Giver serve in this society?

8. What burden do the Elder want taken away?

9. Why doesn’t The Giver agree to help Jonas change the rules?

10. How is Gabriel progressing?

11. Why does one twin have to be released if they are born identical?

12. Where do you think the released twin will go? Where does Jonas hope it will go?

13. What image does Jonas have of Elsewhere?

14. Why does Jonas “quite deliberately” put his a second time on Gabriel’s back, even though he knows he will be giving away a memory he cherishes?

15. Does Jonas do the right thing in deciding not to tell The Giver that he has given a memory away?

Chapter 15

1. Why does The Giver decide to transmit the memory of war to Jonas?

2. What does it show about Jonas that he volunteers to take some of the pain?

3. Why does The Giver say, “‘Forgive me’”?

Chapter 16

1. Why doesn’t Jonas want to go back?

2. What are three good memories he gained?

3. How does solitude differ from loneliness?

4. Why is this scene The Giver’s favorite, and why is he so willing to give it to Jonas?

5. Comment on his thought, “It had all been there, all the things he had learned to treasure.”

6. Jonas uses the word family to describe what he sees in the memory. What does this choice of words show about how he is changing?

7. Why is the concept of Grandparent a strange one to Jonas?

8. What do parents do after their children grow up in Jonas’s society?

9. Why won’t Jonas attend his parents’ release?

10. Why is the concept of love a strange one to Jonas?

11. What do children lose if their grandparents do not play a role in their lives?

12. Do you think Jonas’s family loves each other?

13. Why does the family in the memory seem more “‘complete’”?

14. Why does Jonas say, “‘I can see that it was a dangerous way to live’”?

15. What mixed feelings is Jonas having about the memory he just received?

16. Why does Jonas ask his parents if they love him, and why do they object to the word?

17. Why does Jonas lie?

18. What bond is developing between Jonas and Gabe?

19. Why does Jonas say, “‘Things could be different. I don’t know how, but there must be a way for things to be different. There could colors . . . And grandparents . . . And everybody would have the memories . . . There could be love’”?

20. Why does Jonas throw his pill away?

Chapter 17

1. Why would a society like this one have an unscheduled holiday?

2. Why does Jonas choose to find Asher on his free day?

3. Why does Jonas believe that his feelings are connected to his memories?

4. Jonas thought of the word depth once before—when he was looking at Gabe’s light eyes. Why does he think of the word again in connection with his feelings?

5. Why can rules be ignored on holidays?

6. How has Jonas’s attitude toward the game changed?

7. Why does Jonas walk to the center of the field and ask them not to play it again?

8. What is Asher’s tone when he says, “‘I apologize for not paying you the respect you deserve’”?

9. Why does Jonas realize that he can “change nothing”?

10. What does Father tell Jonas he will do with the newchild twin who will be released?

11. Why does Jonas ask, “‘Do you actually take it Elsewhere, Father?’”

12. How does Mother react to Lily’s story? Why?

Chapter 18

1. The name Rosemary is a symbol of remembrance. Why is this appropriate for her?

2. Why does The Giver say, “‘It broke my heart, Jonas, to transfer pain to her?’”

3. Why did Rosemary ask to be released?

4. What happened to the memories that The Giver transmitted to Rosemary?

5. What is The Giver thinking about at the end of the chapter?

Chapter 19

1. Why is it ironic when Jonas says, “‘Well they can’t have two identical people around! Think how confusing it would be!’”?

2. How does Jonas perceive his father?

3. Why would a society record all private ceremonies?

4. Why does The Giver seem to pressure Jonas into watching the newchild’s release?

5. Why does Lowry put the following question in italics: “‘Do you want to see this morning’s release?’”

6. Why does The Giver keep telling Jonas to be quiet and watch?

7. What is Father’s attitude toward the procedure?

8. What is Jonas’s reaction to the tape?

9. Why does The Giver tell Jonas about Rosemary after the tape is over?

10. Comment on The Giver’s statement, “‘Well, there you are, Jonas. You were wondering about release,’ he said in a bitter voice.”

11. Why is release so sterile?

12. Comment on Jonas’s thought: “Jonas felt a ripping sensation inside himself, the feeling of terrible pain clawing its way forward to emerge in a cry.”

Chapter 20

1. Comment on The Giver’s statement to Jonas, “‘They know nothing.’”

2. The Giver says the above sentence on page 105. What is different about the meaning and tone between these two statements?

3. Does Jonas trust The Giver?

4. Why does The Giver say that Fiona is “‘very efficient at her work . . . Feelings are not part of the life she’s learned.’”

5. Why does Jonas say, “‘Then we’ll have a sharing of feelings?’”

6. Why is loneliness “‘the worst part of holding the memories?’”

7. What has persuaded The Giver that things must change?

8. Why is Jonas willing to help The Giver with his plan?

9. Why does The Giver want to stay behind after Jonas leaves?

10. Why Jonas think of Katharine?

11. Comment on Jonas’s statement, “‘Giver . . . you and I don’t need to care about the rest of them,’” and the sentence following: “The Giver looked at him with a questioning smile. Jonas hung his head. Of course they needed to care. It was the meaning of everything.”

12. Why does Jonas’s heart break?

13. What is hearing-beyond?

14. What is ironic about this passage?

Jonas went home the next morning, cheerfully greeted his parents, and lied

easily about what a busy, pleasant night he had had.

His father smiled and lied easily, too, about his busy and pleasant day the day before.

15. Where is Jonas going when he leaves?

16. What is The Giver’s plan?

17. Why is The Giver happy at the end of the chapter?

18. What do you understand better now about The Giver’s feelings toward Rosemary earlier in the book?

Chapter 21

1. What has happened to their plan, and what does Jonas decide to do instead?

2. Comment on the following sentence: “At dawn, the orderly, disciplined life he had always known would continue again, without him. The life where nothing was ever unexpected. Or inconvenient. Or unusual. The life without color, pain, or past.”

3. Jonas and Gabe are fleeing the planes that are searching for them. Do you think they will get away? Why or why not?

Chapter 22

1. How long do you think Jonas and Gabe have been traveling?

2. How is the landscape different from what Jonas knew before?

3. What is Jonas’s first impression of a bird?

4. What is the animal with a thick tail that he sees?

5. What does Jonas learn about starving?

6. Comment on Jonas’s thought: “If he had stayed, he would have starved in other ways. He would have lived a life hungry for feelings, for color, for love.”

7. Did Jonas make the right choice?

8. What is the tone of the ending of the chapter?

Chapter 23

1. What keeps Jonas going through the snow?

2. Comment on Jonas’s thought about “passionate yearning to share the warmth with the one person left for him to love.”

3. Comment on his thought, “But there was no purpose in if-onlys.”

4. What happens as he comes to the top of the hill?

5. Comment on the following sentence: “The runners sliced through the snow and the wind whipped at his face as they sped in a straight line through an incision that seemed to lead to the final destination, the place that he had always felt was waiting, the Elsewhere that held their future and their past.”

6. What does Jonas see at the bottom of the hill?

7. Who is waiting for Jonas and Gabe at the bottom?

8. Comment on the sentence, “Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps it was only an echo.”

9. In what ways is the ending, as one reviewer put it, “comforting and disturbing at the same time”?

10. One reviewer writes, “And now we come the inherent difficulty of every dystopia story—how to end. Basically there are three possibilities. The protagonist escapes as the society collapses; the protagonist escapes with the intention of returning with the seeds of change; or the protagonist escapes, but it turns out to be an illusion.” Which ending do you choose, and why?

11. How would you end the book?

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