The Giver (Essential Modern Classics)
He reached over and stroked Jonas's neatly trimmed hair. "Fun doesn't end when you become Twelve."
Page: 18, Location: 275-276
Lily sighed. "I hope I get assigned to be a Birthmother." "Lily!" Mother spoke very sharply. "Don't say that. There's very little honor in that Assignment."
Page: 21, Location: 311-312
"Three years," Mother told her firmly. "Three births, and that's all. After that they are Laborers for the rest of their adult lives, until the day that they enter the House of the Old. Is that what you want, Lily? Three lazy years, and then hard physical labor until you are old?"
Page: 21, Location: 315-317
And the nakedness, too. It was against the rules for children or adults to look at another's nakedness; but the rule did not apply to newchildren or the Old. Jonas was glad. It was a nuisance to keep oneself covered while changing for games, and the required apology if one had by mistake glimpsed another's body was always awkward. He couldn't see why it was necessary. He liked the feeling of safety here in this warm and quiet room; he liked the expression of trust on the woman's face as she lay in the water unprotected, exposed, and free.
Page: 28, Location: 422-426
Then, in the same way that his own dwelling slipped away behind him as he rounded a corner on his bicycle, the dream slipped away from his thoughts. Very briefly, a little guiltily, he tried to grasp it back. But the feelings had disappeared. The Stirrings were gone.
Page: 35, Location: 524-525
The front-buttoned jacket was the first sign of independence, the first very visible symbol of growing up. The bicycle, at Nine, would be the powerful emblem of moving gradually out into the community, away from the protective family unit.
Page: 36, Location: 539-540
Lily marched proudly to the stage, became an Eight and received the identifying jacket that she would wear this year, this one with smaller buttons and, for the first time, pockets, indicating that she was mature enough now to keep track of her own small belongings. She stood solemnly listening to the speech of firm instructions on the responsibilities of Eight and doing volunteer hours for the first time.
Page: 39, Location: 590-593
Then the Tens. Jonas never found the Ceremony of Ten particularly interesting—only time-consuming, as each child's hair was snipped neatly into its distinguishing cut: females lost their braids at Ten, and males, too, relinquished their long childish hair and took on the more manly short style which exposed their ears.
Page: 40, Location: 608-610
Elevens. It seemed a short time ago that Jonas had undergone the Ceremony of Eleven, but he remembered that it was not one of the more interesting ones. By Eleven, one was only waiting to be Twelve. It was simply a marking of time with no meaningful changes. There was new clothing: different undergarments for the females, whose bodies were beginning to change; and longer trousers for the males, with a specially shaped pocket for the small calculator that they would use this year in school; but those were simply presented in wrapped packages without an accompanying speech.
Page: 40, Location: 612-616
How could someone not fit in? The community was so meticulously ordered, the choices so carefully made.
Page: 42, Location: 633-634
Jonas was Nineteen. He had been the nineteenth newchild born his year.
Page: 43, Location: 652-652
"This is the time," she began, looking directly at them, "when we acknowledge differences. You Elevens have spent all your years till now learning to fit in, to standardize your behavior, to curb any impulse that might set you apart from the group. "But today we honor your differences. They have determined your futures."
Page: 44, Location: 668-670
the Chief Elder looked down at him and said the words that she had said now four times, and would say to each new Twelve. Somehow she gave it special meaning for each of them. "Asher," she said, "thank you for your childhood."
Page: 48, Location: 722-723
"Jonas," she said, speaking not to him alone but to the entire community of which he was a part, "you will be trained to be our next Receiver of Memory. We thank you for your childhood."
Page: 54, Location: 817-818
JONAS RECEIVER OF MEMORY 1. Go immediately at the end of school hours each day to the Annex entrance behind the House of the Old and present yourself to the attendant. 2. Go immediately to your dwelling at the conclusion of Training Hours each day. 3. From this moment you are exempted from rules governing rudeness. You may ask any question of any citizen and you will receive answers. 4. Do not discuss your training with any other member of the community, including parents and Elders. 5. From this moment you are prohibited from dream-telling. 6. Except for illness or injury unrelated to your training, do not apply for any medication. 7. You are not permitted to apply for release. 8. You may lie.
Page: 57, Location: 867-873
ask someone, some adult, his father perhaps: "Do you lie?" But he would have no way of knowing if the answer he received were true.
Page: 60, Location: 906-907
"It's as if..." The man paused, seeming to search his mind for the right words of description. "It's like going downhill through deep snow on a sled," he said, finally. "At first it's exhilarating: the speed; the sharp, clear air; but then the snow accumulates, builds up on the runners, and you slow, you have to push hard to keep going, and—"
Page: 65, Location: 991-993
How could you describe a sled without describing a hill and snow; and how could you describe a hill and snow to someone who had never felt height or wind or that feathery, magical cold? Even trained for years as they all had been in precision of language, what words could you use which would give another the experience of sunshine?
Page: 74, Location: 1122-1125
The Giver chuckled, suddenly. "We've never completely mastered Sameness. I suppose the genetic scientists are still hard at work trying to work the kinks out. Hair like Fiona's must drive them crazy."
Page: 78, Location: 1193-1194
We don't dare to let people make choices of their own."
Page: 81, Location: 1233-1233
"He might make wrong choices."
Page: 81, Location: 1231-1231
"Oh." Jonas was silent for a minute. "Oh, I see what you mean. It wouldn't matter for a newchild's toy. But later it does matter, doesn't it? We don't dare to let people make choices of their own."
Page: 81, Location: 1232-1233
He found that he was often angry, now: irrationally angry at his groupmates, that they were satisfied with their lives which had none of the vibrance his own was taking on. And he was angry at himself, that he could not change that for them.
Page: 81, Location: 1240-1241
Jonas chuckled. "Very frightening. I can't even imagine it. We really have to protect people from wrong choices." "It's safer." "Yes," Jonas agreed. "Much safer."
Page: 81, Location: 1237-1239
Jonas had forgotten The Giver's obvious age. When adults of the community became older, their lives became different. They were no longer needed to create family units. Jonas's own parents, when he and Lily were grown, would go to live with the Childless Adults.
Page: 84, Location: 1277-1279
The Giver shook his head. "Those are simply the things that I do. My life is here." "In this room?" The Giver shook his head. He put his hands to his own face, to his chest. "No. Here, in my being. Where the memories are."
Page: 86, Location: 1311-1314
They skittered sideways and the sled gathered speed. Jonas pulled at the rope, trying to steer, but the steepness and speed took control from his hands and he was no longer enjoying the feeling of freedom but instead, terrified, was at the mercy of the wild acceleration downward over the ice.
Page: 89, Location: 1360-1361
They have never known pain, he thought. The realization made him feel desperately lonely, and he rubbed his throbbing leg. He eventually slept. Again and again he dreamed of the anguish and the isolation on the forsaken hill.
Page: 91, Location: 1383-1384
"Why?" Jonas asked him after he had received a torturous memory in which he had been neglected and unfed; the hunger had caused excruciating spasms in his empty, distended stomach. He lay on the bed, aching. "Why do you and I have to hold these memories?" "It gives us wisdom," The Giver replied. "Without wisdom I could not fulfill my function of advising the Committee of Elders when they call upon me."
Page: 91, Location: 1389-1392
"But why can't everyone have the memories? I think it would seem a little easier if the memories were shared. You and I wouldn't have to bear so much by ourselves, if everybody took a part." The Giver sighed. "You're right," he said. "But then everyone would be burdened and pained. They don't want that. And that's the real reason The Receiver is so vital to them, and so honored. They selected me—and you—to lift that burden from themselves."
Page: 93, Location: 1413-1417
He wondered, though, if he should confess to The Giver that he had given a memory away. He was not yet qualified to be a Giver himself; nor had Gabriel been selected to be a Receiver. That he had this power frightened him. He decided not to tell.
Page: 96, Location: 1469-1471
Jonas did not want to go back. He didn't want the memories, didn't want the honor, didn't want the wisdom, didn't want the pain. He wanted his childhood again, his scraped knees and ball games. He sat in his dwelling alone, watching through the window, seeing children at play, citizens bicycling home from uneventful days at work, ordinary lives free of anguish because he had been selected, as others before him had, to bear their burden.
Page: 99, Location: 1505-1508
He had walked through woods, and sat at night beside a campfire. Although he had through the memories learned about the pain of loss and loneliness, now he gained, too, an understanding of solitude and its joy.
Page: 99, Location: 1516-1518
"What did you perceive?" The Giver asked. "Warmth," Jonas replied, "and happiness. And—let me think. Family. That it was a celebration of some sort, a holiday. And something else—I can't quite get the word for it." "It will come to you."
Page: 100, Location: 1532-1534
"Do you understand why it's inappropriate to use a word like 'love'?" Mother asked. Jonas nodded. "Yes, thank you, I do," he replied slowly. It was his first lie to his parents.
Page: 104, Location: 1584-1586
The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away.
Page: 105, Location: 1602-1603
But Lily had not felt anger, Jonas realized now. Shallow impatience and exasperation, that was all Lily had felt. He knew that with certainty because now he knew what anger was. Now he had, in the memories, experienced injustice and cruelty, and he had reacted with rage that welled up so passionately inside him that the thought of discussing it calmly at the evening meal was unthinkable.
Page: 107, Location: 1628-1631
Jonas trudged to the bench beside the Storehouse and sat down, overwhelmed with feelings of loss. His childhood, his friendships, his carefree sense of security—all of these things seemed to be slipping away. With his new, heightened feelings, he was overwhelmed by sadness at the way the others had laughed and shouted, playing at war. But he knew that they could not understand why, without the memories. He felt such love for Asher and for Fiona. But they could not feel it back, without the memories. And he could not give them those. Jonas knew with certainty that he could change nothing.
Page: 109, Location: 1671-1675
The Giver turned to him. Quite calmly, he related, "When the Speaker notified me that Rosemary had applied for release, they turned on the tape to show me the process. There she was—my last glimpse of that beautiful child—waiting. They brought in the syringe and asked her to roll up her sleeve.
Page: 122, Location: 1859-1861
"When I was just a boy, younger than you, it began to come to me. But it wasn't the seeing-beyond for me. It was different. For me, it was hearing-beyond." Jonas frowned, trying to figure that out. "What did you hear?" he asked. "Music," The Giver said, smiling. "I began to hear something truly remarkable, and it is called music. I'll give you some before I go." Jonas shook his head emphatically. "No, Giver," he said. "I want you to keep that, to have with you, when I'm gone."
Page: 127, Location: 1940-1944
Jonas had been staring glumly at the floor. Now he looked up, startled. "I didn't know you had a daughter, Giver! You told me that you'd had a spouse. But I never knew about your daughter." The Giver smiled, and nodded. For the first time in their long months together, Jonas saw him look truly happy. "Her name was Rosemary," The Giver said.
Page: 131, Location: 1999-2001
The Giver hugged him. "I love you, Jonas," he said. "But I have another place to go. When my work here is finished, I want to be with my daughter." Jonas had been staring glumly at the floor. Now he looked up, startled. "I didn't know you had a daughter, Giver! You told me that you'd had a spouse. But I never knew about your daughter." The Giver smiled, and nodded. For the first time in their long months together, Jonas saw him look truly happy. "Her name was Rosemary," The Giver said.
Page: 131, Location: 1997-2001
Now he was. If he had stayed in the community, he would not be. It was as simple as that. Once he had yearned for choice. Then, when he had had a choice, he had made the wrong one: the choice to leave. And now he was starving. But if he had stayed...
Page: 139, Location: 2128-2130
His thoughts continued. If he had stayed, he would have starved in other ways. He would have lived a life hungry for feelings, for color, for love. And Gabriel? For Gabriel there would have been no life at all. So there had not really been a choice.
Page: 139, Location: 2130-2132
"We're almost there, Gabriel," he whispered, feeling quite certain without knowing why. "I remember this place, Gabe." And it was true. But it was not a grasping of a thin and burdensome recollection; this was different. This was something that he could keep. It was a memory of his own.
Page: 143, Location: 2187-2189
Downward, downward, faster and faster Suddenly he was aware with certainty and joy that below, ahead, they were waiting for him; and that they were waiting, too, for the baby. For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing. 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.
Page: 144, Location: 2200-2203