The Giver — Chapter 17

About This Passage

Selected because Lowry composes the war game as a small piece of theater: a shout, a horde, a crouched position, exaggerated gestures, and giggles on the ground. Every verb is from a battle — emerged, firing, dropped — and every detail is stripped of consequence. The passage is the chapter's argument in miniature: the form of war has survived the memory of war.

Narration Prompt

Retell Chapter 17 in seven to nine sentences. Begin with the wall speaker's announcement of the holiday and Jonas's four-week record of refused pills, then his new ability to keep colors permanently, then the war game and Jonas's breakdown in the middle of the field, then the confrontation with Asher, then Fiona's invitation Jonas refuses, and finally the evening meal scene with Father's description of releasing the smaller twin.

Discussion Questions

1. Jonas thinks the family's evening ritual of naming feelings is no longer the same as what he now experiences. What in Lowry's description of Lily's "small hand making a fist" makes you think the ritual is not just inadequate but actively hollowing? How do you know from the contrast the text sets up?
2. When Jonas corrects Asher's "expertness" to "expertise" in the middle of their confrontation, why do you think Lowry inserts this tiny correction at exactly this moment? What in Jonas's character does this reveal that the text has been preparing?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide