The Giver — Chapter 4

About This Passage

Lowry opens the chapter with a paragraph that quietly tells us what this community values: order, regulation, and the rationing of 'luxury.' By putting the word 'luxury' next to the word 'regulated' in a child's thought, she lets us see that even freedom here is understood through the vocabulary of measurement. Copying this passage teaches students to notice how a writer builds a world through the ordinary words her characters reach for.

Narration Prompt

Retell Chapter 4 as four linked moments: Jonas riding through the community looking for Asher; the attendant at the House of the Old describing the release that has 'thrown the schedule off'; Jonas bathing Larissa and noticing how much the scene resembles his father bathing Gabriel; and Larissa telling Jonas about Roberto's release celebration.

Discussion Questions

1. Jonas realizes while bathing Larissa that the scene is 'much the same' as his father bathing Gabriel. What is Lowry showing us about the way this community cares for the very young and the very old, and what does Jonas's noticing reveal about his way of seeing?
2. The community has a rule against bragging, punishable only by 'gentle chastisement,' and a rule against looking at another's nakedness that produces 'awkward' apologies. Why does Lowry group these two small rules together through Jonas's thoughts, and what is she suggesting about how the community manages pride and the body?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide