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The Giver
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Jonas decides in a moment that giving up color was wrong, while it took The Giver “many years.” Is it a good thing that Jonas made up his mind so quickly?
The tension The Giver says, “We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others”; Jonas answers fiercely, “We shouldn't have!” and The Giver, startled, says it took him “many years” to reach that conclusion.
How Jonas finds out that his “seeing beyond” is the color red, and how fast that turns into a verdict on Sameness.
At breakfast Jonas's mother asks whether he slept soundly, with no dreams. Jonas smiles and nods, “not ready to lie, not willing to tell the truth.” In fact he dreamed again and again of sliding down the snowy hill toward a something beyond where the sled stops; he woke feeling it was good, but did not know how to get there. At school the new Twelves talk all at once about their first day of training. Jonas listens: he may not discuss his, and no words, however precise, could give anyone a sled ride or sunshine. Riding to the House of the Old, Fiona waits for him to say why he stayed late yesterday; asking would be rude. He changes the subject, and she lists what she will learn, among them that they use a discipline wand on the Old, as on the very young. As she goes in, her hair changes for a flickering instant, as the apple and the faces at the Ceremony did. In the Annex, one minute late, Jonas tries and fails to describe the change. The Giver says the seeing-beyond came to him differently, but will not describe it yet. He has Jonas call back the sled ride himself, since it is his memory now, and look at the sled: it has the same quality, and this time it stays. The top row of books changes, then slips away. “You're beginning to see the color red,” The Giver says. Jonas has no word for it. Things once had color, The Giver explains; Fiona's hair is red, and flesh was many colors before Sameness. He chuckles that the genetic scientists have never quite mastered Sameness: hair like Fiona's must drive them crazy. Jonas wishes language were more precise; the red was so beautiful. The Giver sees all the colors, and says Jonas will too, when he receives the memories, along with wisdom. Jonas cares just then about the colors, and asks why they went. Our people chose Sameness, back and back, The Giver says; they gained control of many things and let go of others. “We shouldn't have!” Jonas says fiercely. Startled, The Giver smiles wryly: it took him many years to reach that conclusion; maybe Jonas's wisdom will come more quickly. Jonas asks how the seeing-beyond came to him. “Another day.” To help with color, The Giver will give him a memory of a rainbow.
Before reading, ask the student to explain a favorite color to someone who has never seen any color at all. Let them try, and notice what words they reach for. Read aloud from the opening to “So it was easy for Jonas to be still and to listen.” and stop. Ask what the other Twelves are doing while Jonas listens. Read on to “I will ask The Giver, he decided.” and ask the student to list the times Jonas has seen something change. Read on to “You're beginning to see the color red.” and stop: ask what Jonas has been seeing all along. Then read to the end without stopping, so Jonas's “We shouldn't have!” and The Giver's reply come as they do on the page. At the end, ask what Jonas decided, and how long it took him. Do not say what the something in the dream is, or how the seeing-beyond came to The Giver: the chapter tells neither.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in three parts. First the day outside: the nod at breakfast, the dream of the something past the sled's stop, the Twelves talking at school while Jonas listens, and the ride with Fiona, her list, and her hair. Then the test: Jonas one minute late, the description that will not come out right, the sled he calls back himself, changed and staying changed, and the books that change and slip away. Last the talk: the word red, flesh that was once many colors, the joke about the scientists, “We shouldn't have!”, the “many years,” the question put off to another day, and the rainbow. Ask for three or four sentences of the student's own for each part.
Imitate the author After copying, the student writes three or four sentences of their own about a feeling they could not name. Ask for one long sentence with a pair of commas around an interrupter, like “He was left, upon awakening, with the feeling,” followed by short pieces that each add one word for the feeling, like “That it was welcoming.” Then ask for two short sentences that show a person's face change, the second one opening with “Then,” like “The Giver looked startled at the certainty of Jonas's reaction. Then he smiled wryly.”
Debate Take sides on the last written question. First make two lists together. What Jonas has to go on: one color, seen in an apple, faces, Fiona's hair, the sled and the books, and his own words, “The red was so beautiful!” What The Giver has to go on: all the colors, “many years,” and his own account that the people “gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others.” One side argues it is good that Jonas decided so quickly. The other argues he decided too fast. Each side gives a reason and a line from the chapter, and answers one from the other side. No one may say who made the choice to go to Sameness, what the control was for, or that Jonas will keep the colors: the chapter shows none of these.
Purpose Close with two choices the writer made. First, the chapter holds back the word red. Jonas sees it in the apple, the faces, Fiona's hair and the sled, and the reader hears only that things “changed” and of “that same mysterious quality” until The Giver says, “You're beginning to see the color red.” Ask the student why the writer might keep the word back so long. Then read Jonas's cry, “oh, I wish language were more precise!” He and his classmates have been “trained for years” in exact words. Ask what it means that he wishes this now, about red. Leave the question open, as the chapter does.
Easier Read aloud together from “I'm right, then,” to “We shouldn't have!” Make two lists: the things Jonas has seen change, and what The Giver says the change really is. Talk through the second discussion question (whether keeping quiet at school was easy) and the fourth (The Giver's joke), then answer the last written question aloud.
On level Talk through the four discussion questions in order, then have the student write answers to the two written questions in complete sentences, each with a reason and a line from the chapter.
Harder Ask the student to write the last written question as an argument: a claim, the strongest reason against it, and an answer to that reason. Then read The Giver's words, “We relinquished color when we relinquished sunshine and did away with differences.” Ask whether that was one choice or three, and whether Jonas's “We shouldn't have!” answers all three the same way. The answer must not say who made the choice: the chapter says only “Our people made that choice.”
1. When his mother asks, “No dreams?” Jonas smiles and nods. Was that nod a lie?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to judge a small moment at the start of the day. His mother asks, “You slept soundly, Jonas?” and then, “No dreams?” Jonas “simply smiled and nodded, not ready to lie, not willing to tell the truth,” and says, “I slept very soundly.” That much is true. But the narrator says “it was not true that he had no dreams”: again and again in the night he slid down the snowy hill. The student decides whether a nod with no false word in it can still be a lie. It takes up one part of the last written question: how Jonas makes up his mind. About lying he is “not ready,” and he finds a way to do neither; later the same day he judges the loss of color in a moment. The talk should stay on what Jonas does and says at the table.
Yes. A nod answers the question it is given, and the question was “No dreams?” His mother will now think he did not dream. Picking one true sentence to say out loud does not change what the nod tells her.
Jonas simply smiled and nodded
But it was not true that he had no dreams.
No. He says nothing false: he did sleep soundly. He is “not ready to lie,” and he does not. He only keeps the dream to himself, the way he keeps his training to himself all day.
not ready to lie, not willing to tell the truth
"I slept very soundly," he said.
A strong answer A strong response might call the nod a lie: the question was “No dreams?” and Jonas “simply smiled and nodded,” though “it was not true that he had no dreams.” Another might say it is not a lie, because every word he says is true, “I slept very soundly,” and he is “not ready to lie.” A careful answer may notice that Jonas does not decide here: neither ready to lie nor willing to tell the truth, he takes the one way left, a smile and a nod. By the afternoon he will decide about color in a moment.
2. The book says it was “easy” for Jonas to be still and listen. Do you believe it was easy?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to test one word the book uses about Jonas. At school the other new Twelves are “abuzz” about their first day of training: they all talk at once, interrupt, apologize, and forget again. Jonas listens. He is “very aware of his own admonition not to discuss his training. But it would have been impossible, anyway.” No words, even after years of training “in precision of language,” could give anyone a sled ride or sunshine. “So it was easy for Jonas to be still and to listen.” The student decides whether to believe that “easy.” The same afternoon Fiona waits for him to explain why he stayed late, and he changes the subject. It takes up one part of the last written question: Jonas now carries something no one around him has felt, and he judges the loss of color from inside it. The talk should stay on the school day and the ride with Fiona.
Yes. There was nothing he could say anyway, so the rule cost him nothing. No words could carry a sled ride or sunshine to someone who had never felt them. The book says “So”: the easy part comes straight from the impossible part.
But it would have been impossible, anyway.
what words could you use which would give another the experience of sunshine?
No. He is the only quiet one while his friends talk all at once, and he has to stay “very aware” of the rule. On the ride, Fiona waits for him to explain, and he has to change the subject. Keeping still costs him something all day.
He was very aware of his own admonition not to discuss his training.
She pedaled forward silently, and he knew that she expected him to tell her why.
A strong answer A strong response might believe it: describing his training “would have been impossible, anyway,” since no words could “give another the experience of sunshine,” so the rule asks nothing of him. Another might doubt it: he stays “very aware of his own admonition,” and on the ride Fiona waits, “and he knew that she expected him to tell her why.” A careful answer may notice the word “So”: the stillness is easy only because the words do not exist, which means no one around Jonas can share what he has felt. That is the ground he judges from when he says, “We shouldn't have!”
3. Fiona tells Jonas they use a discipline wand on the Old. How does she feel about that?Character
What it asks It asks the student to read how Fiona says something, not only what she says. On the ride to the House of the Old, Jonas changes the subject away from his training, and Fiona lists what she will learn: “There's administrative work, and the dietary rules, and punishment for disobedience”. Then she breaks off with a dash to ask, “did you know that they use a discipline wand on the Old,” the same wand used on the very young. She goes straight on: “And there's occupational therapy, and recreational activities, and medications”. At the door she says, “I really think I'll like it better than school,” and Jonas says, “Me too.” Neither of them says another word about the wand. The student decides how Fiona feels about it, from the way she says it. It takes up one part of the last written question: a few minutes later Jonas will judge the loss of color at once, and fiercely; here a punishment goes by in a list. The talk should stay on what Fiona says and how; the chapter names the wand and does not show it used.
It surprises her. She stops her own list to ask, “did you know,” as if she has just found it out and wants Jonas to be surprised too. She points out that the Old get the same as the very young, so she has noticed it.
did you know that they use a discipline wand on the Old
the same as for small children
It is one more thing to learn. It sits between the dietary rules and occupational therapy, and she hurries on. She is happy about her new work, and nothing in her voice stops for long.
There's administrative work, and the dietary rules, and punishment for disobedience
I really think I'll like it better than school
A strong answer A strong response might say it surprises her: she breaks off to ask, “did you know,” and points out that the Old get the same as the very young. Another might say it is only one more thing to learn, sitting between “the dietary rules” and “occupational therapy,” and she ends glad: “I really think I'll like it better than school.” A careful answer may notice that both readings fit a girl who notices something and still does not judge it, while Jonas, that same afternoon, judges the loss of color in a moment.
4. The Giver jokes that hair like Fiona's must drive the scientists crazy. Would you laugh along with him?Tone
What it asks It asks the student to decide whether a joke is funny, and to say why. The Giver has just told Jonas that flesh was once “many different colors” and that “Today flesh is all the same.” Then he “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.” The joke is easy to pass by. It shows that Sameness is not finished, and that it is still being worked on people's bodies. It takes up one part of the last written question: what the people “gained control” of, and what it takes to keep it. The talk should not say what the scientists do to anyone; the chapter says only that they are “still hard at work.”
Yes. One red-haired girl has beaten a whole team of scientists, and the picture of them going crazy over her hair is funny. The Giver enjoys it; he has noticed her hair before and likes it.
We've never completely mastered Sameness.
quite distinctive, actually; I've noticed it before.
No. Under the joke, people are at work making bodies the same, and hair like Fiona's is what gets in their way. Flesh was once many colors and now is not. That is hard to laugh at right after Jonas has seen how beautiful red is.
I suppose the genetic scientists are still hard at work trying to work the kinks out.
Today flesh is all the same
A strong answer A strong response might laugh along: the scientists have “never completely mastered Sameness,” and The Giver plainly likes Fiona's hair, “quite distinctive, actually.” Another might not laugh: the scientists are “still hard at work trying to work the kinks out,” and “Today flesh is all the same.” A careful answer may say the joke is both at once: The Giver laughs at the scientists, but what they are working on is people.
1. Fiona's hair is red, but she cannot see red. Is that a loss for her, if she does not know what she is missing?
What it asks It asks the student to weigh a loss that no one feels. Fiona's hair is the chapter's clue: “Your friend Fiona has red hair,” The Giver says, and the faces Jonas saw were not “as deep or vibrant” as it. Jonas sees it change only “for that flickering instant,” and until today he had no word for it: “The what?” No one around him can remember a time of color; everyone has only “one-generation memories.” Jonas asks, “Why can't everyone see them?” The Giver answers, “We relinquished color.” The student decides whether Fiona has lost something, and writes it with a reason from the chapter. It takes up one part of the last written question: Jonas's “We shouldn't have!” says something real was lost, and this asks what a loss is when the people who lost it do not know. The card must not say who chose Sameness, or that Jonas will keep the colors.
Yes. The red is really there in her hair, whether she sees it or not. The Giver says it is deeper than the red tones in faces. Not knowing what you are missing does not make it any less missing.
Your friend Fiona has red hair
it wasn't as deep or vibrant as the apple, or your friend's hair
No, not for her. You cannot miss a thing you have never had. No one in the community remembers back to color, so no one feels it gone. Even Jonas did not miss red before today; he did not know the word.
Everyone in the community has one-generation memories like those.
"The what?"
A strong answer A strong response might call it a loss: “Your friend Fiona has red hair,” and the faces were not “as deep or vibrant as the apple, or your friend's hair”; not knowing does not make it less hers. Another might say it is no loss to her: “Everyone in the community has one-generation memories,” so no one remembers color to miss it, and Jonas himself, before today, could only ask, “The what?” A careful answer may notice that, either way, the people who let go of color cannot feel what they lost; only Jonas and The Giver, who have seen it, can. That is where Jonas's “We shouldn't have!” comes from.
2. Jonas decides in a moment that giving up color was wrong, while it took The Giver “many years.” Is it a good thing that Jonas made up his mind so quickly?
What it asks This is the last question the student meets, and it gathers the earlier ones. Jonas has just learned the word red. The Giver says, “Our people made that choice, the choice to go to Sameness,” and then, “We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others.” Jonas answers “fiercely”: “We shouldn't have!” The Giver looks “startled at the certainty of Jonas's reaction,” smiles “wryly,” and says it took him “many years” to reach the same place: “Maybe your wisdom will come much more quickly than mine.” Only a moment earlier, “Jonas wasn't interested, just then, in wisdom. It was the colors that fascinated him.” The student decides whether deciding so quickly is a good thing, and defends it. The chapter does not say who made the choice, what the control was for, or that Jonas will keep the colors; no answer may claim them.
Yes. Jonas has seen what was lost with his own eyes, and he does not need years to know it was beautiful. The Giver reached the same answer in the end, and he even wonders whether Jonas's wisdom will come faster than his.
The red was so beautiful!
Maybe your wisdom will come much more quickly than mine.
No, or not yet. Jonas has seen one color and none of what Sameness gave. A moment before, he did not even care about wisdom. The Giver's wry smile and his “many years” suggest that this judgment needs more than one afternoon, even if it ends in the same place.
Jonas wasn't interested, just then, in wisdom.
We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others.
A strong answer A strong response takes a position and tests it. A student might argue it is good: Jonas has seen red and found it “so beautiful,” and The Giver himself says, “Maybe your wisdom will come much more quickly than mine.” Another might argue it is too fast: a moment before, “Jonas wasn't interested, just then, in wisdom,” and he has not weighed what The Giver says they gained, “control of many things.” A careful answer may notice that The Giver reached the same conclusion and still smiles “wryly”: Jonas's answer may be right while the way he reached it is still untested.