Chapter 13 — Teaching Companion

What it asks It asks the student to explain a feeling Jonas himself does not understand. He begins angry that nothing has color. He wants “to wake up in the morning and decide things,” and thinks of holding up bright toys for Gabriel to choose from. The Giver answers, “He might make wrong choices.” From there The Giver says very little: “Not safe?”, “Frightening, isn't it?”, “It's safer.” Jonas fills in the rest himself, people choosing their own mates and their own jobs, and ends at “We really have to protect people from wrong choices.” He agrees: “Much safer.” Yet when the talk moves on, he is left “with a feeling of frustration that he didn't understand.” The chapter does not say why, so the student works it out from the talk. It takes up one part of the last written question: the very next thing the chapter tells is Jonas's anger at his groupmates for being satisfied, right after he has talked himself into the same safe life. The talk should not claim to know what The Giver privately thinks; the chapter gives only his words.

One reading

He still wants what he asked for. He said the safe words, but the wish he started with has not gone away. Nothing in the talk gave him the colors or the choosing, so agreeing leaves him with less than he came in with.

• But I want them!
• I want to wake up in the morning and decide things!

Another reading

The words were not really his. The Giver led him one short question at a time, and Jonas filled in what he has heard all his life. Agreeing out loud did not make him believe it inside, and part of him knows it.

• He might make wrong choices.
• Frightening, isn't it?

Listen for

• Sorts out who says what: The Giver's few short lines, and the examples Jonas adds himself.
• Finds the point where Jonas changes his mind: right after “He might make wrong choices.”
• Names what Jonas wanted at the start, and checks whether the talk ever gave it to him.
• Does not claim to know what The Giver privately believes; the chapter gives only his words.

If stuck

• What does Jonas want to choose at the start?
• What does The Giver say after Jonas talks about Gabriel's toys?
• Can a person agree out loud and still not agree inside?

A strong answer A strong response might say Jonas still wants what he asked for: he began with “I want to wake up in the morning and decide things!” and nothing in the talk gave it to him. Another might say the words were never his own: The Giver led him there one short question at a time, from “He might make wrong choices” to “It's safer.” A careful answer may notice where the chapter goes next: straight from this frustration to Jonas being “often angry, now.”

What it asks It asks the student to explain why Jonas covers up his first try. He does not ask The Giver first, because he fears, or knows, that the answer would be no. Beside a bed of geraniums near the Hall of Open Records, he puts his hands on Asher's shoulders and concentrates on the red of the petals, trying to pass it on. Asher asks uneasily, “Is something wrong?” and moves away from Jonas's hands; touching someone outside the family unit is “extremely rude.” Jonas answers, “No, nothing,” says he thought the flowers were wilting and needed more watering, sighs, and turns away. The student decides why he hides what he was doing. More than one reason sits on the page: the touch broke a rule of manners; he acted without permission; the new Receiver may not talk about his training, “the most frustrating of the rules he was required to obey”; and Asher, who cannot see red, would have no way to understand. It takes up one part of the last written question: Jonas is angry at himself “that he could not change that for them,” and this is the first time he tries. Whether it is good that his tries fail belongs to the first written question; the talk can stay on the cover story.

One reading

He is ashamed. The try failed, Asher pulled away, and Jonas broke a rule of manners to make it. A made-up worry about the flowers is easier than saying he failed.

• He moved away from Jonas's hands.
• Jonas sighed, and turned away.

Another reading

He cannot say it. He may not talk about his training, and Asher has never seen red. No words Jonas has would make sense to Asher, so the only thing left to talk about is the flowers.

• the most frustrating of the rules he was required to obey
• trying at the same time to transmit the awareness of red to his friend

Listen for

• Tells what Jonas does and what Asher does back: the hands on the shoulders, “Is something wrong?”, the step away.
• Gives more than one possible reason for the cover story, and says which seems strongest.
• Notices that the story turns the red Jonas wanted to share into an ordinary job for the Gardening Crew.
• Connects the sigh and the turning away to how Jonas feels just then.

If stuck

• Where are Jonas and Asher standing, and what does Jonas do?
• What does Asher ask, and what does he do?
• What could Jonas have said instead, and would Asher have understood it?

A strong answer A strong response might say Jonas is ashamed: the try failed, Asher “moved away from Jonas's hands,” and touching like that was rude. Another might say he has no way to tell it: he may not talk about his training, and Asher has never seen red. A careful answer may notice what the cover story does: the red Jonas wanted to share becomes flowers that need “more watering,” a job for the Gardening Crew, and then Jonas “sighed, and turned away.”

What it asks It asks the student to look hard at one word the writer did not need. That day The Giver chose “a startling and disturbing memory.” Men with guns kill an elephant, cut away its tusks and drive off. Then a second elephant comes out of the trees, strokes the body with its trunk, covers it with leafy branches, and roars. That evening Jonas asks Lily whether she knew there once were elephants: “Live ones?” She grins and says, “Sure, Jonas.” He puts one hand on her shoulder and one on his father's, and tries to give them “the being of the elephant” and “the meticulous touch with which it had tended its friend at the end.” His father goes on combing; Lily says, “you're hurting me with your hand.” The scene ends with her “stroking the lifeless elephant.” A stuffed toy is plainly not alive, so the student decides what the word is doing there. It takes up one part of the last written question: Lily is content with a toy that is “lifeless,” the kind of satisfaction that makes Jonas angry at his groupmates. The talk should stay on the second elephant and on Lily, and not turn into a lesson about hunting.

One reading

It points back to the memory. Jonas has just seen a real elephant lying dead and a second one stroking it. Now Lily strokes a copy that is just as still. The word joins the two scenes, though only Jonas can see it.

• With its sinuous trunk it stroked the huge corpse
• stroking the lifeless elephant.

Another reading

It shows that Jonas's try did not work. He wanted to give Lily a living elephant, the “towering, immense creature.” What she holds at the end is still only a toy, and she still does not believe him. Nothing came alive for her.

• did you know that once there really were elephants? Live ones?
• Lily responded indifferently

Listen for

• Notices that a stuffed toy is plainly not alive, so the word must be doing some other work.
• Links Lily's stroking to the second elephant stroking its dead friend in the memory.
• Sets “Live ones?” near the start of the scene against “lifeless” at its end.
• Keeps the talk on the second elephant and on Lily, not on the hunters.

If stuck

• What does Lily do with her toy at the start of the scene, and at the end?
• What did the second elephant do in the memory?
• If the writer had left out “lifeless,” what would we miss?

A strong answer A strong response might say the word sends the reader back to the memory: the second elephant “stroked the huge corpse,” and now Lily strokes a lifeless copy without knowing it. Another might say the word shows that Jonas's try failed: he asked Lily about “Live ones,” wanted to give her the “towering, immense creature,” and at the end she still holds only a toy and answers him “indifferently.” A careful answer may notice that Jonas chose to give only the tender part, “not of the tortured cry,” yet the scene still ends on a word about death.

What it asks It asks the student to weigh two ideas of what a life is. The Giver tells Jonas he may apply for a spouse, but warns it will be hard: the books are forbidden to citizens, and a Receiver may talk about his work only to the new Receiver. “So there will be a whole part of your life which you won't be able to share with a family.” Then he asks, “You do understand, don't you, that this is my life? The memories?” Jonas is puzzled: “Didn't life consist of the things you did each day?” He has seen The Giver taking walks. The Giver says he walks, eats, and advises the Elders when they call, but “Those are simply the things that I do.” He puts his hands to his face and chest: “Here, in my being. Where the memories are.” The student decides which idea of a life is truer. It takes up one part of the last written question: if a life is what a person carries inside, then the biggest part of Jonas's life is now one his friends and family cannot see.

One reading

Jonas, at least partly. A life is what you do and who you do it with: walks, meals, a family. Those are the parts other people can share. The Giver himself once had a spouse.

• Didn't life consist of the things you did each day?
• I walk. I eat at mealtime.

Another reading

The Giver. He does the same things as everyone else, but what makes his life his own is what he carries inside. Nobody could tell that by watching him walk.

• Those are simply the things that I do.
• Here, in my being. Where the memories are.

Listen for

• States each idea fairly, in the student's own words.
• Notices The Giver's gesture: hands to his own face and chest.
• Connects the talk to what The Giver says Jonas will not be able to share with a family.
• Takes a side, or a middle path, and points to a line for it.

If stuck

• What has Jonas seen The Giver doing?
• Where does The Giver put his hands when he says “Here”?
• Could someone see everything you do and still not know your life?

A strong answer A strong response might side with Jonas: a life is “the things you did each day,” and those are what a family shares. Another might side with The Giver: his walks and meals are “simply the things that I do,” and his life is “Here, in my being. Where the memories are.” A careful answer may notice what follows if The Giver is right: “a whole part of your life which you won't be able to share with a family” turns out to be the biggest part.

What it asks It asks the student to explain where Jonas's mind goes when he is alone. On afternoons when The Giver is in pain and sends him away, Jonas walks by the river. He holds green in his sight “until his head hurt” and brings blue from the sky until he feels warmth. At the foot of the bridge he thinks of the land he has seen on school trips, “flat and well ordered,” the other communities “essentially the same as his own.” Then he wonders about the far distance: hills, and wide wind-torn places “like the place he had seen in memory, the place where the elephant died.” The student decides why, of all places, his mind goes there. It takes up one part of the last written question: what Jonas now carries that his groupmates do not, and how he feels about carrying it. No answer may say what lies beyond the bridge, or that Jonas plans to go there; he only wonders.

One reading

It haunts him. The roar would not stop; it stayed in his head all the way home. He did not choose to remember that place. It keeps coming back, the way pain does.

• continued to roar into his consciousness as he pedaled slowly home
• Jonas ached now for it to end

Another reading

He longs for it. Everything he knows is flat, ordered and the same. That place was hot and windswept, with grass, rocks and broad trees. Terrible things happened there, but it was big and wild in a way his world is not.

• flat and well ordered, with fields for agriculture
• The land didn't end beyond those nearby communities.

Listen for

• Sets the land Jonas knows, “flat and well ordered,” beside the place in the memory.
• Remembers what happened in that place, and how long the roar stayed with him.
• Notices that Jonas is alone, sent away for the day, when he wonders this.
• Does not say what lies beyond the bridge, or that Jonas means to go there.

If stuck

• What is the land past the bridge like, from Jonas's school trips?
• What happened in the place where the elephant died?
• Can a person miss a place where something terrible happened?

A strong answer A strong response might say the place haunts him: the roar “continued to roar into his consciousness as he pedaled slowly home,” and he never asked to keep it. Another might say he longs for it: the land he knows is “flat and well ordered,” and the memory was a wide, wild place. A careful answer may notice that both can be true at once, and that he wonders this alone, on a day The Giver has sent him away.

What it asks It asks the student to look back at Jonas's tries from the community's side. Twice he has tried to pass on what he sees: the red of the geraniums to Asher, and the elephant to Lily and his father. He tried “Without asking permission from The Giver,” because he expected to be told no. Both tries fail. Later, when Jonas wonders why the people need a Receiver at all, The Giver says, “They need me. And you,” and explains. Ten years ago, when the new Receiver failed, “the memories that she had received were released,” and the people had access to them. “It was chaos,” he says. “They really suffered for a while. Finally it subsided as the memories were assimilated.” It made them aware “how they need a Receiver to contain all that pain. And knowledge.” The student decides, in writing, whether it is a good thing that Asher and Lily did not get what Jonas tried to give them. It takes up one part of the last written question: Jonas is angry at himself for not changing his friends' lives, and this asks what changing them might cost. No answer may say who the failed Receiver was or what became of her; The Giver says only that “she” failed.

One reading

Yes. When the memories reached everyone, the people suffered. Jonas meant to share only the good parts, but The Giver speaks of pain and knowledge together. A Receiver keeps the people safe from that.

• They really suffered for a while.
• how they need a Receiver to contain all that pain

Another reading

No. Jonas tried to give one small piece, a color and an elephant's care, not every memory at once. Even the chaos came to an end. And The Giver himself wishes the Elders would listen to what the memories could tell them.

• Finally it subsided as the memories were assimilated.
• there are so many things I could tell them; things I wish they would change

Listen for

• Tells the story of ten years ago in the student's own words: the memories released, the chaos, the suffering, the end of it.
• Weighs one color passed to a friend against every memory let loose at once.
• Uses The Giver's wish that the Elders would “ask for my wisdom more often” as evidence for one side.
• Writes in complete sentences, with a reason and a line from the chapter; does not say who the failed Receiver was or what became of her.

If stuck

• What did Jonas try to give Asher, and what did he try to give Lily?
• What happened when the memories got out ten years ago?
• Is a little of something different from all of it at once?

A strong answer A strong response might argue yes: when the memories reached the people, “They really suffered for a while,” and the community needs a Receiver “to contain all that pain.” Another might argue no: Jonas offered one color and one elephant's care, not everything at once, and even the chaos “subsided”; The Giver himself says “there are so many things I could tell them.” A careful answer may notice that The Giver adds “And knowledge” after “all that pain”: what the people are kept from is not only suffering.

What it asks This is the last question the student meets, and it gathers the earlier ones. The chapter says Jonas is “irrationally angry at his groupmates, that they were satisfied with their lives which had none of the vibrance his own was taking on,” and “angry at himself, that he could not change that for them.” The anger comes right after he has argued himself round to “We really have to protect people from wrong choices,” and been left with “a feeling of frustration that he didn't understand.” Then his tries fail: Asher asks, “Is something wrong?” and Lily says, “you're hurting me with your hand.” Later The Giver says of Jonas's instructors, “They know nothing,” and explains that it is not their science he means: “without the memories it's all meaningless. They gave that burden to me.” The student decides whether Jonas's anger is fair, at his friends and at himself, and defends it in writing. The chapter does not show Jonas deciding to change the community or to leave it; no answer may claim either.

One reading

Yes, at least partly. His friends' lives really are missing something: color, choice, live elephants. Lily does not even believe elephants were real. Wanting more for the people you love is fair, and so is being upset that you cannot give it.

• that they were satisfied with their lives which had none of the vibrance his own was taking on
• did you know that once there really were elephants? Live ones?

Another reading

No. The chapter calls it “irrationally angry,” in a sentence that begins “He found that”: Jonas himself seems to sense it. Asher and Lily did not choose to be without the memories; that burden was given to the Receiver long before them. A little earlier Jonas himself agreed that people must be protected from wrong choices. And he could not have changed it alone: his touch does not work.

• irrationally angry at his groupmates
• They gave that burden to me.

Listen for

• Separates the two angers: at the groupmates, and at himself.
• Uses the chapter's own word, “irrationally,” and says whether the student agrees with it.
• Notices that Asher and Lily did not choose to be without the memories, and weighs whether that matters.
• Writes in complete sentences, takes a position with a line from the chapter, and answers the other side; does not say Jonas means to change the community or to leave it.

If stuck

• Who is Jonas angry at, and why?
• Did Asher or Lily choose not to see color?
• Can anger be unfair and still be about something real?

A strong answer A strong response takes a position and tests it. A student might argue the anger is fair: his friends' lives have “none of the vibrance his own was taking on,” and Lily does not believe elephants were ever alive. Another might argue it is not: the chapter calls it “irrationally angry,” Asher and Lily never chose to be without the memories, and The Giver says the people “gave that burden to me.” A careful answer may notice that the two angers need different answers: Jonas blames himself for something the chapter shows no touch can do, and only a little earlier he agreed that “We really have to protect people from wrong choices.”