The Giver
Chapter 14 — Teaching Companion
Lois Lowry · Trailblazers 4th–6th
Coaching, not a script — and not an answer key: every question here has more than one defensible answer.
This chapter's big question
Jonas could tell The Giver about the sail he gave Gabriel, but he decides not to. Is keeping that secret the right choice?
The tension From behind his closed door Jonas hears his family laughing over Gabriel's bath and thinks, “They have never known pain”; a few nights later his own hand on Gabriel's back draws the sail on the lake out of him, and he decides not to tell.
Today's focus
How suffering enters Jonas's training, why the Elders depend on it, and what changes when Jonas finds that a memory can leave his hands.
Two core ideas
- The wisdom the Elders ask for is made of suffering that only two people are allowed to feel.
- Giving a memory away leaves Jonas with “a small lack,” and his first gift is also a secret he keeps from The Giver.
The shape at a glance
Jonas receives a sled memory again, on a steeper hill coated with ice. The sled skitters out of control, Jonas is thrown, and his leg cracks under him. He screams, and no one answers. Back in the Annex, writhing on the bed, he begs for relief-of-pain; The Giver says no and looks away. Jonas limps home, and the ache lingers. The rules allow no medication for his training and no talk about it, so at the evening meal he says only that he is tired from school. From behind his closed door he hears Mother, Father and Lily laughing over Gabriel's bath, and thinks, “They have never known pain.” He feels desperately lonely. From then on the training always includes pain, and The Giver, in his kindness, ends each afternoon with a color-filled memory of pleasure, but it is not enough. After a memory of hunger, Jonas asks why the two of them must hold these memories. “It gives us wisdom,” The Giver says. Years ago, when citizens asked for more births, the memory of hunger led him to advise the Elders against it, without describing the pain: “They don't want to hear about pain.” When the plane flew over, he told the frightened Elders to wait; he did not know the pilot was lost, but he knew of people who destroyed others “in haste, in fear.” Jonas asks why everyone can't share the memories. The Giver says he is right, but the people chose the Receiver to lift that burden from themselves, and he has never been able to think of a way to change it. The decision goes “Back and back and back,” and now the phrase seems ominous. At home Gabriel is still fretful at night. Father hopes he will not be released; Mother says it might be for the best. Father is next on the list for a Birthmother's twin males, to select one to be nurtured and one to be released: “We release the smaller of the two.” Jonas wonders whether someone Elsewhere waits for the twin, and has a foolish hope that it might be Larissa. Then he offers to keep Gabriel's crib in his room for the night. When Gabriel whimpers, Jonas pats his back and remembers a sail, and feels the memory sliding out through his hand into Gabriel, who grows quiet. Startled, Jonas pulls back what is left. Toward dawn he gives Gabriel the rest on purpose, and afterward feels a small lack. He is not yet qualified to be a Giver, and Gabriel has not been selected to be a Receiver. The power frightens him. He decides not to tell.
A way in
Before reading, ask the student to think of a time they were hurt or worried and someone close by had no idea. What made it hard to say? Read aloud from the opening to “But The Giver said no, and looked away.” and stop: ask what Jonas asked for, and what he got. Read on to “on the forsaken hill.” and ask what Jonas heard from behind his door. Read on to “Now it was ominous.” and ask what The Giver says the memories are for. Read on to “let's try it, just for tonight.” and ask why Jonas offered to take the crib. Then read to the end without stopping, so the sail and Jonas's decision come as they do on the page. Do not say what release is, whether Gabriel keeps the memory, or what The Giver would say: the chapter tells none of these.
Lesson plan
Retell The student tells the chapter back in three parts. First the hill and the evening: the icy slope, the broken leg, “There was no answer,” the refused relief-of-pain, the quiet meal, and the laughter behind the closed door. Then the Annex: pain in every lesson, the memory of hunger, the advice against more births, the plane and “wait,” Jonas's wish that everyone could share the memories, and “Back and back and back.” Last the household and the night: Gabriel's fretful nights, Father's news about the twins, Larissa, the crib, the sail sliding away twice, and the decision not to tell. 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 time they were alone with a feeling. Ask for one thought written without quotation marks, with a comma and “he thought” or “she thought,” like “They have never known pain, he thought.” Then ask for one very short sentence after a longer one, like “He eventually slept.” For a student who is ready, add three sentences where the first two begin the same way and the third breaks the pattern, like “Sometimes ... Sometimes ... Now it was ominous.”
Debate Take sides on the last written question. First make two lists together. Reasons to keep the secret: the memory was gentle and “Again Gabriel slept”; Jonas does not yet understand what happened; The Giver himself gives the Elders the advice but not the pain (“They just seek the advice”). Reasons to tell: Jonas is “not yet qualified to be a Giver,” the power frightens him, The Giver is the one person who knows about memories, and Jonas himself said they “wouldn't have to bear so much by ourselves” if it were shared. One side argues the secret is right; the other argues it is not. Each side gives a reason and a line from the chapter, and answers one from the other side. Do not settle it for them as a betrayal or a kindness. No one may say how The Giver would react or what will become of Gabriel: the chapter shows neither.
Purpose Close with two choices the writer made. First, the sail. Early in the chapter, the comforts The Giver gives after a day of pain begin with “a brisk sail on a blue-green lake.” At the crib, the memory that leaves Jonas is a sail The Giver gave him. Ask why the writer might make the first memory Jonas gives away a comfort he was given. Then look at where the chapter stops: “He decided not to tell.” It is five short words, and the last line. Ask why the writer might end there, before the next day in the Annex. Do not guess what Jonas will do next: the chapter has not shown it.
Easier Read aloud together from Father's news about the twins to the end of the chapter. Make two lists: what Jonas has before that night, and what he has after. Talk through the third and fourth discussion questions (Father's words about the twins, and the crib), 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 set beside it The Giver's own way with the Elders: he advised them against more births but did not describe the hunger, because “They don't want to hear about pain.” Ask whether that is the same kind of keeping back as Jonas's secret, and what the difference is. The answer must not say how The Giver would react to Jonas's secret: the chapter never shows it.
Discussion
- Jonas is alone on the icy hill, and alone again behind his bedroom door. Which time is lonelier?Character
What it asks It asks the student to set two times of being alone side by side. In the sled memory Jonas lies on the ice with a broken leg. “He screamed. There was no answer.” His cry disappears “into the empty landscape, into the wind.” Back in the Annex he begs for relief-of-pain, “But The Giver said no, and looked away.” That evening the rules allow no talk about his training, so at the meal he says only that he is tired and that school was hard that day. From behind his closed door he hears Mother, Father and Lily laughing as they give Gabriel his bath. “They have never known pain, he thought.” He feels “desperately lonely,” and that night he dreams again and again of “the isolation on the forsaken hill.” The student decides which time is lonelier. It takes up one part of the last written question: that question asks whether Jonas should keep something to himself, and this one asks what it is like for him to be alone with what he knows. Do not let the broken leg swallow the talk; the quieter loneliness behind the door matters as much. Do not explain why The Giver refuses relief-of-pain; the chapter says only that he “looked away.”
One reading
The hill. In the memory there is no one at all. He screams, and nothing comes back but the wind. Even back in the Annex, the one person with him says no and looks away.
He screamed. There was no answer.
the sound disappeared into the empty landscape, into the wind
Another reading
Behind the door. His family is a few steps away, and they are happy. He cannot tell them anything, and that is where he feels lonely. That night the loneliness at home sends him back to the hill in his dreams.
he could hear his parents and sister laughing as they gave Gabriel his evening bath
The realization made him feel desperately lonely
Listen for
- Uses a detail from each place: the empty hill and the closed door.
- Notices that on the hill no one is there, and at home people are near but cannot share it.
- Notices that the word “lonely” comes at home, and that the dream takes him back to the hill.
- Does not explain why The Giver says no or looks away; the chapter does not say.
If stuck
- What happens when Jonas screams on the hill?
- What does Jonas hear from behind his door that evening?
- Is it lonelier to be with no one, or to be near people who cannot know how you feel?
A strong answer A strong response might choose the hill: no one is there at all, “He screamed. There was no answer,” and his cry goes “into the wind.” Another might choose the door: his family is just on the other side, laughing, and that is where the chapter says he feels “desperately lonely.” A careful answer may notice that the two places meet: that night, alone at home, he dreams of “the isolation on the forsaken hill.”
- The Giver did not know the pilot was lost, but he told the Elders to wait. Was that wisdom, or a lucky guess?Theme
What it asks It asks the student to weigh what The Giver's wisdom is worth. After a memory of hunger, Jonas asks why the two of them must hold these memories. “It gives us wisdom,” The Giver says, and he tells two stories. Years ago citizens asked for four births for each Birthmother instead of three. The strongest memory that came to The Giver was hunger, centuries back, followed by warfare, and he advised the Elders against it. He did not describe the hunger to them: “They don't want to hear about pain. They just seek the advice.” Then the plane: the Elders were scared and prepared to shoot it down, and he told them to wait. Jonas asks how he knew the pilot was lost. “I didn't,” The Giver says. He knew that in terrible times people “had destroyed others in haste, in fear.” The student decides whether that was wisdom or luck. It takes up one part of the last written question: if The Giver's wisdom is real, Jonas has a reason to bring him what happened at the crib. Do not make the wisdom sound grand. It is no extra births and “wait,” and The Giver says he has never been able to think of a way to change anything.
One reading
Wisdom. He did not know the facts about the pilot, but he knew what fear makes people do. Waiting was safe whatever the plane turned out to be. That is what the memories taught him.
people had destroyed others in haste, in fear
I used my wisdom, from the memories.
Another reading
A lucky guess, or close to one. He says himself that he did not know. If the plane had been dangerous, waiting might have been the mistake. His wisdom gave him one word, and it happened to be right.
I didn't.
I told them to wait.
Listen for
- Says what The Giver did know and what he did not.
- Notices how small the advice is: no extra births, and “wait.”
- Weighs whether a guess built on memories of past wars is still only a guess.
- Notices that the Elders were scared too, and got the advice without the pain behind it.
If stuck
- What were the Elders getting ready to do to the plane?
- What did The Giver remember about people who act in fear?
- Can you be wise about something without knowing the facts?
A strong answer A strong response might call it wisdom: The Giver did not know about the pilot, but he knew that people had “destroyed others in haste, in fear,” and waiting kept that from happening. Another might call it closer to luck: he says plainly, “I didn't,” and a different plane might have made waiting the wrong advice. A careful answer may notice how little the Elders get: one word, “wait,” and none of the pain it came from, because “They don't want to hear about pain.”
- Father says choosing which twin to release is “usually not hard.” Do you believe him?Character
What it asks It asks the student to listen closely to how Father talks about his work. Gabriel is still fretful at night, and Father says he hopes “they're not going to decide to release him.” Mother says maybe it would be for the best, because the lack of sleep is hard for her. Lily asks whether they could get another newchild as a visitor, and Mother rolls her eyes. Then Father sighs and says they are preparing for a release very soon: a Birthmother is expecting twin males. “Oh, dear,” Mother says, and hopes that if the twins are identical he is not the one assigned. He is next on the list. He will select one to be nurtured and one to be released. “It's usually not hard, though. Usually it's just a matter of birthweight. We release the smaller of the two.” The student decides whether Father means it. It takes up one part of the last written question: these calm words send Jonas's thoughts to the bridge and then to Gabriel's crib, where the secret begins. Jonas hears them with a hope that someone Elsewhere is waiting; a reader may hear them differently. Treat Father's words as a calm account worth hearing, not background talk. Do not say what release is; Jonas imagines the twin received Elsewhere, and the chapter does not correct him.
One reading
Yes. He has a rule to follow: the smaller twin. With a rule like that there is little to decide. He says it calmly, in the same talk where he smiles and ruffles Lily's hair.
Usually it's just a matter of birthweight.
We release the smaller of the two.
Another reading
Not quite. Mother says “Oh, dear” and hopes he is not the one assigned, so she knows this part of his job is not like the rest. Father sighs before he brings it up. And he hopes hard that Gabriel will not be released after all the time he has given him.
I hope you're not the one assigned
I hope they're not going to decide to release him.
Listen for
- Uses Father's own words, and listens to how calm they are.
- Notices Father's sigh, and Mother's “Oh, dear.”
- Sets Father's hope for Gabriel beside his calm about the twins.
- Does not say what release is; Jonas imagines the twin received Elsewhere, and the chapter does not correct him.
If stuck
- What does Father hope about Gabriel?
- What does Mother say when she hears about the twins?
- Can a person say something is easy and still not feel that it is?
A strong answer A strong response might believe him: he has a rule, “just a matter of birthweight,” and he says it calmly. Another might doubt him: he sighs before the twins come up, Mother says “Oh, dear,” and he hopes hard that Gabriel will not be released after “all this extra time.” A careful answer may notice that Jonas hears the same calm words and thinks at once of the bridge, and of someone Elsewhere who might be waiting.
- Right after the talk about the twins, Jonas asks to have Gabriel's crib in his room. What makes him think of it just then?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to explain an idea that comes to Jonas “unexpectedly.” As Father talks about the twins, Jonas remembers standing at the bridge and wonders whether someone Elsewhere waits for the tiny released twin. He has “a tiny, fluttering hope” that he knows is foolish: that it would be Larissa, the old woman he bathed. But the Old are not given babies to raise. Jonas thinks her life Elsewhere would be quiet, and that she would not want a newchild who needed care “and would likely cry at night.” Then he says, “why don't we put Gabriel's crib in my room tonight?” He knows how to feed and comfort Gabriel, he says, and Mother and Father could get some sleep. Earlier in the same talk Father hoped Gabriel would not be released, and Mother said the lack of sleep was hard for her. The student works out why the idea comes at that moment. It takes up one part of the last written question: this offer is how Jonas comes to be alone with Gabriel at night, where the sail passes out of him. Do not say what release is, or that Gabriel will be kept.
One reading
He wants to help Gabriel stay. Mother has just said that losing sleep is hard for her, and that releasing Gabriel might be for the best. If Gabriel lets Mother and Father sleep, there is one less reason to release him.
But the lack of sleep is awfully hard for me.
it would let you and Father get some sleep
Another reading
He is thinking about who will care for a baby that cries at night. Larissa would not want one. Jonas knows how to feed and comfort the baby right in front of him, so he offers himself.
she would not welcome the responsibility of nurturing a newchild who needed feeding and care
I know how to feed and comfort him
Listen for
- Follows Jonas's thoughts in order: the bridge, the twin, Larissa, a baby who cries at night, then Gabriel.
- Remembers what Mother said about sleep, and what Father hopes.
- Notices that the chapter says the idea came to him “unexpectedly.”
- Does not say Gabriel will be kept, or what release is.
If stuck
- What does Mother say is hard for her?
- Who does Jonas picture waiting for the tiny twin, and why wouldn't she want a baby?
- What reason does Jonas give Mother and Father?
A strong answer A strong response might say Jonas is trying to protect Gabriel: Mother has just said “the lack of sleep is awfully hard for me,” and that releasing him might be for the best. Another might follow his thoughts: he pictures a newchild who “would likely cry at night,” one Larissa would not want, and then offers to “feed and comfort” the one in front of him. A careful answer may notice that both can be true, and that this offer is what puts Jonas beside the crib that night.
Critical thinking
- Jonas tells The Giver it would be easier if everyone took a part of the memories. Later, at Gabriel's crib, the memory of a sail slides from his hand into the baby. Is that the sharing he wanted?
What it asks It asks the student to connect two parts of the chapter that a quick reader might keep apart. In the Annex, after a memory of hunger, Jonas asks why everyone can't have the memories: “You and I wouldn't have to bear so much by ourselves, if everybody took a part.” The Giver says, “You're right,” but then everyone would be burdened and pained, and they don't want that. Earlier, The Giver ends each day of pain with a memory of pleasure, among them “a brisk sail on a blue-green lake.” At the crib, a sail The Giver gave Jonas slides “through his hand into the being of the newchild,” and Gabriel goes quiet. Startled, Jonas pulls back what is left and keeps it a while, “soothing his own nervousness at what had occurred.” Near dawn he gives Gabriel the rest on purpose. Afterward Jonas feels “a small lack,” and “That he had this power frightened him.” The student decides, in writing, whether this is the sharing Jonas wanted. It takes up one part of the last written question: how the student names the gift shapes how they judge keeping it secret. No answer may say Gabriel will keep the memory, how The Giver would react, or what the power will lead to.
One reading
No. Jonas wanted others to take a part of the pain, so that he would not bear so much. What left him was a comfort, a calm day on a lake. He needed that comfort himself: he used what was left to calm his own nerves. The pain stays with him, and now he has less comfort too.
You and I wouldn't have to bear so much by ourselves, if everybody took a part.
he felt a small lack where it had been
Another reading
Yes, or the start of it. For the first time a memory has passed from Jonas to someone else, which is what he said everyone should be able to share. And it eased Gabriel, the way The Giver eases the end of Jonas's hard days.
sliding through his hand into the being of the newchild
Again Gabriel slept.
Listen for
- Says in the student's own words what Jonas wanted in the Annex, and why.
- Notices which kind of memory left him: not the pain, but a calm day on a lake.
- Weighs Jonas's own reaction: he wanted sharing, yet the power “frightened him.”
- Writes in complete sentences, with a reason and a line from the chapter; does not say Gabriel will keep the memory or how The Giver would react.
If stuck
- What did Jonas say would make the memories easier to bear?
- Was the memory that slid into Gabriel a painful one or a happy one?
- If something you wanted comes true in a way you did not expect, does it still count?
A strong answer A strong response might argue it is not the sharing Jonas wanted: he wanted others to take a part so he would not “bear so much,” but what left him was a calm day on a lake, he had just used it on “his own nervousness,” and afterward he felt “a small lack.” Another might argue it is a first step: a memory did pass “into the being of the newchild,” and “Again Gabriel slept.” A careful answer may weigh Jonas's own reaction: he had wanted sharing, yet the power to share “frightened him.”
- Jonas could tell The Giver about the sail he gave Gabriel, but he decides not to. Is keeping that secret the right choice?
What it asks This is the last question the student meets, and it gathers the earlier ones. The student has weighed where Jonas is loneliest, what The Giver's wisdom is worth, how calmly Father speaks of the twins, why Jonas took the crib, and whether giving the sail is the sharing Jonas wanted. Near dawn Jonas gives Gabriel the rest of the sail on purpose. Afterward he has only “a wisp” of it and feels “a small lack.” He could ask The Giver for another sail. He wonders whether he should confess that he has given a memory away. “He was not yet qualified to be a Giver himself; nor had Gabriel been selected to be a Receiver.” The power frightens him. “He decided not to tell.” The student decides whether keeping the secret is right, and defends it in writing. Earlier in the chapter Jonas keeps his training from his family because the rules say so; this secret he chooses himself. The Giver has wisdom from the memories, yet he says he has never been able to think of a way to change anything. Do not tell the student that the secret is a betrayal or a kindness; let them weigh it. No answer may say how The Giver would react, since Jonas never tells him here, or that Gabriel will keep the memory or be chosen.
One reading
Yes, for now. It was a gentle memory, and it helped Gabriel sleep. Jonas does not yet understand what happened, and he can wait until he does. Even The Giver does not tell the Elders everything he knows.
Again Gabriel slept.
They just seek the advice.
Another reading
No. The Giver is the one person who knows about memories. Jonas is frightened, and he is not trained to give. That is just when he needs help, not a secret. Jonas himself said a burden is easier when it is shared.
He was not yet qualified to be a Giver himself
You and I wouldn't have to bear so much by ourselves
Listen for
- Takes a side and gives a reason from the last page of the chapter.
- Sets this secret beside the one the rules make Jonas keep at the evening meal, and says whether they are the same kind.
- Weighs what The Giver could offer: wisdom from the memories, and also “I've never been able to think of a way.”
- Writes in complete sentences and answers the other side; does not say how The Giver would react or what will become of Gabriel.
If stuck
- What exactly did Jonas do that he might confess?
- What frightens him about it?
- Who else in this chapter keeps something back, and why?
A strong answer A strong response takes a position and tests it. A student might argue that keeping quiet is right for now: the memory was gentle, “Again Gabriel slept,” and Jonas does not yet understand his power; even The Giver gives the Elders the advice and not the pain behind it. Another might argue it is wrong: Jonas is “not yet qualified,” the power frightens him, and The Giver is the one person who knows about memories; Jonas himself said they “wouldn't have to bear so much” if the load were shared. A careful answer may notice that this secret is kept from The Giver himself, and that, unlike the silence at the evening meal, no rule in the chapter tells him to keep it: he decides alone.