The Giver
Chapter 16 — 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
When Jonas says “Yes, thank you, I do,” it is his first lie to Mother and Father. Is he protecting them, or protecting himself?
The tension To Jonas, love is the most meaningful thing he has ever felt; to Mother and Father it is “a very generalized word, so meaningless that it's become almost obsolete,” and Jonas thinks, “Meaningless? He had never before felt anything as meaningful as the memory.”
Today's focus
How a holiday memory gives Jonas a word his community has retired, and what happens when he tries that word at home.
Two core ideas
- The Giver's favorite memory shows Jonas a way of living (the Old in the same room, a feeling with a name) that his community has arranged away.
- The rule of precise speech has no place for the most meaningful thing Jonas has felt, and his reply at the table is his first lie to Mother and Father.
The shape at a glance
Jonas does not want to go back to the Annex. He wants his scraped knees and ball games again, and from his window he watches people bike home from uneventful days, free of the pain he carries for them. But the choice is not his. Since the memory of war, The Giver has been gentle with him, and Jonas has had many good memories: a birthday party where one person was celebrated as special, paintings in all their colors, a ride on a gleaming brown horse that nudged his shoulder, and a night by a campfire, where he learned the joy of solitude. He asks about The Giver's favorite memory, only so he can look forward to it, and The Giver gives it to him then and there. Jonas is in a warm room on a snowy night, with firelight, colored lights on a tree that is, oddly, inside, candles, cooking smells, soft laughter and a sleeping dog. A little one hands out wrapped packages; people open them, cry out with delight and hug; then the little one sits on an old woman's lap, and she rocks him. Jonas names warmth, happiness, family and a holiday, but cannot find the word for the rest. The old people, The Giver says, were called Grandparents. At The Giver's prompting Jonas works out that in his own community Mother and Father will leave his life, and that he will not attend the celebration when they are released. “It seems to work pretty well that way,” he says, and The Giver answers, “It works.” Then The Giver gives him the word: love. Feeling foolish, Jonas says the old way was not practical, but that he was “thinking, I mean feeling,” it was nice; the family seemed “A little more complete,” in The Giver's word. He glances at the speaker on the wall, whispers that he wishes they still had love, then adds quickly that it was a dangerous way to live, with fire in the room, though he did like the light and the warmth. After the evening meal he asks Mother and Father the question he rehearsed all the way home: “Do you love me?” After an awkward silence Father chuckles, “Precision of language, please!” Mother explains carefully that love is a word so general it has become almost obsolete, and offers “Do you enjoy me?” instead; Father offers “Do you take pride in my accomplishments?” Both answers are yes. Asked whether he understands, Jonas says, “Yes, thank you, I do,” and it is his first lie to them. That night Gabriel, who sleeps soundly only in Jonas's room and to whom Jonas secretly gives memories, lies asleep in his crib. Jonas whispers that things could change: there could be colors, and grandparents, and memories for everyone. When Gabe stirs, he whispers, “There could be love.” The next morning, for the first time, Jonas does not take his pill; something grown in him through the memories tells him to throw it away. The chapter ends there.
A way in
Before reading, tell the student that not long before this chapter opens, Jonas received a terrible memory, of war, and ask what he might need next. Read aloud from the opening to “I'm happy to give it to you.” and stop: ask what Jonas wanted at the start, and what he asked The Giver for. Read on to “rubbed her cheek against his.” and ask the student to name everything in that room Jonas has never seen. Read on to the moment The Giver says the word, “Love,” and ask what words Jonas had found for the memory on his own. Read on to the line that calls his answer his first lie, and stop only to ask what Jonas asked at home and what he was told; why he answered as he did is the last written question. Then read to the end without stopping, so the whisper and the pill come as they do on the page. Do not say what the pill does, whose family is in the memory, or that Mother and Father feel nothing for Jonas: the chapter tells none of these.
Lesson plan
Retell The student tells the chapter back in four parts. First the start: Jonas does not want to go back, the good memories (the birthday, the paintings, the horse, the campfire), and his question about The Giver's favorite. Then the memory: the warm room on a snowy night, the packages, the old woman rocking the little one, and the talk about Grandparents and the word love. Then the evening: the rehearsed question, “Do you love me?”, Father's chuckle, the two exact questions Mother and Father offer, and Jonas's answer. Last the night and the morning: the whisper at Gabe's crib and the pill Jonas does not take. Ask for three or four sentences of the student's own for each part.
Imitate the author After copying, the student writes four sentences of their own about a room they love, the way the first passage does: one thing seen in each sentence. Ask for one sentence that uses a colon to bring in a list, like “There were colored lights: red and green and yellow,” and one that opens with a place and a comma, like “On a table,” before the rest. For a student who is ready, add one word set off by two commas that shows how the room looks to someone new to it, the way “oddly” does. Then ask for three lines built like the second passage: a long sentence about getting ready to say something, the words themselves as a line of dialogue with no “he said,” and a short sentence about what happened next.
Debate Take sides on the last written question. First make two lists together. Reasons Jonas is protecting Mother and Father: they explained “carefully” and by their community's rules, which say it “can't function smoothly” without exact words; they gave him every yes their words allow; and his work already lets others live “free of anguish.” Reasons he is protecting himself: he has just felt the most meaningful thing he has ever known; his question was met with a chuckle; a “No” would bring more correcting; and that night he keeps the word safe by whispering it to a sleeping Gabe. One side argues each. Each side gives a reason and a line from the chapter, and answers one from the other side. Do not settle it for them. No one may say what the pill does or what happens next, that Mother and Father feel nothing for Jonas, or that Jonas has decided to leave.
Purpose Close with two choices the writer made. First, the lie gets one plain sentence, set apart as its own paragraph, and the writer does not say how Jonas felt about it. A few lines later we are told he feels guilty about the memories he gives Gabe, so the silence about the lie stands out. Ask why the writer might leave his feeling about the lie unsaid. Then the whisper: Jonas names colors, grandparents and memories for everyone, stops when Gabe stirs, and only then says, “There could be love.” Ask why the writer might save that word for last. Do not say what the pill does: the chapter ends before it shows.
Easier Read aloud together the warm room, from “He was in a room filled with people” to “rubbed her cheek against his.” Then read the evening, from “Father? Mother?” to the line that calls Jonas's answer a lie. Talk through the fourth discussion question (what answer he expects), then the fifth (whispering to Gabe). Then answer the last written question aloud, starting from what Mother asks just before Jonas answers.
On level Talk through the six discussion questions in order, then have the student write answers to the three 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 an earlier moment. In the Annex, right after whispering “I wish we still had that,” Jonas adds quickly, “I do understand that it wouldn't work very well.” That evening he says, “Yes, thank you, I do.” Ask whether the first is also something less than true, whom it protects, and whether that helps or hurts the argument. The answer must not say what the pill does, that Mother and Father feel nothing for Jonas, or that he has decided to leave.
Discussion
- Jonas asks only to hear about The Giver's favorite memory. Why does The Giver give it away right then?Character
What it asks It asks the student to look closely at a gift. Since the war memory, The Giver has been “gentle with him for many days.” Jonas asks about The Giver's favorite memory and adds quickly, “You don't have to give it away yet.” He wants only to hear about it, “so I can look forward to it,” because he will receive it “when your job is done.” The Giver smiles and says, “I'm happy to give it to you.” Afterward he says he is “left with a vague wisp of that one,” though he keeps “many other memories of families, and holidays, and happiness.” The student works out why The Giver does not wait. It takes up one part of the last written question: The Giver gladly hands over the memory that gives Jonas a new word, and that evening Jonas takes the word home to Mother and Father. Do not say whose family is in the memory or when it happened.
One reading
He is being kind. After the war memory, Jonas needs something good, and The Giver has been gentle with him for days. Giving away his best memory now is a way of looking after Jonas.
The Giver was gentle with him for many days following the terrible shared memory of war.
I'm happy to give it to you.
Another reading
He can spare it, because he keeps many memories like it. And he wants Jonas to know this feeling now, while they are together, not years from now when The Giver's work is over.
I have many other memories of families, and holidays, and happiness. Of love.
Trust the memories and how they make you feel.
Listen for
- Notices that Jonas asked only to hear about the memory, “so I can look forward to it.”
- Uses what The Giver keeps afterward: “a vague wisp.”
- Weighs what giving it costs The Giver against what it gives Jonas.
- Does not say whose family is in the memory or when it happened.
If stuck
- What did Jonas ask for, and what did he get?
- What is The Giver left with afterward?
- Why might someone give away a favorite thing instead of keeping it?
A strong answer A strong response might say The Giver is being kind: he has been “gentle with him for many days” since the war memory, and he says he is “happy to give it.” Another might say he can spare it, since he keeps “many other memories of families,” and he wants Jonas to know the feeling now, not someday. A careful answer may notice the cost: The Giver keeps only “a vague wisp” of the memory he likes best, so the gift is a real one.
- Jonas says, “I was thinking, I mean feeling, actually.” Why does he change the word?Character
What it asks It asks the student to notice Jonas correcting himself. In the Annex, Jonas “blurted out what he was feeling.” He starts with what he has been taught: it “wasn't a very practical way” to live, the Old there might not be “well taken care of,” and “we have a better-arranged way of doing things.” Then he says, “But anyway, I was thinking, I mean feeling, actually, that it was kind of nice, then.” Jonas fixes one word, the way a careful speaker does. The student decides what the change shows. It takes up one part of the last written question: a few hours later Mother and Father will correct one of his words too. Keep both halves of his speech in view; the chapter does not say his first reasons are false.
One reading
He is being exact. “Thinking” was the wrong word. What came to him in the memory was a feeling, and Jonas wants the true word for it.
I was thinking, I mean feeling, actually
I liked the feeling of love
Another reading
He is owning up. The reasons he gives first are the ones he has been taught: not practical, a better-arranged way. What he really has is a feeling that goes against those reasons, and he changes the word to say so.
we have a better-arranged way of doing things
that it was kind of nice, then
Listen for
- Quotes the place where Jonas changes “thinking” to “feeling.”
- Notices what Jonas says before the change: not “very practical,” a “better-arranged way.”
- Says, in the student's own words, what a feeling has that a thought does not.
- Does not say Jonas's first reasons are false; the chapter does not.
If stuck
- What does Jonas say about the old way before he changes the word?
- Which word does he start with, and which does he end with?
- Is it harder to say “I think” or “I feel”? Why?
A strong answer A strong response might say Jonas is being exact: what came to him was a feeling, and he reaches for the true word, as he does again in “I liked the feeling of love.” Another might say he is owning up: his first reasons, “a better-arranged way of doing things,” are what he has been taught, and the feeling that it was “kind of nice” goes against them. A careful answer may notice that the same evening Mother and Father also ask him for exact words, and point him to different ones.
- Jonas calls life in the warm room “a dangerous way to live.” But he isn't sure what he meant. What do you think the danger is?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to take Jonas's worry seriously and look for where it comes from. Right after he whispers, “I wish we still had that,” Jonas adds quickly that “it wouldn't work very well” and that “it was a dangerous way to live.” The Giver asks, “What do you mean?” Jonas “wasn't certain, really, what he had meant. He could feel that there was risk involved, though he wasn't sure how.” Grasping, he names the fire in the fireplace and the candles on the table: “I can certainly see why those things were outlawed.” Then, “almost to himself,” he says he did like the light and the warmth. The student decides what the danger is. It takes up one part of the last written question: what Jonas fears about this feeling shapes what he says at home. Do not treat his worries as silly; open fire is new to him, and he also worried about the Old.
One reading
The fire really is the danger. Jonas has never lived with open flame, and it is outlawed where he lives. He also worried the Old might not be cared for there. His worries are about real things in that room.
they had fire right there in that room
where maybe they wouldn't be well taken care of
Another reading
The danger is the feeling. Jonas cannot say how the fire is risky; he grabs at it. What he does know is that he said he liked love, then made sure no one was listening before he whispered his wish.
He could feel that there was risk involved, though he wasn't sure how.
reassuring himself that no one was listening
Listen for
- Notices that Jonas “wasn't certain, really, what he had meant.”
- Names a real danger in the room: the fire, the candles, the Old.
- Notices that the worry comes right after “I wish we still had that.”
- Treats Jonas's worries as real, not silly.
If stuck
- What two things with fire does Jonas name?
- What does he whisper just before he calls it dangerous?
- Can a good feeling be risky? What would make it so?
A strong answer A strong response might say the danger is the fire, as Jonas says: “they had fire right there in that room,” and the Old there might not be “well taken care of.” Another might say the fire is only what he grabs at, since “he wasn't sure how” it was risky, and the risk he felt came just after he checked that no one was listening and whispered his wish. A careful answer may notice how he ends, “almost to himself”: he did like the light and the warmth.
- Jonas practices his question all the way home from the Annex. What answer does he expect?Character
What it asks It asks the student to stand inside Jonas just before he speaks. After the evening meal he asks Mother and Father “tentatively” for a question. He has “rehearsed” the words “in his mind all the way home from the Annex,” and he has to make himself say them, red with embarrassment: “Do you love me?” There is “an awkward silence,” and Father gives a little chuckle. “Amusement was not at all what he had anticipated.” The chapter tells us what Jonas did not expect, never what he did. The student works out what he expected: what he was hoping for, or bracing for. It takes up one part of the last written question: what Jonas hoped to hear helps decide what his answer protects. Keep Mother and Father fair; they have not yet said a word when he asks.
One reading
He is hoping for yes. He has just felt a family that laughed and hugged and held one another. He wants to know whether his own family has that, so he asks straight out.
There were cries of delight. They hugged one another.
He had rehearsed them in his mind all the way home from the Annex.
Another reading
He is bracing for trouble. He asks “tentatively,” he has to make himself say the words, and his face is hot with embarrassment. He may have expected a scolding, not a laugh.
He made himself say the words
Amusement was not at all what he had anticipated.
Listen for
- Uses “rehearsed”: Jonas planned this question with care.
- Notices what he did not expect: “Amusement.”
- Ties his hope or his worry to something from the memory or the Annex.
- Does not make Mother and Father cruel; they have not answered yet.
If stuck
- How long did Jonas practice the question?
- How did he feel as he said it?
- When you rehearse a question, what are you getting ready for?
A strong answer A strong response might say Jonas is hoping for yes: he has just been in a room where “They hugged one another,” and he wants to know if his own family is like that. Another might say he is bracing for trouble: he asks “tentatively,” and he “made himself say the words.” A careful answer may notice that he could expect both at once, and that the one thing he did not expect was a chuckle.
- Jonas has learned from the memories that being alone can hurt. He has also learned that it can be a joy. When he whispers to the sleeping Gabe, which kind of alone is it?Theme
What it asks It asks the student to set two kinds of being alone side by side. Among the good memories, Jonas sat at night beside a campfire: “Although he had through the memories learned about the pain of loss and loneliness, now he gained, too, an understanding of solitude and its joy.” That night, after his answer to Mother and Father, he whispers to Gabriel in the crib. “There was no answer to Jonas's whisper. Gabriel was sound asleep.” He likes having Gabe there, “though he felt guilty about the secret” of the memories he gives him each night. The student decides whether this is solitude or loneliness. It takes up one part of the last written question: the one Jonas tells the truth to tonight cannot hear him. Do not say Jonas has decided to leave or how he will change things; he only whispers that things could change.
One reading
It is the joyful kind. Jonas likes having Gabe near. He is not sad: he is dreaming out loud about colors and grandparents and memories for everyone. Being alone lets him say it.
Jonas liked having him there
Things could change, Gabe
Another reading
It is lonely. No one can answer him. He has just lied to his family, he keeps a secret that makes him feel guilty, and the only one he can talk to is a sleeping baby.
There was no answer to Jonas's whisper.
though he felt guilty about the secret
Listen for
- Says what “solitude” means and how it differs from loneliness.
- Notices that Gabe is asleep and cannot answer.
- Uses the guilt about the secret, or the hope in “Things could change.”
- Does not say Jonas plans to leave or knows how things will change.
If stuck
- What did Jonas learn beside the campfire?
- Who hears Jonas at the crib, and can he answer?
- Can a person feel hopeful and lonely at the same time?
A strong answer A strong response might say it is the joyful kind: “Jonas liked having him there,” and he is full of hope, whispering, “Things could change, Gabe.” Another might say it is lonely: “There was no answer to Jonas's whisper,” and he feels “guilty about the secret.” A careful answer may notice that Jonas is not quite alone, since Gabe is there, and ask whether company that cannot answer still counts.
- The chapter opens with Jonas going back to the Annex because “the choice was not his.” Whose choice is it when he throws away his pill?Author's choice
What it asks It asks the student to set the chapter's first turn beside its last. Jonas does not want to go back to the Annex: “But the choice was not his. He returned each day to the Annex room.” The chapter ends the next morning: “for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away.” The student decides whose choice that is: Jonas's own, or something the memories put in him. It takes up one part of the last written question: whether Jonas is now acting for himself. Do not say what the pill does or what follows from skipping it; the chapter ends as he throws it away. Do not call the pill a symbol of anything; the book has not yet shown what it does.
One reading
It is his own choice, and his first. At the start, others decide for him. Now no one tells him to, and he does it anyway, for the first time.
But the choice was not his.
for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill
Another reading
It is not quite his. The chapter says something inside him “told him” to do it, something the memories grew. He is following a new voice more than deciding.
Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away.
Listen for
- Quotes “the choice was not his” from the opening.
- Notices the words “told him” in the last sentence.
- Says what might have grown in Jonas, using something from this chapter.
- Does not say what the pill does or what will happen now.
If stuck
- Why does Jonas keep going back to the Annex at the start?
- What does the last sentence say told him to throw the pill away?
- If a feeling grows inside you and tells you what to do, is the choice still yours?
A strong answer A strong response might say it is Jonas's own choice: at the start “the choice was not his,” and now, “for the first time,” no one decides for him. Another might say it is not quite his, since the chapter says something that “had grown there through the memories” told him to do it. A careful answer may notice that both can be true: the memories grew it, but it now lives “within him.”
Critical thinking
- When Jonas says the community's way “seems to work pretty well,” The Giver answers, “It works.” Does The Giver agree with him?
What it asks It asks the student to judge, in writing, two short words. The Giver does not tell Jonas where the grandparents of his own community are. He asks questions instead, such as “And where will they be?” Jonas works it out aloud: Mother and Father will leave his life, then go to the House of the Old, where they will be “well cared for, and respected,” and there will be a celebration when they are released. “Which you won't attend,” The Giver points out. Jonas asks, “It seems to work pretty well that way, doesn't it?” The Giver answers in two words, and the narrator calls it agreeing: “It works,” The Giver agreed. The student decides whether The Giver agrees with Jonas, and how far, and backs it with words from the page. It takes up one part of the last written question: the way families are arranged here is what Mother and Father speak from that evening. Do not explain what release is; the chapter names only a celebration. Do not say whose family is in the memory.
One reading
Yes, he agrees. The narrator says so, and he does not argue. In Jonas's community the Old are cared for and respected, and the arrangement does what it is meant to do.
"It works," The Giver agreed.
where they were so well cared for and respected
Another reading
Only partly. He drops Jonas's “pretty well.” He led Jonas, question by question, to see that Mother and Father will leave his life. And the family he loves best to remember is the one he calls more complete.
Which you won't attend
"A little more complete," The Giver suggested.
Listen for
- Sets Jonas's “pretty well” beside The Giver's “It works.”
- Notices that The Giver asks questions and lets Jonas find the answers.
- Uses another thing The Giver says or does: “Which you won't attend,” “complete,” or his choice of favorite memory.
- Writes in complete sentences, with a reason and a line from the chapter; does not explain what release is.
If stuck
- What does Jonas ask, and what are The Giver's exact words back?
- What does The Giver ask Jonas to work out about Mother and Father?
- Can something work and still leave something out?
A strong answer A strong response might argue The Giver agrees: the narrator says “The Giver agreed,” and the Old are “well cared for and respected.” Another might argue he agrees only partly: he drops Jonas's “pretty well,” he points out “Which you won't attend,” and the family he likes best to remember is one he calls “A little more complete.” A careful answer may notice that The Giver lets Jonas reach every answer himself, so his short reply may be a way of not telling Jonas what to think.
- Father asks for “Precision of language.” Mother says Jonas could ask “Do you enjoy me?” instead. Is that his question, asked more exactly?
What it asks It asks the student to weigh, in writing, the question Jonas is offered in place of his own. He asks, “Do you love me?” After “an awkward silence,” Father chuckles: “Precision of language, please!” Mother explains “carefully” that love is “a very generalized word, so meaningless that it's become almost obsolete,” and that “our community can't function smoothly if people don't use precise language.” She offers “Do you enjoy me?” and Father offers “Do you take pride in my accomplishments?” Both get a yes. The student decides whether Mother's question is his own question asked more exactly, or a question about something else. It takes up one part of the last written question: Jonas's “Yes, thank you, I do” is his reply to this lesson in words. Do not make Mother and Father villains; they explain by the community's rules and give him their nearest true words. Do not say they feel nothing for him; the chapter does not show their inner lives.
One reading
Yes, it is his question, asked more exactly. Mother says “love” is so broad it means almost nothing. “Enjoy” names one thing, and it gets a plain answer: yes. Father's question even gets a wholehearted yes.
you used a very generalized word
And the answer is wholeheartedly 'Yes.'
Another reading
No, it is a different question. Enjoying someone is about liking their company. What Jonas felt in the warm room, watching an old woman rock a little one, meant more to him than anything he had felt before. The exact word leaves that out.
she rocked him and rubbed her cheek against his
He had never before felt anything as meaningful as the memory.
Listen for
- Names what Father asks for, “Precision of language,” and what Mother offers, “Do you enjoy me?”
- Says what “Do you love me?” asks that “Do you enjoy me?” does not, or the other way round.
- Treats Mother and Father fairly: they answer yes, and Father says it “wholeheartedly.”
- Writes in complete sentences, with a reason and a line from the chapter.
If stuck
- What question does Mother offer in place of Jonas's?
- What does Mother say is wrong with the word “love”?
- Can you enjoy someone without loving them? Can you love someone and not enjoy them?
A strong answer A strong response might argue “Do you enjoy me?” is his question asked more exactly: Mother calls love “a very generalized word,” and her question gets a plain yes, as Father's gets a “wholeheartedly” yes. Another might argue it is a different question: what Jonas felt as the old woman “rocked him and rubbed her cheek against his” is more than being enjoyed, and the narrow word leaves it out. A careful answer may notice that a question can be more exact and still miss what the asker meant.
- When Jonas says “Yes, thank you, I do,” it is his first lie to Mother and Father. Is he protecting them, or protecting himself?
What it asks This is the last question the student meets, and it gathers the earlier ones. The student has weighed The Giver's gift, Jonas's change from “thinking” to “feeling,” the danger he sensed, the answer he expected, the crib, the pill, “It works,” and whether “Do you enjoy me?” asks what he asked. Now they judge the lie. Mother asks, “Do you understand why it's inappropriate to use a word like 'love'?” Jonas nods. “Yes, thank you, I do,” he replies slowly, and the narrator calls it his first lie to them. To Jonas, love is the most meaningful thing he has ever felt; to Mother and Father it is “so meaningless that it's become almost obsolete.” The student decides whom the lie protects, and defends it in writing. Do not settle it for them. No answer may say what the pill does or what follows from skipping it; that Mother and Father feel nothing for Jonas; or that Jonas has decided to leave.
One reading
He is protecting them. They explained by their community's rules, and a “No” would only trouble them. Jonas already carries hard things so that others need not. He spares them a feeling they have no word for.
ordinary lives free of anguish because he had been selected, as others before him had, to bear their burden
our community can't function smoothly if people don't use precise language
Another reading
He is protecting himself. Saying no would bring more correcting, and he has something to keep now, a feeling they call meaningless. The lie keeps it safe. That night he says the word only to a sleeping baby.
Jonas stared at them. Meaningless?
"There could be love," Jonas whispered.
Listen for
- Takes a side and gives a reason from the chapter.
- Weighs what Jonas would lose by saying no, and what Mother and Father would.
- Uses one thing from before the question, such as the memory or the Annex, and one from after, such as the crib or the pill.
- Writes in complete sentences and answers the other side; does not say what the pill does, that Mother and Father feel nothing, or that Jonas plans to leave.
If stuck
- What does Mother ask just before Jonas says, “Yes, thank you, I do”?
- What might have happened if Jonas had said no?
- Can one lie protect two people at once?
A strong answer A strong response takes a position and tests it. A student might argue Jonas protects Mother and Father: they explained by rules that say the community “can't function smoothly” without exact words, and his work already lets others live “free of anguish.” Another might argue he protects himself: he has just felt the most meaningful thing he has ever known, a “No” would bring only more correcting, and that night he keeps the word safe by whispering it to a sleeping Gabe, “There could be love.” A careful answer may notice that the lie lets everyone at home keep what they have, and ask what it costs Jonas to be the only one who knows.