Chapter 19 · The Giver

Copywork

The little twin lay motionless. His father was putting things away. Folding the blanket. Closing the cupboard.

Jonas felt a ripping sensation inside himself, the feeling of terrible pain clawing its way forward to emerge in a cry.

“Folding the blanket. Closing the cupboard.” What kind of morning is this for Jonas's father?

For the educator Two passages; copy them as shown, without quotation marks. The first comes just after the twin goes still, while Jonas waits for something to happen. Its first sentence holds the vocabulary word “motionless.” The second is a plain full sentence with “was putting,” an action still going on. The last two are not full sentences: each is only a word ending in -ing and what it acts on, with no one named as doing it. The writer cuts them short so the small, tidy jobs come one at a time, right beside the still baby. Have the student read the four aloud and hear how the stillness and the busy hands sit side by side. The second passage is the chapter's last sentence. It holds the vocabulary word “sensation.” After the comma comes a second part that renames the sensation, “the feeling of terrible pain,” and then a picture of the pain as something alive, “clawing its way forward.” The sentence ends on the cry itself. The talk prompt asks what kind of morning this is for Father. One student may hear an ordinary workday: he puts things away as he would after any job. Another may hear care: he folds the blanket, the way a Nurturer would. Either can stand if the student points to the passage. Do not let the talk claim that Father knows he is doing wrong; whether his gentleness makes the act less terrible or more is the last written question.

Discussion

Narration Tell back the chapter in order. Start when Jonas tells The Giver that his father is releasing a twin today. Stop where Jonas feels the ripping pain inside him.

Before he has watched a release, Jonas chuckles, “Think how confusing it would be!” How much should that laugh count against him? Moral reasoning
Jonas calls the room on the screen “just an ordinary room,” and he knows the scale from the Nurturing Center. Why might the writer make it look so familiar? Author's choice
At the scale, Father laughs and says that if the twins weighed the same, “we'd have a problem.” What problem is he so glad to avoid? Character
After the needle, Jonas still tells himself, “Now he cleans him up and makes him comfy.” Why does he say it a second time? Inference
When Jonas understands, he calls the baby “it,” not “him.” Where does that “it” come from? Author's choice
After telling Rosemary's story so calmly, The Giver speaks in “a bitter voice.” Who is that bitterness aimed at? Character

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time you know about, when someone learned a hard truth by seeing it, not by being told. What is different about learning something that way?

Vocabulary

solemn: The Giver's face took on a solemn look. Very serious, with no smile.
astonished: He was astonished and delighted that this was available to him, and surprised that he had not known. Very greatly surprised.
fascinated: He watched, fascinated, as his father gently lifted one and then the other to the scale and weighed them. So interested that you cannot look away.
obediently: Obediently Jonas concentrated on the screen, waiting for what would happen next. Doing just as you are told.
receptacle: He turned aside and dropped the syringe into a waste receptacle. A container that holds things; here, one for trash.
motionless: The little twin lay motionless. Not moving at all.
wretched: Wretched with helplessness. Deeply unhappy and miserable.
sensation: Jonas felt a ripping sensation inside himself, the feeling of terrible pain clawing its way forward to emerge in a cry. Something felt inside the body.

Critical thinking

Jonas’s father speaks to the twin in his gentle, special voice the whole time. Does that gentleness make what he does less terrible, or more?