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The Giver
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Jonas never received the memories of courage, and he wishes for them when the planes come. Is he brave on this journey, or only desperate?
The tension Jonas counts his crimes by the community’s rules, leaving at night, taking food, stealing his father’s bicycle, and the last on the list, “And he had taken Gabriel, too,” is the one that keeps Gabriel alive.
Track what Jonas has to work with on the road, and what he lacks, from the bridge to the day and night with no planes.
The plan Jonas and The Giver made falls apart in one evening. The chapter opens with Jonas already fleeing at night, past the empty Plaza and over the bridge, feeling no fear and no regret, only sadness at leaving The Giver. Then it goes back to the evening meal. Gabe had cried all night at the Nurturing Center while Jonas was away, and Father says that even he voted that afternoon for Gabe's release, set for first thing the next morning. Mother and Lily agree. Back on the road, Jonas looks back at the sleeping community and counts the rules he has broken: leaving at night, taking food, taking his father's bicycle for the seat on the back, and taking Gabriel. Before leaving he had eased Gabe into deep sleep with a memory of a hammock. He rides all night, stops by a stream at dawn, hides the bicycle and sleeps through the day with Gabe in his arms. Days pass. His legs grow strong, but the search planes, which can find body heat, terrify him. Each time they come, he gives Gabe memories of snow and keeps some for himself, though the memories feel weaker. Gabe learns to call out the planes. They come less often, and at last a whole day and night pass without them.
Before reading, ask the student what it is like when a careful plan falls apart at the last minute. Read aloud from the opening to “The Giver would know that Jonas had said goodbye.” and stop: ask why Jonas is on the bridge tonight, when the plan was something else. Read on to “in his sweet, sing-song voice.” and stop again: ask what the student now hears in the dinner. Then read to the end without stopping. Do not say whether Jonas and Gabe survive or reach anywhere, or what happens back in the community: the chapter does not show it.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in the order things happened, not the order they are told. First the evening meal: Gabe's night at the Nurturing Center, Father's vote, and the release set for the morning. Then the leaving: the hammock memory, the food, the bicycle, the empty Plaza, the bridge and the look back. Then the first night's ride and the first day hidden by the stream. Last, the days and nights of planes, snow and fading memories, until a whole day and night pass with none. Ask for three or four sentences for each part, then ask why the writer began on the bridge.
Imitate the author After copying, the student writes four short pieces built like the first passage, about a place they know well: a piece that begins “The [place] where nothing was ever,” then two pieces that each begin with “Or” and hold one word, then a piece that begins “The [place] without” and ends on three things in a row, with a comma before “or.” Then three sentences built like the second passage, about something that slowly stops (rain, a crowd's noise, a dog's barking): a short sentence that says it grew less, a long one that pairs “less” with “less” and breaks in with “when it did come” between commas, and a plain last sentence that ends on the first time it did not come at all.
Debate Take sides on the last written question. First make two lists together. Reasons Jonas is brave: he slips past the work crews; he takes the bicycle though he does not want anything of his father's; he rides on through aching, then numb legs; he makes himself and Gabe cold under the planes; he keeps going night after night. Reasons he is only desperate: Gabe is to be released “First thing tomorrow morning”; he “was forced to flee”; there was no time to plan; being caught means being condemned; he wishes for the courage he never got. One side argues each, with a reason and a line from the chapter, then they switch.
Purpose Close with one choice the writer made: the list of broken rules. The first three are numbered, and the first is called “A major transgression.” The fourth gets no number: “And he had taken Gabriel, too.” Ask why the writer might put the one act that saves a life at the end of a list of crimes, and how the list reads from the community's side and then from Gabe's.
Easier Read aloud together from “At dawn Gabriel began to stir.” to the end. Talk through the fourth discussion question (what Jonas is sorry for), then the fifth (whether holding on to the cold breaks the plan or saves it). Then answer the last written question aloud, starting from what Jonas does each time the planes come.
On level Talk through the six discussion questions in order, then have the student write answers to both written questions in complete sentences, with a reason and a line from the chapter for each side they weigh.
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 dinner. Jonas works “at keeping his voice absolutely calm” and asks only, “When?” Ask whether that calm at the table belongs to the journey too, and whether it changes the answer. The answer must not say whether Jonas and Gabe survive or reach anywhere.
1. The chapter tells the escape first. Only then does it go back to dinner. How does that change the way you hear the dinner?Author's choice
What it asks It asks the student to notice the order of the telling. The chapter begins with the plan (“It would work.”), then “But that evening everything changed,” and goes straight to Jonas slipping out of the dwelling and pedaling over the bridge. Only then does it go back: “It had happened at the evening meal.” The dinner ends on Father's “It's bye-bye to you, Gabe, in the morning,” and the next lines put Jonas on the far side of the river. The student decides what that order does to the dinner scene. It takes up one part of the last written question: Jonas had no time and no chance to wait. Keep the dinner in view; the flight is not only an adventure.
It makes the calm dinner frightening. We already know this talk sends a boy into the night, so the cheerful lines, Lily's scolding and Father's sing-song goodbye, sound terrible.
"Gabe, you naughty thing," Lily said, with a scolding little cluck toward the grinning toddler on the floor.
"It's bye-bye to you, Gabe, in the morning," Father had said, in his sweet, sing-song voice.
It makes the dinner a memory Jonas carries on the road. We hear it the way he does, looking back from the far side of the river. By then it is too late to change any of it.
It had happened at the evening meal.
Jonas reached the opposite side of the river, stopped briefly, and looked back.
A strong answer A strong response might say the order makes the dinner chilling: we already know it ends with Jonas fleeing, so Lily's “Gabe, you naughty thing” and Father's “sweet, sing-song voice” are hard to hear. Another might say we hear the dinner as Jonas remembers it on the road: it begins “It had happened at the evening meal,” and as soon as Father's goodbye is said, Jonas is across the river, looking back. A careful answer may notice that the chapter opens on “It would work,” so the reader, like Jonas, watches a careful plan fall apart before learning what broke it.
2. At dinner, Father says, “We certainly gave it our best try, didn't we?” How hard did they really try?Character
What it asks It asks the student to weigh Father's words against what the family actually did. Gabe stayed one night at the Nurturing Center, chosen because Jonas was away (“with you gone, to give it a try”). He “cried all night,” the night crew was “frazzled,” and by that afternoon the meeting had voted. Father says, “Even I voted for Gabriel's release,” sighs “with disappointment,” and says the release will be first thing the next morning, because “We have to start our preparations for the Naming Ceremony.” Mother agrees “emphatically,” and Lily nods. The student judges the try. It takes up one part of the last written question: what Jonas is running from, and why there was no time. Do not call Father cruel; the chapter shows him disappointed.
Hard, by the rules they live by. Father is let down, and “Even I” suggests he was the last to give in. In their world, a toddler who cries all night and wears out the night crew has failed the try.
Father sighed with disappointment.
Even I voted for Gabriel's release when we had the meeting this afternoon.
Not very hard. It was one night, tried only because Jonas was away, and Gabe had been sleeping soundly before it. The vote came that same afternoon, and the release was set quickly to clear the way for a ceremony.
It seemed like a good opportunity, with you gone, to give it a try.
We have to start our preparations for the Naming Ceremony, so we thought we'd get this taken care of right away.
A strong answer A strong response might say that by their own rules they did try: Father “sighed with disappointment” and says “Even I voted,” as if he held out longest. Another might say the try was one night, picked “with you gone,” and that the release was hurried so they could “get this taken care of right away.” A careful answer may notice that Gabe had slept well before that night (Father says, “He'd been sleeping so soundly.”), and that the one night they tested him was the one night Jonas was not there.
3. Jonas counts the rules he has broken: first, second, third. Then comes “And he had taken Gabriel, too.” Why doesn't that one get a number?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to notice how the list is built. Across the river, Jonas thinks of “the rules he had broken so far,” enough that he “would be condemned.” Leaving the dwelling at night is first, “A major transgression.” Taking the leftover food is second. Taking his father's bicycle is third; he hesitates, not wanting “anything of his father's,” but takes it for the seat on the back. Then the counting stops: “And he had taken Gabriel, too.” The student decides why the last one is set apart. It takes up one part of the last written question: what Jonas is risking, and for whom. The list is the community's measure; do not read it only as proof that Jonas is a rule-breaker.
To Jonas it is not a crime at all. It is the reason for the others. He left at night, took the food and took the bike so that Gabe could live.
But it was necessary because it had the child seat attached to the back.
And he had taken Gabriel, too.
It is the biggest one, too big to count with the rest. By the community's rules, taking a newchild set for release is worse than any bicycle, and Jonas knows what happens if he is caught.
He thought of the rules he had broken so far: enough that if he were caught, now, he would be condemned.
First, he had left the dwelling at night. A major transgression.
A strong answer A strong response might say taking Gabe gets no number because to Jonas it is not a crime but the reason for all the others; even the bicycle was taken only because it was “necessary” for carrying him. Another might say it is the crime the community would judge hardest, the one that would most surely get him “condemned.” A careful answer may notice the small word “too,” which sounds like an afterthought, though it is the one act on the list that keeps Gabe alive.
4. At dawn, Gabe wants to wrestle and play. Jonas holds him close and says, “Sorry, Gabe.” What is Jonas sorry for?Character
What it asks It asks the student to stand with Jonas at the end of the first night. He has ridden until his legs went numb; he is “exhausted” and knows “They would be looking for him soon.” Gabe, wide awake, giggles over the bumps, plays in the grass, and struggles “cheerfully as if it were a wrestling game, the kind they had played back in the dwelling.” Jonas tells him, “Sorry, Gabe,” and then: “I know it's morning, and I know you just woke up. But we have to sleep now.” He gives Gabe a memory of deep, contented exhaustion. The student decides how much the “Sorry” holds. It takes up one part of the last written question: what Jonas carries for both of them on the road. Gabe does not know why they left; do not say whether they get away.
Only for the game. Jonas wants Gabe's morning to stay gentle and ordinary, the way it was at home. He says sorry the way you would to a toddler whose fun you have to stop.
"Morning meal, Gabe!"
He cuddled the small body close to him, and rubbed the little back.
For more than he can say. Jonas has taken Gabe away from home, and now Gabe must hide by day and ride by night. Jonas knows the searchers are coming, and Gabe does not.
It would not be safe to travel in daylight.
They would be looking for him soon.
A strong answer A strong response might say Jonas is sorry only for the game: he cuddles Gabe, rubs his back and keeps the morning soft, as he does with “Morning meal, Gabe!” Another might say the word holds much more: Jonas knows “They would be looking for him soon,” and Gabe, playing in the grass, knows nothing of it. A careful answer may notice that the giggling toddler of that first morning later calls out “Plane! Plane!” sometimes before Jonas hears a thing: by then Gabe knows something of the danger, too.
5. Jonas and The Giver planned for the memories to fade as he rode away. Under the planes, Jonas tries hard to hold on to the cold ones. Is he breaking the plan, or saving it?Theme
What it asks It asks the student to set the plan beside what Jonas needs on the road. Each time the planes come, Jonas gives Gabe memories of snow and keeps some for himself. Sometimes the memories feel “more shallow, a little weaker.” The chapter says this was what he and The Giver had planned: as he moved away, he would “shed the memories and leave them behind for the people.” But now he tries hard “to cling to what he still had, of cold.” The student decides whether holding on works against the plan or keeps it alive. It takes up one part of the last written question: what Jonas relies on when he has no courage to draw on. Do not say the memories have reached the people; Jonas only feels them growing weaker.
Breaking it, a little. The memories were meant to go back to the people. Each one he clings to is one he is not leaving behind.
he would shed the memories and leave them behind for the people.
he tried hard to cling to what he still had, of cold, and to use it for their survival.
Saving it. The memories can only be left behind if Jonas keeps moving away, and he cannot move if the planes find him. Holding on to the cold keeps him and Gabe alive to ride on.
that as he moved away from the community, he would shed the memories
But now, when he needed them, when the planes came
A strong answer A strong response might say Jonas is working against the plan, which was to “shed the memories and leave them behind for the people,” while he clings to the cold. Another might say he is saving it, because the plan needs him to keep moving away, and the cold is what lets him “use it for their survival.” A careful answer may notice that the chapter calls the fading “what he had hoped,” so Jonas wants two things at once: to let the memories go, and to keep enough of them to live.
6. Near the end, the planes come less often and fly faster. The search seems “no longer hopeful.” Why might the searchers be giving up?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to read the end of the search from the planes alone. For days the planes have been “The most terrifying thing,” flying so low that Jonas can almost see the searchers' faces, and some nights bring “a frighteningly close call.” Then “the frequency of the planes diminished”: they come less often and fly faster, “as if the search had become haphazard and no longer hopeful.” Jonas is riding through “isolated landscape now,” with “no sign of human habitation around him or ahead.” The chapter ends: “Finally there was an entire day and night when they did not come at all.” The student gives a reason the searchers might be giving up. It takes up one part of the last written question: how much of the distance Jonas has won is his own doing. Do not say whether Jonas and Gabe survive or find anywhere, or what the community decides; the chapter shows only the planes.
Jonas has outlasted them. He hides by day, rides by night and makes them both cold whenever he hears engines. The searchers keep missing him, so they stop believing they will find him.
Usually the aircraft came by day, when they were hiding.
looking for the next nearest hiding place should the sound of engines come.
The land has done it. Jonas is now so far out, with no people anywhere, that the searchers may think no one could be found out there, or last there. They give him up as lost.
with the communities far behind and no sign of human habitation around him or ahead
as if the search had become haphazard and no longer hopeful.
A strong answer A strong response might say Jonas has outlasted them: he hides by day, rides by night, and is always “looking for the next nearest hiding place.” Another might say the land itself did it: he is so far out, with “no sign of human habitation around him or ahead,” that the searchers may think no one could be found there, or last there. A careful answer may notice the words “as if”: the chapter shows only the planes, never the searchers' reasons. It may also hear the dinner again, where one hard night was enough for the community to stop trying with Gabe.
1. On the bridge, Jonas feels “no fear.” Days later, the search planes terrify him. What made the difference?
What it asks It asks the student to write about two moments of the journey and what lies between them. On the bridge Jonas feels, “surprisingly, no fear, nor any regret,” only sadness at leaving The Giver. He rides hard, and “every minute must take him farther from the community.” Days later “The most terrifying thing was the planes.” They fly so low that he can “almost see the faces of the searchers,” they can find body heat, and all he can do is drop to the ground, make himself and Gabe cold, and wait, with memories that feel “more shallow, a little weaker.” The student explains what changed. It takes up one part of the last written question: where fear enters the journey, and what Jonas has to meet it with.
The danger grew. On the bridge he only had to get away before morning. Now the planes fly low, they can find body heat, and some nights they nearly catch him.
They flew so low that they woke him with the noise of their engines
But it was sometimes a frighteningly close call.
What Jonas can do about it changed. On the bridge he could act: ride hard, and every minute took him farther. Under the planes he can only lie still and wait, and the cold memories that hide them are wearing thin.
Every minute counted now, and every minute must take him farther from the community.
Jonas felt that they were more shallow, a little weaker than they had been.
A strong answer A strong response names a change and backs it with the page. A student might argue the danger grew: on the bridge there was only the night, but the planes fly “so low” and some nights bring “a frighteningly close call.” Another might argue that what changed is what Jonas can do: on the bridge “every minute” of riding took him farther, while under the planes he can only hide and wait, with memories that feel “a little weaker.” A careful answer may notice that the writer calls the missing fear on the bridge “surprisingly,” as if fear was what everyone, Jonas included, expected.
2. Jonas never received the memories of courage, and he wishes for them when the planes come. Is he brave on this journey, or only desperate?
What it asks This is the last question the student meets, and it gathers the earlier ones: what the order of the telling does to the dinner, how hard the family really tried, why taking Gabe gets no number, what Jonas is sorry for at dawn, whether holding on to the cold breaks the plan or saves it, why the searchers might be giving up, and what made the difference between the calm on the bridge and the terror under the planes. Now the student judges the whole journey. The plan called for memories of “strength and courage,” but “There had been no time.” Jonas finds he has “enough strength of his own,” yet when the planes come he wishes for the courage. The student decides whether what he does on the road is bravery or only the need to survive. Do not say whether Jonas and Gabe survive or reach Elsewhere, or what happens in the community.
Brave. He is afraid and acts anyway: he slips past the work crews, takes Gabe, rides through the nights and makes them both cold under the planes. The courage he never received, he shows in what he does.
So he relied on what he had, and hoped it would be enough.
Jonas sped to the nearest tree or bush, dropped to the ground, and made himself and Gabriel cold.
Desperate. He had no choice and no time. Gabe would be released in the morning, so he had to run that night, and what he does on the road is what anyone would do to stay alive.
That night, Jonas was forced to flee.
But when the planes came, he wished that he could have received the courage.
A strong answer A strong response takes a position and tests it. A student might argue he is brave: with no time to receive courage, “he relied on what he had,” and night after night he “made himself and Gabriel cold” under the planes. Another might argue he is only desperate: he “was forced to flee,” and he wishes for the courage he never got. A careful answer may notice that the chapter never uses the word “brave”: it gives Jonas strength “of his own” and leaves courage as something he only wished for, so the student has to judge from what he does. It may also ask whose life the desperation is for: the release set for the morning was Gabe's, not Jonas's.