The Giver

Chapter 5

Lois Lowry · Trailblazers 4th–6th

Teaching Companion Print Adapt for your student

Copywork

He rarely dreamed. Sometimes he awoke with a feeling of fragments afloat in his sleep, but he couldn't seem to grasp them and put them together into something worthy of telling at the ritual. But this morning was different. He had dreamed very vividly the night before.

Then, in the same way that his own dwelling slipped away behind him as he rounded a corner on his bicycle, the dream slipped away from his thoughts. Very briefly, a little guiltily, he tried to grasp it back. But the feelings had disappeared. The Stirrings were gone.

In the second passage, the dream slips away the way his home does when he rounds a corner. Is that a sad way for a feeling to go, or a calm one?

For the educator Two passages, one from the chapter's opening and one from its close, each four sentences. The first passage opens with a short sentence, “He rarely dreamed.” The second sentence is long: it joins two parts with a comma and “but”, has the contraction “couldn't”, and runs on through “put them together into something worthy of telling”. Then come two short sentences. The book starts a new paragraph with them, and the student may do the same. The second passage begins with “Then,” and a long opening part, “in the same way that his own dwelling slipped away behind him as he rounded a corner on his bicycle,” set off by a comma before the main part, “the dream slipped away from his thoughts.” It is a comparison: the verb “slipped away” is used for both the house and the dream. The next sentence opens with two short describing phrases, “Very briefly, a little guiltily,” each followed by a comma. It ends on two short sentences. The vocabulary words “fragments” and “vividly” come from the first passage. The word “grasp” appears in both passages: at the start Jonas cannot grasp the pieces of his dreams, and at the end he tries to grasp this dream back. The talk prompt asks about the comparison in the second passage. A student may hear it as sad (his own home, then “gone”) or as calm (it happens as easily as turning a corner, and he keeps riding). Either answer can stand if the student points to the words.

Discussion

Narration Tell back the chapter in order. Start with the family telling their dreams in the morning. Stop where the dream slips away on Jonas's ride to school.

The whole family talks about Lily's dream, but Jonas's dream gets only a thank-you. Which dream did they take more seriously? Inference
Jonas calls his feeling “the wanting”, and Mother calls it “Stirrings”. What changes when the feeling gets that new name? Author's choice
Jonas never asked Asher about the pill he forgot. In Jonas's world, it is rude to ask a friend about being different. Who does staying quiet protect? Moral reasoning

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time in your own life, when someone had a feeling they did not understand. Is it better to have a feeling explained to you, or to work it out yourself?

Vocabulary

vividly: He had dreamed very vividly the night before. So clearly and brightly that it seems real.
fragments: Sometimes he awoke with a feeling of fragments afloat in his sleep, but he couldn't seem to grasp them and put them together into something worthy of telling at the ritual. Small broken pieces of something that was once whole.
recounted: His mind wandered while Lily, as usual, recounted a lengthy dream, this one a frightening one in which she had, against the rules, been riding her mother's bicycle and been caught by the Security Guards. Told the story of what happened, step by step.
vague: The details were murky and vague. Not clear; hard to make out or remember exactly.
miserable: Jonas felt miserable. Very unhappy and uncomfortable.
routine: But it becomes routine; after a while you won't even pay much attention to it. A habit done the same way every day, without much thought.

Critical thinking

When Jonas asks if he has to report the Stirrings, Mother says, “You did, in the dream-telling.” Is it fair to count his dream as a report?
Mother tells Jonas the Stirrings happen to everyone. So why does he try “a little guiltily” to grasp the dream back?
Jonas swallows one small pill and asks, “That's all?” Is the pill helping Jonas, or is it taking something from him?