Chapter 6 · The Giver

Copywork

Fours, Fives, and Sixes all wore jackets that fastened down the back so that they would have to help each other dress and would learn interdependence. The front-buttoned jacket was the first sign of independence, the first very visible symbol of growing up. The bicycle, at Nine, would be the powerful emblem of moving gradually out into the community, away from the protective family unit.

But somehow the first little Caleb had wandered away unnoticed, and had fallen into the river. The entire community had performed the Ceremony of Loss together, murmuring the name Caleb throughout an entire day, less and less frequently, softer in volume, as the long and somber day went on, so that the little Four seemed to fade away gradually from everyone's consciousness.

In the second passage, the town says Caleb's name softer and softer for a whole day. Is that a way to remember him, or a way to forget him?

For the educator Two passages: three sentences from the chapter's opening, where Jonas reminds Lily of her front-buttoned jacket, and two from the middle of the Naming. The first passage opens with a list of three ages set off by commas, “Fours, Fives, and Sixes”. Its second sentence names the jacket twice, the second time after a comma: “the first sign of independence, the first very visible symbol of growing up.” Its third sentence sets “at Nine,” off with two commas and ends on a phrase after a comma, “away from the protective family unit.” The vocabulary word “emblem” is in it. The second passage opens with “But somehow” and joins two actions with a comma and “and”. Its second sentence is long: a main part, then a string of phrases set off by commas (“murmuring the name Caleb throughout an entire day, less and less frequently, softer in volume,”), then a closing part that begins “so that”. The phrases get quieter as the sentence goes on, the way the name does. It holds the vocabulary word “somber”. Watch the apostrophe in “everyone's”. The talk prompt asks about that long sentence. A student may hear it as remembering (the whole town says his name together, all day long) or as forgetting (the name grows softer until he seems to “fade away gradually from everyone's consciousness,” and it is not said again until the new Caleb is named). Either answer can stand if the student points to the words.

Discussion

Narration Tell back the chapter in order. Start with Mother tying Lily's ribbons. Stop when the crowd heads back inside after lunch.

Until Seven, jackets button down the back, and then the buttons move to the front. Which matters more in Jonas's town: needing each other, or doing things on your own? Theme
Every member of Jonas's family, even Lily, signs a promise not to get attached to Gabe. Who is that promise for? Moral reasoning
Fritz is scolded again and again for small slips, like shoes on the wrong feet. What harm do slips like that do in Jonas's town? Moral reasoning
At lunch, Asher tells of a man who swam across the river to another community. Jonas says his father heard the same story when he was a Twelve. Why would a story like that keep being told? Inference

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time in your own life, when a new baby was named after someone who was gone. What did the name mean to the people who chose it?

Vocabulary

dutifully: Jonas could see them applauding dutifully Because it is expected, rather than out of real excitement.
reprieve: He had been given an unusual and special reprieve from the committee A break that holds off something bad that was about to happen.
emblem: The bicycle, at Nine, would be the powerful emblem of moving gradually out into the community An object that stands for an idea, the way a badge shows who you are.
throng: Jonas stowed his bicycle beside Mother's and made his way through the throng to find his group. A large crowd of people pressed close together.
commotion: they all smiled indulgently at the commotion from the little ones waiting to receive their names and families. Noisy, busy confusion.
relinquish: they would relinquish him without protest or appeal To give something up and let it go, even when you would rather keep it.
exuberant: The audience applause, which was enthusiastic at each Naming, rose in an exuberant swell Full of joyful, bursting energy.
somber: as the long and somber day went on Dark, serious and sad.

Critical thinking

The chapter uses one word twice. Jonas's family promises to “relinquish” Gabe when he gets a family of his own. At Ten, the boys “relinquished their long childish hair.” Why might the writer use the same word for both?
Jonas won't believe Asher's story without proof. Does Jonas have proof that the Elders always choose right?
At the Naming, the whole town murmurs the name Caleb again, but not the name Roberto. If the lost Caleb and the released Roberto are both gone for good, why does the community mourn only one of them?