Chapter 9 · The Giver

Copywork

The exemption from rudeness startled him. Reading it again, however, he realized that it didn't compel him to be rude; it simply allowed him the option. He was quite certain he would never take advantage of it. He was so completely, so thoroughly accustomed to courtesy within the community that the thought of asking another citizen an intimate question, of calling someone's attention to an area of awkwardness, was unnerving.

Asher did not lie. Lily did not lie. His parents did not lie. No one did.

The writer could have named them all in one sentence. Why use four short sentences instead, just before “Unless...”?

For the educator Two passages: Jonas reading the rule about rudeness, and Jonas counting the people who do not lie, just before his frightening thought. In the first passage, the second sentence sets “however” off with a comma on each side, so it interrupts the sentence without breaking it. The same sentence joins two complete thoughts with a semicolon, and the two thoughts turn on a contrast: the rule does not “compel” him, it only “allowed him the option.” That sentence holds the vocabulary word “compel”. The last sentence is the longest. It doubles its opening, “so completely, so thoroughly,” and then adds a second phrase, set off with commas, that says the first one again in other words: “of calling someone's attention to an area of awkwardness.” That sentence holds the vocabulary word “accustomed”. Point out the apostrophes in “didn't” and “someone's”, which do two different jobs. The second passage is four very short sentences. The first three follow one pattern, a name and then “did not lie”; the fourth breaks it with three words. The student copies each as its own sentence, with its own capital and period. The talk prompt asks why the writer uses four short sentences and not one. A student may say the short sentences build Jonas's trust one person at a time, so that “Unless...” cracks something solid. Another may say they sound like Jonas checking, name by name, as if he needs to hear it. Either answer can stand if the student points to the words.

Discussion

Narration Tell back the chapter in order. Start with Jonas leaving the Auditorium, holding his folder. Stop at the last line, after he pictures asking Father, “Do you lie?”

At his door, Jonas calls out, “See you in the morning, Recreation Director!” Why might he use Asher's new title just then, and not his name? Character
Mother tells Jonas he has been “greatly honored,” and after a silence, she gets up and says it again. Who is that second time for? Inference
No rule on Jonas's sheet says a word about friends. So what makes him think of them first? Inference
Jonas works out that a crushed finger is “unrelated to training,” so he could still get medicine for it. Why does he work it out so carefully? Character

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time in your own life, when someone could not check if they were being told the truth. How did they decide who to trust?

Vocabulary

hesitation: But Jonas felt a moment of hesitation from his friend, an uncertainty. A short pause before speaking or acting, like the tiny catch in Asher's friendly reply.
solemnly: They waved back, smiling, but he noticed that Lily was watching him solemnly, her thumb in her mouth. In a serious, unsmiling way, as Lily watches her brother while everyone else smiles.
designated: A name designated Not-to-Be-Spoken indicated the highest degree of disgrace. Officially marked or labeled as something, the way the failed Receiver's name is set aside forever.
dismayed: But he was a little dismayed that his schedule left no time, apparently, for recreation. Upset and let down by a surprise, as Jonas is when he sees no free hours left for play.
compel: Reading it again, however, he realized that it didn't compel him to be rude; it simply allowed him the option. Force someone to do something, which the rule about rudeness does not do.
accustomed: He was so completely, so thoroughly accustomed to courtesy within the community that the thought of asking another citizen an intimate question, of calling someone's attention to an area of awkwardness, was unnerving. So used to something that it feels normal, the way politeness feels to Jonas.
precision: Immediately he had been taken aside for a brief private lesson in language precision. Being exact, so that every word says just what is true and nothing more.
tempted: He had never, within his memory, been tempted to lie. Pulled toward doing something you know you should not do.

Critical thinking

Jonas's sheet says he may now be rude, and he is sure he never will be. Is he making a choice, or following a habit?
When Jonas was a Four, he was told that “I'm starving” was a lie, since he was only hungry. Can a person lie without meaning to?
After reading “You may lie,” Jonas can no longer be sure that any answer he gets is true. Has that rule taken something from him, or given him something?