Giver Essay

Giver Essay

Characters in books make choices which set the plot. The Giver by Lois Lowry has the main character, Jonas, making many significant choices in his Utopia community, that excludes war fear, pain, and emotions that affects him and the plot dramatically. Two significant choices he made is throwing his pill that takes his emotions, and giving memories to his brother, Gabe.
The first significant choice Jonas made is throwing the pill away. In this scene, Jonas receives the memory of love and family, by watching a Christmas morning with Grandparents, their children, and their Grandchildren. During the evening meal, he asks his family if they love him. They reply that is rude to ask, and love is a meaningless word. The next day, when Jonas wakes up in the morning, he decides to throw his pill away. “Something within him, something that had grown there through the memory, told him to throw the pill away.” (p. 129) The choice is significant because it changes Jonas and it changes the plot (later in the book). It shows that he can gain emotions, such as love, something restricted in the community. This will allow him to make more decisions, such as giving Gabe memories, and leaving the community which shows he’s a rebel. Giving Gabe memories leads to the changing of the plot by letting Gabe grow, or else he would be dead before Jonas knowing of death during release, which means Jonas has to save Gabe, Jonas’ only known family, or else he would die. Throwing the pill also changes the plot when Jonas leaves the community because Jonas fells the urge to save Gabe when he finds out he’s going to die in the morning. Jonas takes Gabe and runs away to Elsewhere where they hope for a better life. It is clearly shown that Jonas throwing away the pill is significant to the story.