Photo montage

This picture portrays an eye with pale pupils, and triggers the memory of Jonas’s pale eyes, which distinguish him from the other members of the community. They are a symbol of perceptiveness. Everyone in the community has black eyes except for Jonas, Gabriel, a female five and the Giver. Jonas himself decides there is depth in the solemn, knowing eyes of Gabriel and guesses that is how people should feel like when they look into his eyes. People with such eyes have a power of perception, called 'seeing beyond', that others do not have. Jonas and the Giver can transmit and receive memories and see colours. The Giver can also hear music, something Jonas can do by the end of the book. Gabriel can also receive memories from Jonas. However, Lois Lowry does not directly state that people with pale eyes are more perceptive. We are left to assume so for our own.


This is the scene where Jonas sees the apple ‘change’ for a fleeting instant. The apple is his very first insight, where he catches a glimpse of the colour red. The apple is like his entrance into the vital world of feelings and ideas that he discovers. It also contributes to him being selected as the new Receiver because it made the Giver perceive that he had the capacity. Jonas knows that the shape, size and shade had remained the same. Yet he feels that some mystifying quality of it had changed. He later sees the same change the in faces of the crowd when he was given his Assignment and in Fiona’s hair, which is red as well. By the end of the novel, he is not only able to see all colours, but also many other things which may seem normal to us, but not in Jonas’ world.

This picture shows a baby with pale, solemn, knowing eyes, and highly reminds me of Gabriel, a symbol of hope and company to Jonas. He represents hope because since he is only a baby, he has not learnt the customs and rules of the community, and is still receptive to the memories transmitted to him. He gives him hope to change things and start over. Hence, he symbolizes hope.


Jonas flees the community to Elsewhere, not only to save Gabe from death, but also to start a new life with him – a life that does not encompass the insensible rules set by the community. Hence, Gabe is also a symbol of starting over.


Gabe is also a great company to Jonas because he is the only one Jonas knows other than the Giver who shares his unique ability. Jonas can identify with him, and when he feels as though he has lost his childhood and friendships and faces extreme loneliness, Gabe is of comfort to him.

This picture shows three people seated on chairs next to each other. The one on the left is a female, with the number 18 representing her, while the one on the left is a male with the number 20 representing him. The one in the middle, a male, has no number representing him, but there are three full stops hovering above him, as if to say he has been skipped. The background is not very clear. It is rather fuzzy and vague and looks as though a lot of old newspaper articles have been pasted haphazardly to form a messy background.


This picture depicts the scene where Jonas anxiously sits in the Auditorium to receive his assignment, after Fiona, number 18 had received hers. However, his turn is skipped and the Chief Elder simply moves on to the next person, Pierre, number 20. This leaves both Jonas and the crowd shocked and uncomfortable. There is a hush in the crowd. Jonas’ imagination starts to run wild. He thinks of all the endless possibilities as to why he had not been called – the Chief Elder could have made a mistake or Jonas could have forgotten his own number, both of which are quite impossible because the Chief Elder made no mistakes, especially at the Ceremony of Twelve, and Jonas had always been Nineteen. There was another possibility which caused him humiliation and terror – he could have done something wrong or disgraceful. However, when all others have been assigned he is called upon and is selected as the new Receiver. This is something he did not expect in the least, and is very surprised at having received such an honourable job. However, he is also anxious about what would become of him. Hence, there is much tension in this scene, and it holds until Jonas meets the Giver and is reassured.

This picture depicts a boy on a red sled riding down a snowy hill. This picture is similar to the very first memory transmitted to Jonas by the Giver. However, it is different in that the boy is much younger than Jonas, and it is not snowing in this picture, as it was in the memory. Also, the hill does not seem as steep as it was described in the memory. This memory gives much delight and excitement to Jonas and he forgets about his initial anxiousness regarding his training. It fills him with questions and makes him eager for whatever experience that would come next. However, he forgets that there would be memories that would inflict mental and physical pain upon him. It is not until the later part of the book that he realizes that his training is not only filled with happy memories.


The sled in this memory is also a symbol of the journey Jonas takes during his training and the discoveries he makes. The sled is red, a colour that symbolizes the new, vital world of feelings and ideas that he discovers. Before the Giver transmits the memory to him, he compares the role of the Receiver to the way riding down a sled is exhilarating at first, but after the snow accumulates on the runners, you slow down and have to push hard to keep going. The snow that accumulates represents the difficulties he will face in the course if his training.


Jonas too enjoys the ride very much. However, the sled can be treacherous and this is seen in the first memory of extreme pain Jonas receives. The sled makes us realise that pleasure and pain are inevitably related. Something that gives pure delight can also inflict a lot of pain.


At the end of the novel, when Jonas finds a real sled, much like the one in his memory, waiting for him at the top of the hill, it symbolizes his entry into a world where colour, sensation and emotion truly exist, not just in memories.

The River that runs through the community and into Elsewhere, symbolizes escape from the confines of the community. When Caleb drowns in the river, it is an unpredictable event that the community can neither prevent nor control. This gives Jonas and the Giver the inspiration to try to change the community by the ides of the river’s unpredictable behaviour. They come up with the idea to use the River as the reason why Jonas is missing the next day. Jonas’ absence would change the community greatly in that they would have to face all his memories.

This picture shows strokes of various colours forming an elegant wave. It reminds me of the memory of the rainbow that was transmitted to Jonas by the Giver. It is the memory where Jonas expresses the first few complaints and objections towards the community. He feels that there are not any choices when there are no colours. This also shows that the community has absolute control over them, even for the most minor of matters like colours!



This picture depicts a scene of Christmas celebrations, and immediately makes me recall The Giver. In the novel, the memory of Christmas is the Giver’s most favourite one. However, he still transmits it to Jonas wholeheartedly. Jonas cherishes and enjoys it too. It is through this memory that he learns of Grandparents and of love. He feels love towards Gabriel and the Giver, who he feels is like a grandfather to him. It is also after this memory that he asks his parents if they love him, and they reply that love is a very vague word and is obsolete. Jonas is appalled and shocked. He realizes how emotionless and unknowing his fellow community members are like.


The memory also serves sort of like a destination or goal for Jonas because after he receives the memory of the sled, he dreams of repeatedly sliding down the snowy hill, and feels as though there were a destination that lay beyond the place where the thickness of snow brought the sled to stop. He has this good feeling that the destination was welcoming and significant.

This cartoon depicts the escape scene of The Giver. It shows Jonas standing in the middle of the picture, holding Gabriel in his arms. He has a definite and determined expression on his face. There is an apple on the floor next to him. A spotlight from a search plane is falling on Jonas, Gabriel, and the apple, thus illuminating them and they are the only things in the picture who are portrayed in colours. Other items are black and white. Jonas and Gabriel are not in black and white so that they stand out from the rest of the picture. This is to show that they are out of the confines of the community. The apple is red because it serves as the starting point of Jonas journey from the world of no emotions, sensations and colours, to a whole new one full of them. In the snowy background, the Giver is standing on Jonas’ right and his parents are on his left. They represent the rest of the community. They look rather emotionless. Perhaps there is an edge of concern on his parents’ faces, and a look of encouragement on the Givers’. However, the cartoonist did not make it very clear. Maybe he is trying to show us how robotic and emotionless the community is. This part of the book is very exhilarating and brimming with excitement, for it is the climax. The ending is a cliff-hanger, to increase the effect of the suspense.