The Giver (government) 2

" We failed in our last selection,” the Chief Elder said solemnly. “It was ten years ago, when Jonas was just a toddler. I will not dwell on the experience because it causes us all terrible discomfort." Jonas didn't know what she was referring to, but he could sense the discomfort of the audience. They shifted uneasily in their seats. "We have not been hasty this time," she continued." "We could not afford another failure." "We have had our current Receiver for a very long time," she went on. Jonas followed her eyes and saw that she was looking at one of the Elders. The Commitee of Elders was sitting together in a group; and the Chief Elder's eyes were now on one who sat in the midst but seemed oddly separate from them. It was a man Jonas had never noticed before, a bearded man with pale eyes. He was watching Jonas intently (60-61)."

            In this passage from The Giver by Lois Lowry, the Chief Elder at the Ceremony of Twelve is introducing Jonas as the new receiver. There has not been a receiver in more than 10 years in this society so this is a big deal for Jonas. The previous receiver was named Rosemary but she applied for release of the receiver position, which made this new receiver position open for Jonas. There wasn’t a receiver for over 10 years because Rosemary experienced traumatizing memories that were released into everybody’s minds. 

My reaction to this passage is that this again shows the dystopian society, the traumatizing memories caused nobody to apply for the receiver position which made it empty for over 10 years. This also shows the courage that Jonas has to accept a position that is of such importance that has been empty for over 10 years. I wonder if the Giver has anything to do with Jonas accepting the position of the new receiver. How do you become a receiver? I wonder if Jonas will be able to handle the responsibilities of being a receiver? What powers does the position of being a receiver have?

The purpose of this passage is to show the dystopian view that the society has on everything, everybody has been scared to accept the position of the new receiver because it has been empty for over 10 years and everybody is scared of the traumatizing memories but Jonas comes along and shows that he is strong and has the courage to do this new receiver position. With the help of the Giver, Jonas can be a good receiver. Without the Givers help Jonas would not be able to do this job. The Giver has given Jonas the strength to accept this position, the Giver realizes that Jonas can do it and the Giver can guide him through the tough times like a father figure. The specific techniques used to achieve this purpose are words like “discomfort.” The word discomfit has a negative effect and a negative connotation. In this passage the word “discomfort” represents the feeling that the people in the community had when Jonas accepted the position of being a receiver. This came at a shock to the society because the position has been empty for over 10 years. The society was discomforted because Rosemary had such a traumatic experience of being a receiver that the community could not understand why someone would want to be a receiver after what had happened to Rosemary. At the end of this passage, foreshadowing is used, you are left with yourself asking many questions, who is this bearded man that Jonas saw in the crowd? Could it be a relative of Jonas? This is left with the reader asking questions and makes the reader want to keep on reading to find out who is this man. The overall effect of this passage is that the people in the society are living in fear because of what happened to the previous receiver Rosemary. The people in the dystopian society need to stop living in fear and accept the new position that Jonas has accepted.

In this book so far the word “human” means you are living in a dystopian society that the government has all control over you, they have strict rules and regulations that are set forth and you have to follow them or else there are consequences. In this passage the “humans” are living in fear because of the past experiences that Rosemary had when she was the receiver. Our depictions of the future reveal that the present is very valuable and is of the essence. You have to value your time in the present because the future is going to be far different than anything that you can imagine, maybe it will be better or maybe it will be worse nobody knows but you have to value the things that you have right now. We use language and images to manipulate people’s minds by providing circumstances and certain situations to show certain things that aren’t actually true. It’s all about the way people perceive certain things. In this case the people in the society all were in fear of accepting the position of the new receiver because of what happened to Rosemary. They let this one incident cause them to not accept the job, they just went with the flow and denied the job instead of being different and accepting the position of the new receiver like Jonas did.