Jonas
Jonas is a twelve-year-old who has recently been selected by the Committee of Elders to be the new Receiver of Memory. Jonas deserves this honor because he is responsible, kind, and capable o doing what he puts his mind to. Jonas has the perfect characteristics needed to be Receiver of Memory: intelligence, integrity, courage, wisdom, and the Capacity to See Beyond. The Receiver of Memory as an Assignment was a big surprise and honor for Jonas because only one person could hold that job and it's very rare to be selected as one. In order to be the Receiver of Memory, you need to have all five characteristics – including the Capacity to See Beyond which Jonas has. A unique reason why Jonas has the Capacity to See Beyond is his pale eyes. The Capacity to See Beyond means that Jonas can see in depth, outside of the box, and to see as well as accept complexity. Since the community as a whole does not have this characteristic, they recognize anyone who does as special/unique. Therefore, they are given the Assignment of Receiver of Memory.
Jonas's family unit consists of Mother, Father, and his younger sister Lily, 8. Jonas is closer to his Mother because Father is very playful and lenient; perfect for Lily, while Mother is more strict and serious, just like Jonas.
Jonas has the majority, if not all, of the characteristics in order to fit into the community. However, his one unique physical characteristic is his pale eyes. A boy Father is nurturing also has these pale, unusual eyes. The community members, however, all have dark eyes. Jonas's pale eyes might have enabled him to see color, a characteristic that no one else in the community has, in an incident that had singled him out.
One day, Jonas and his best friend Asher were doing their volunteer hours at the recreation center. Jonas had picked up an apple out of the snack basket and thrown it to Asher, starting a game of catch. Asher returned the apple as Jonas threw it. During one throw, in mid-air, Jonas noticed the apple change something that changed its shade or "color". This change occurred numerous times during their game of catch. Afterwards, Jonas was still so curious about the apple that he took it home against the rules. So hen the Announcer singles him out without even using his name, he had been given a warning not to brake another rule.
Character Trait Adjectives:
Insecure (pg. 20-21)
When Jonas first saw Gabriel, he got very insecure. He got insecure about himself. He started to pay more attention to what Lily had always said about his eyes, now knowing what they looked like.
Appreciative (pg. 31-32)
Jonas was very appreciative of all Larissa told him about the Ceremony of Release. No one new much about it, but out of the few people who did know about it, Larissa was willing to tell him.
Shocked (pg. 54-55)
Shocked is truly what Jonas was when the Chief Elder skipped his number. He felt that in some way, it was his fault. But how could the Chief Elder make a mistake? He wasn't expecting that at all.