[3:15:07 PM] Mitchel Sumida: The Giver, written by Lois Lowry, is a science fiction book that takes place in the future. The main character, Jonas, is an eleven-year-old boy that lives in a very controlled society, called the Community. In Jonas's world there is no hunger, war, color, music, or love, and no dying unless an unexpected disaster occurs. Everything in the Community is controlled by "The Elders." The Elders are a group of people that decide who the people in the community will marry, which children they will receive and what job they will get when they're twelve.
Jonas is about to turn twelve, which means a job will be chosen from the Committee of Elders in front of the whole Community. At first, Jonas says that he is frightened, but he realizes that the word "frightened" is too strong of an adjective and says he is "apprehensive" instead because he doesn't know what kind of job he will have. When Jonas and his family unit sit down to eat dinner, Jonas's sister, Lily, who is classified as a Seven, shares how she was upset because at childcare people were acting like animals. Even though no one in the community knows what an animal is, they just use the term to mean someone who was uneducated or clumsy. Also, at the dinner table Jonas's father tells them that a new baby was born at the Nurturers Center and that he would be "released" because he was very loud and restless at night. Being "released" is thought to be just going out of the Community into the real world, but is later learned that people that are "released" are actually killed. So Jonas's family unit takes care of Gabriel so they could try calming him down or helping him somehow.
The big day finally arrives when Jonas turns twelve years old. He is watching all his friends getting their jobs, but when it is his turn, he is skipped over. After the Chief Elder finishes the main ceremony, she tells Jonas that the reason he was skipped over was because he was "selected" to do a special job. He was chosen to become "The Receiver of Memory" which is the most important of all the jobs in the Community. After Jonas hears this, he looks at the current Receiver and notices he has the same light eyes. Jonas was picked to be a Receiver because he had the ability to "see beyond."
When the whole ceremony is over, Jonas gets a rulebook for his job. It says that he can't tell anyone about what happens in training, that he's allowed to lie, he can't apply for release, and he can ask anyone a question even if it's rude. Jonas begins his training, which consists of receiving memories from the old Receiver, who is now referred as The Giver. But the memories that Jonas is receiving isn't the Givers childhood memories but they are memories of humanity going way back when there was no Community. Jonas receives memories of color, love, snow, sledding, and sunshine, which are gone from the community because of weather control. Even though Jonas gets all these great memories, he has to receive painful memories like sunburn, breaking an arm, watching someone's death, and warfare. After about a year of training, Jonas finally realizes what "release" actually means–you get a lethal injection that kills you. Those who get released are breaking the rules too many times, people who are too old, babies who are sick like Gabriel, or those who apply for it.
After learning what a "release" is, Jonas and the Giver make a plan for Jonas's escape. On the day of the ceremony, Jonas will fake his own death, but meanwhile his parents will think he's sitting with his friends or with the Giver. Jonas plan is to be running away out of the Community. Once Jonas leaves the Community, all the memories that the Giver has given to him would be transmitted to the public, so the Giver would stay at the community to help calm the people down just as he had done with Jonas. But Jonas's plan doesn't work perfectly because he finds out that Gabriel will be released the next morning. So Jonas had to make an improvisation to his plan using his father's bicycle to escape with Gabriel. After weeks of tedious riding, Gabriel and Jonas are practically dying from hunger, so Jonas gives Gabriel memories of sunshine and food to help Gabriel survive. Jonas and Gabriel make it to the top of a snowy hill that look familiar to Jonas. At the top of the hill, Jonas sees the sled from the first memory the Giver gave him. Jonas climbs into the sled with Gabriel and pushes off to go down the hill. The book never tell the reader about how it specifically ends, but it does say that Jonas was certain with joy, that below, "they" were waiting for him.