Symbolism In The Giver By Lois Lowry

Having different things mean something deeper is a crucial part in writing a good book, like Lois Lowry did in The Giver. In this book there are many different symbols with different themes that can be identified. This is a good book with many things to think about. One of the symbols in The Giver is the river. This symbolizes escape, your own way. It is the only way to die other than being released, it gives you some sort of freedom that you aren’t aloud to have. On page 56 Caleb, a four, was lost out of sight of adults and fell into the river and drowned. They had to perform the ceremony of loss to let his spirit rest, Jonas had this memory when at the ceremony of naming they got a replacement child. “ But somehow the first little Caleb had wandered away unnoticed, a cheerful little four,”. On page 181 Jonas and the Giver start thinking about Jonas’ escape, “What if I fell into the river like little Four, Caleb, did?”

The sled is the first object that he identifies with color, the very first was Fiona’s hair, the community has trouble covering the color red. Jonas also starts seeing the people and the community differently, as the Giver says to Jonas on page 119 “ Your friend Fiona has red hair-quite distinctive actually,”. He starts to see that his family unit does not really love him like the Giver can. When he went down the snow hill the first time, he felt free like on page 103 says “ He was free to enjoy the breathless glee that overwhelmed him,”. He starts to see the upsides of how controlled the community, but also likes the memories he is receiving and wishes they could experience them. He thinks this way because he is learning about the community other than sameness and likes it better before