Jonas In Lois Lowry's The Giver

“You were put on this earth to achieve your greatest self, to live out your purpose and to do it courageously.” This quote by Dr. Steve Maraboli states that life has a purpose that you have to reach out to. The objects in life are growth and the discovery of new things, and that can’t happen unless you push your limitations. The main character, Jonas, in Lois Lowry’s The Giver goes through a similar encounter when he is specially selected as the Receiver of Memories for his community. With his assignment as the Receiver, Jonas begins to see his community differently and its absence in color, feeling, and choices. In order to live your life, you have to uncover new things, and when that happens, it will open a door for more things to discover.

Jonas expresses his feelings when he says, " ‘If everything's the same, then there aren't any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things! A blue tunic, or a red one?’ ” (Lowry, 97). As the Receiver, Jonas experiences the memories passed on by the Giver and soon learns what the world without Sameness is like. This changes his perspective on his community and he soon realizes the lack of choice, feeling, and color his community has. As his perspective on things become different, so does he. He becomes confused, overwhelmed and unhappy about the deficiency of color, feeling, and choices opened to his community. After Jonas watches the release of the newchild, he finally understands that it is actually a killing and reacts by saying, “ ‘I won’t! I won’t go home! You can’t make me!’ Jonas sobbed and shouted and pounded the bed with his fists’ ” (Lowry, 152). Jonas is consumed with rage after he sees the release of the newchild and he is so upset that he doesn’t want to return home. Jonas finally realizes that he has uncovered the dark and complex truth about his