The Giver By Lois Lowry: Summary

The Giver Essay “An open society is a society which allows its members the greatest possible degree of freedom in pursuing their interests compatible with the interests of others.” - George Soros. In The Giver, the idea that a sled symbolizes freedom is illustrated through the main character, Jonas, when he gets his job as The Receiver where he will receive memories from the past even the bad ones. As he starts receiving memories from the past, he learns what the world is actually like and how his community´s older members shade everything away. In Lois Lowry’s dystopian novel The Giver, Jonas’s memories and dreams show how a sled symbolizes freedom through receiving memories, dreaming memories, and living dreams. One way the author develops the idea that a sled symbolizes freedom is through Jonas receiving memories. For example when Jonas recieves his first memory it is of a sled he experiences the excitement of riding a sled for the first time. “Then the sled, with Jonas himself upon it, began to move through the

In the story when Jonas is escaping from the community with his baby brother Gabe, he is: ¨Using his final strength, and special knowledge that was deep inside him, Jonas found the sled that was waiting for them at the top of the hill.¨(178). This displays Jonas finally living his dream of physically riding a sled. Another way that Jonas living his dreams shows that a sled symbolizes freedom also when he is escaping from the community, he feels like he is about to reach his final destination: ¨… an incision: that seemed to lead to the final destination, the place that he had always felt was waiting, the elsewhere that held their future and their past.¨(178). This clearly illustrates, Jonas living his dreams of riding a sled and going to elsewhere shows that he finally reaching freedom. Based on these examples Jonas lives his dream of going to elsewhere and finally gets freedom on a