The Giver Literary Analysis

As The Giver tells Jonas,“ ‘There’s much more. There’s all that goes beyond-all that is Elsewhere-and all that goes back, and back, and back’ “(78). Lois Lowry is trying to convey the theme to his audience about the importance of memory. He does this by showing his readers many symbols such as, the colors, red specifically, the hills, and music, representing each other’s differences, the ups and downs in life, and emotions. Lois Lowry is trying to show his audience what life would be like if there was no memory of the past and if all we had known was the things already planned out for us, such as the people had experienced in the story, The Giver.

To begin with, Jonas’ community had wanted everyone and everything to be equal. As Jonas would

All of their personal thoughts and feelings were taken away from them. Music represents emotion and joy, but other than joy, there also were sad thoughts/feelings as well. “ ‘ I began to hear something truly remarkable and it is called music’ “ (157) Music was one of the things that gave The Giver joy. This was taken away from the citizens of Jonas’ community, as well as many other things. Music was just one of the many memories that give people joy and happiness, which the people in The Giver could not experience. Joy and happiness are feelings and emotions that people could only feel through the memories. “ By now Jonas had experienced countless bits of happiness, things he had never known of before.” (121) As a previous everyday citizen, Jonas had not known was happiness was, but as he gone through good memories, he felt and understood what the word “happiness” meant. Nobody else but Jonas and the giver, had known what true happiness was, which was unfortunate. This also made the memories important as well, because of the feelings they hold. “‘Trust the memories and how they make you feel.’” (125) The memories gave off feelings to those who go through them. People in the current day and age in The Giver did not have the imagination to feel what Jonas felt in the memories such as love, joy, sorrow, pain, etc. The memories are important because of the feelings and emotions that come with them, which the people do not get to experience. The memories that Jonas holds are very important, because they hold the reminder of a time when people could experience happiness, joy, and many other feelings. Although this was taken away from the people in Jonas’ community, the memories hold the power to bring happiness and joy back into their