With ceremonies, rules, training, instructions and memories Jonas' life builds on as I continue to read The Giver. By receiving a strange set of instructions to follow, that break some of the rules in his community he has been thought until now, Jonas gets confused. One of them is allowing Jonas to lie. With a lot of excitement, Jonas goes to the Annex on his first day of training. The giver passes to him the memory of the cold white beauty of snow. Jonas gets filled by fun and excitement. However, things were too good to be true. The Giver had to transmit a pain to Jonas, one that probably some of us have already experienced, sun burn. Because everything needs a balance, with the fun of the snow and the pain of sun burn, Jonas starts realizing that some of the memories he will receive will be filled with pleasure and some filled with pain. With another quick change in Fiona's hair just like the apple and the faces in the crowd did, Jonas decides to ask the Giver about his very unusual Capacity to See Beyond. He finds out that he is starting to see the amazing and stunning color red. Jonas was ambitious to be able to see all of the colors. In order for this to happen The Giver transmits the memory of the playful, pretty rainbow.
While I was reading there is one quote that really caught my attention and made me wonder several things. the quote is the following:
"Our people made that choice, the choice to go to Sameness. Before my time, before the previous time, back and back and back. We relinquished color when we relinquished sunshine and did away with differences. We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others." (Lowry 95)
What this quote mostly made me wonder was that, is it so important to gain total control of things if the price is giving away differences? For me to think that I have to live in a world that is exactly the same, with no individuality and no differences is sometimes scary. People need their differences because that is what makes each person a special individual. A life with no color, snow, sunshine or the several fun and incredible abstract things that make up the world would be empty and lonely. I want to understand more about the reason people decide to do this, decide to go to Sameness. I also want to learn if there is some risk in differences and that is why everyone is equal.
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| Jonas stares as Fiona's hair changes like the apple did a long time ago. |
As the book keeps developing each time I flip a page, so will Jonas memories, adventures and pain do. I am thrilled to find an answer to the questions I stated above. Moreover, I also want to find out what will Jonas do with all his memories, will he use them for something or just keep them to himself? There is only one way to find out...
Alegria, I loved the way your blog was made, the colors, the organization and the pictures. Also you hooked me in your summary, that made me think about what was made in the chapters we read. Also your quote and final thought were consise, but at the same time it was specific. I would like to make a blog like yours.
ResponderEliminarJoaquin Yepez
Joaquin, I am pleased to know that the different experimentation I did with my blog on this post was seen as nice and interesting by the reader, in this case you. I am also glad that you got hooked in my summary and that you liked my text response and final thoughts.
EliminarAlegria
Ale, I really enjoed your blog. I couldnt agree with you more on your text response. They pretty much are all the same. Above all, I love your blog post when it comes to your organization.
ResponderEliminarDaniela
Dani, thankyou I ma very happy that you liked my blog. I agree with you. People in this comunity are almost exact and I think that there is nothing fun in Sameness.
EliminarAle
Ale I loved your blog, summary and the quote and I agree with you with all of what you said. Becuase without choice there is no happiness because your choice can make you happy sometimes. But then I realized and it is sad that the commitee of elders choses for you, and that is becuase sometimes change or decisions take to descrmination etc. What you think?
ResponderEliminarJosé Andrés, I agree with you that with no choice, no happiness can be aquired. Also, that if you are a person that knows the principles of life, then that person is capable of making the correct choices in life. I disagree with you because I think that change or decisions sometimes could be wrong, but they don´t cause descrimination. In my point of view, they may cause the society to be different and unperfect, which in my opinion is what scares the Comitee of Elders, differences.
EliminarAle
Ale, I like your summery and as you said in my blog we picked the same quote. I also like your point of view about the individuality and what makes our world interesting and full of things to discover. I also wonder why they ended up with these extreme decisions, I bet it was a desperate decision.
ResponderEliminarIsa, I was glad when I saw the same quote on your blog and it made me think that we had a very similar opinion about it. I agree with you when you say that it could have been a desperate decison, however I think it could have also been that they were scared to make the wrong choices and bring all the order they have worked on inot chaos.
EliminarAle