Here Comes the Sun

In "All Summer in a Day" a short story written by Ray Bradbury, families have moved from Earth to Venus, a planet that is only filled with rain, with only one hour of sun every seven years. There is a little girl named Margot that used to live on Ohio, in planet Earth and actually remembered the sun and how it felt. All of her classmates were born on Venus and if the sun ever came out seven years ago, they couldn't recall. She was different from the rest and actually believed and eager for the sun to come out again, now that seven years had past since it last did. Non of her classmates dared to believe her. Margot was bullied by her mates and that day they did another naughtiness. They locked her in a closet from the classroom preventing her from seeing the sun, if it ever came out. Just a few minutes later the sun indeed came out, shocking them all and making them fill with surprise. They enjoyed the warmness and the happiness. They did so until the hour ended and it started raining all over again. Once they got back to the classroom, they remembered about poor Margot, still locked in the closet and slowly and shyly they took her out.

In this story, Bradbury uses rich imagery making the story more profound.

"They came slowly to look at her opened palm. In the center of it, cupped and huge, was a single raindrop. She began to cry, looking at it. They glanced quietly at the sun"(4).

Ray Bradbury used the sense of sight to enhance the deepness of the story. He utilizes very specific and detailed description of the image. This quote clearly draws a picture on your head of a drop on a persons hand, tiny and transparent just like crystal, delicate and barely visible. In this quote you can clearly see the change of mood in the children, from being happy and joyful with such beauty of the sun to suddenly in just a minute to be absorbed by sadness and some sort of nostalgia.

Ray Bradbury, aside from imagery, utilizes characterization and exposes a clear vision of a certain character, increasing the connection of the reader with said character.

"She was a very frail girl who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for years and the rain had washed out the blue from her eyes and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair. She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost" (2).

This quote talks about Margot, the main character of the story and demonstrates her physical looks. She was no ordinary kid, she was different from the rest because, unlike others, she was from Earth and remembered the sun and how it felt. She had been in the rain since she went to Venus and the lack of sun was clearly affecting her inside leading to a change in her outside. An image of a ghost girl is quickly drawn in the reader’s head.    


"All Summer in a Day" might seem like a simple story to read just for entertainment, nevertheless it includes a deep message that everyone must apply in their daily lives. Said message is: Enjoy something while you still have it, share it and be grateful because nothing lasts forever. People tend to be ungrateful for the things they have, enjoying them just for themselves and not actually appreciating the value of those things or moments. With characterization and imagery, Bradbury manages to add a serious amount of depth to the story and make it joyful to read changing it from a simple story to an amazing one.

Always remain positive, because the sun will always shine even after the worst storm.

It´s Now or Never

The Giver, a book so interesting, filled with intrigue and surprises that I can´t stop reading. Below you will find a poem that states what has happened in the last chapters I read...

“The game of war should not be played,

it caused a fight between best friends.

Reality was then displayed,

and things came to an end.

Here they come, they’ll be born,

the twins expected for so long.

But only one can stay in here,

or else it would be a big deal.

Rosemary, Rosemary,

failed ten years ago,

in the attempt to handle it all.

The pain she couldn’t bear

led her to despair.

The release had to be made,

and elsewhere then she went.

Her memories still stayed,

and a lot of pain displayed.

Release, release, what does it mean?

It´s a harsh and cruel thing.

In which death is clearly seen,

but it´s hidden from everything.

  

A life like that should not exist,

its good things are dismissed.

 It´s now or never for a change,

so a plan had to be made.

For everyone to understand,

they´re life style should be banned,

the memories had to return,

no matter if they hurt.”

As I continued reading, there were several parts of the book which made me stop and think about many different things, however the following quote really grabbed my attention:

“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It´s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.” (Lowry 154)

SHARE: it means to give a portion of something to others.

Life = sharing

When I read this quote it made me think mostly about the loneliness of not being able to share something so important, such as memories, with others. In life almost everything needs to be shared in order for them to be significant. A meaningful life is not one you keep to yourself, but one you share with others. Humans are interdependent, they need other people to share their life's with. Also, this made me think about one of the themes in the book: “Importance of Memories.” Memories give people wisdom, intelligence and feelings, but all of those things need to be shared, that’s what makes them special. The sharing of love and happiness as well as pain unites people together, like Jonas and The Giver. Furthermore when I read this quote I realized that if I had to live in a world in which special things like memories couldn't be shared, I would feel empty and lonely. No one should live like that, things had to change.

The Giver gets more interesting and makes me fill with intrigue each word I continue to read. The decision Jonas and The Giver made about changing their community and the way in functions really surprised me. I think that Jonas is a very brave person when he decided to leave everything behind to make people understand their life's needed to be different.If I was in his position it would be really hard for me to do it.  

There is only one chance to change this community... IT´S NOW OR NEVER. 

A Right or Wrong Decision

Love: experienced by everyone, felt at least once and the strongest power on earth.

Pain and love and pleasure and feelings all wrap up in following chapters of The Giver. Jonas has a feeling that his life is no longer ordinary and will never be again. With the beautiful experience of being able to see a glimpse of color, Jonas tries to share all of the marvelous memories he has experienced, but by attempting to do this, he fails. Following his daily routine Jonas went to the Annex and this time the memory he received was of animal killing. With this memory and many others The Giver explains to Jonas that the wisdom memories contain is necessary to make the CORRECT decisions...

PAIN… the real kind is being transmitted to Jonas when he went back to the hill the snow and the sled. The difference this time was that the fun and excitement was gone and the only thing he felt was an enormous amount of suffering, real suffering. Jonas was startled at the fact that the rest of his community has never experienced pain...  

Sharing is an important part of life and with Jonas being able to share his memories with baby Gabe, he gets frightened. As well as good memories, the bad ones have to be shared and The Giver does it with Jonas. He does it so much, Jonas feels an excruciating pain. Because life needs a balance on everything with all the pain Jonas has experienced lately, The Giver transmits Jonas his favorite memory, LOVE, FAMILY, HOME and CHRISTMAS.



While reading this compelling book, my attention got caught by the following text:

"Or what if," he went on, almost laughing at the absurdity, “they chose their own jobs?”

“Frightening, isn’t it?” The Giver said.

Jonas chuckled. “Very frightening. I can’t even imagine it. We really have to protect people from wrong choices.”

“It’s safer.”

“Yes,” Jonas agreed. “Much safer.”  

This part of the book grabbed my attention because I got amused by the way Jonas and the rest of his community think about choices. By them thinking that allowing people to make their own choices is dangerous I got surprised. This is because I think that making wrong choices is a part of life and every human makes them. Nevertheless wrong choices and decisions give us wisdom and experience in order to learn what not to do in the future. We LEARN from our INCCORECT CHOICES as well as from our CORRECT ones. I think that the fear being caused in this community is that, by a person making an inaccurate decision, then all of the organization and Sameness in the community will be lost.  

This is what is happening in Jonas' community

In a world with no choices, with no love and with no pain, Jonas starts realizing that what once he thought was good and correct is now wrong and needs to be changed. I am excited to find out if Jonas would be able to change his society and make it better. I am hoping to get the answer to that quickly, but I can only keep reading to find out... 

Click on the link below to watch a video about making decisions and their importance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aoOAXqX6tA

A Colorful Rainbow

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. 

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...

Exiting Continuation...

   As I continued to read The Giver many more interesting things happened and Jonas went through several new experiences. On chapter 5 during the morning ritual of dream telling, Jonas felt his first Stirrings on the dream he had. His mother gave him the corresponding medicine to take away the Stirrings, nevertheless Jonas really enjoyed feeling the Stirrings. On chapter 6 the ceremonies begun. They started with the Naming Ceremony in which every baby was given a name and a home, except baby Gabe because he was given an additional year of Nurturing before his naming and placement. After, each ceremony came, starting from Ceremony of One up till Ceremony of Eleven. On chapter 7, the Ceremony of Twelve begun and Jonas impatiently waited for his Assignment, he was number 19. Meanwhile Asher got the Assignment of Assistant Director of Recreation and Fiona which was number 18, got the Assignment of Caretaker of the Old. When it was finally Jonas turn, the Chief Elder skipped him and went to number 20. Furthermore, on chapter 8 the Chief Elder explains that Jonas did not get assigned, but selected. He was selected to be the next Receiver of Memory. His training would be different than the others and he would suffer much physical pain. His selection was one of the most important ones.

The following quote caught my attention while reading: 

"Finally, The Receiver must have one more quality, and it is one which I can only name, but not describe. I do not understand it. You members of the community will not understand it, either. Perhaps Jonas will, because the current Receiver has told us that Jonas already has this quality. He calls it the Capacity to See Beyond."

This quote caught my attention because it made me wonder what this Capacity to See Beyond was. It also made me connect back to the scene in which Jonas and Asher were playing catch with an apple and the apple changed. This is because, in this chapter when Jonas turned around and saw that the whole audience also changed, it made me inference of what this Capacity to See Beyond meant. I think that what changed in the apple and the people was that it turned from black and white, like everything in this society could be, to color. Furthermore, I believe that this is the special capacity Jonas has. I predict that this quality he has will help him uncover the secrets of his society and change how it functions.

  To finalize my post, these chapters were very interesting and filled with different exciting things that occurred to Jonas. I am eager to continue reading and find out more about what Jonas does with his new selection and see if my prediction was right. If my prediction is right, I am intrigued on knowing the different secrets of this perfect and organized society. I am also looking forward to find out if the Capacity to see Beyond is what I inferred it would be. To conclude, I can´t wait to keep reading and surprising myself with all the different interesting experiences Jonas and all the rest of the society have to go through.

Analyzing Page per Page

27/11/2014

I read the first 4 chapters of the book The Giver. In these chapters several things have happened and I was learning many new things about each character and their lives. On chapter number 1 the author introduces the main and secondary characters, they are Jonas, Lily (Jonas´ sister), Father, Mother, (Jonas´parents) Asher (Jonas´ best
friend). Later on in this chapter, Jonas and his family make the dinner nightly ritual in which everyone tells the rest of their family how they were feeling that day. When it was Jonas turn he told his family that he was feeling apprehensive about the upcoming Ceremony of Twelve. The Ceremonies were celebrated each year on December and they marked the different ages of people. In the Ceremony of Twelve the committee of elders chose an assignment for each person, this is why this ceremony was the most important. On chapter 2 Jonas´ father was telling him about his own experience with the Ceremony of 12 and told him how he became a Nurturer. The same thing did his mother. After, Jonas´ was worried about what his assignment would be because unlike his father he had no idea. On chapter 3  the author is telling us about how Jonas managed to be announced in the speakers without the announcement to contain his name. This happened because when Asher and Jonas were playing catch with an apple at the Recreation Center, Jonas saw something strange in the apple and took it home, which was against the rules. Also, in this chapter Jonas´father took baby Gabe from the Nurturing Center to his home. On chapter 4 Jonas goes to volunteer at the House of the Old with Asher and Fiona, one of his friends. While he was helping Lariza take a bath, she told him about the celebration of the release of Roberto and told him his life story.  

       "There were only two ocations of release which were not punishment. Release of the elderly, which was a time of celebration for a life well and fully lived; and release of a new child, which always brought a sense of what-could-we-have-done." (7)

 This quote makes me ask myself some questions about the meaning of release and how important it is in the community. One question that still troubles me is what is release? From what I could infer release is to like "kick out". Another thing that makes me question a lot is weather release is a good or bad thing in this community. For instance when during a game Asher made a wrong move and they lost the match Jonas shouted "That´s it Asher, you´re released!", and he was taken outside for a serious talk and later on had to appologize with Asher. However, on chapter 4 when Lariza is telling Jonas about Roberto´s release she says, "This morning we celebrated the release of Roberto, it was wonderful", it makes it seem like being released is something good and honorable. The word release and its meaning confuses me very often and I am eager to find out what it means while I read more of the book.


   The Giver is a book filled with interesting topics, characters and events. I can´t wait to finish the book and find out more about all of these very interesting and great characters. By reading this book I have learned many things about live I didn´t before which makes it always interesting to read more. In the last four chapters I read I discovered many new things about each person and the organization of this society. Nevertheless, with every chapter I read the more questions I had about release and its meaning. I am looking forward to learning what it is in the next chapters of the book. I am also very exited about what will Jonas assignment will be.

                                           Watch this video about the book The Giver.















                                                                                              

The Giver: Interviewing the Book

     I think that this book will be about a very strict community in which everything functions in a perfect and organized way. Also, my predictions are that Jonas will change the way things work on this community. This would happen because he could be able to know the truth about his world and change it.
   
When Lois Lowry states the following dedication "For all children to whom we entrust the future", she means that what happens to the world depends on future generations. In addition, with time passing the only people who can make a change are the younger ones. In order to chage the future and make it better, the older people have to teach the youngest ones, so they learn what they should do.

I think Jonas would learn many things about the strict and organized world he lives in. Also I think that during the development of the book many things will change, such as the organizantion and how strict his community is.