Independent+Novel+Study


 * __ Why did you select this novel? __**
 * __ What's going on as the story begins? __**
 * __ Who is telling the story? How does this person’s perspective effect the way the story is told? __**


 * __ Jason Poon __**
 * __ The Giver by Lois Lowry __**
 * __ December 3, 2010 __**
 * __ Pages 1-25 __**
 * __ (Chapters 1-4) __**

The novel "The Giver" by Lois Lowry has been an interesting book from what I have read. I have chosen this book because I was reading the short summary from the back of the book and it intrigued me. The reason it seemed so interesting to me was because the first couple of sentences were very peculiar and was different from other book' summaries. It said, "Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community." After reading this, I was confused as how they summarized the story. I kept asking myself, "If the world is perfect and everything is under control, how can there be a conflict in this story?" This seemed to make me want to read further into the details of the book.

As the story begins, Jonas is nearing a very important event, the turning of "Twelve," which was the "age" and meant that he was nearing the "adult-like" life. To me, this was very odd since he is only twelve, he should still be in his youthful part of life, but I quickly discovered that all the characters seem to be very mature in the book as his sister Lily, who is only "Seven," is also quite mature. Once the family was gathering for dinner, I fount out that every family is only and will always have four family members. Before starting dinner, each of them would have to tell how they were feeling since dinner. Jonas described himself as "apprehensive" since he was nearing the age of Twelve." I found out that their age is always in quotations marks and capitalized since it wasn't exactly their age as more of a label or marker to how close they are to the ceremony of turning "Twelve," which is held every December, all the other ages were also ordered to go to the ceremony since they were also turning a "year" older.

The one telling the story is the narrator, which is being told by the third-person perspective of Jonas. By Jonas's perspective, it causes an effect on the way the story is told since he is a semi-omniscient narrator, which means he knows some information that the other do not know until later. As the narrator states, "It was different only in the addition to it of the newchild with his pale, solemn, knowing eyes." Since this child is a newborn, no one can tell that his perspective was different from everyone else's. This type of narration causes a great effect on how the story is told as the narrator uses foreshadowing, which is a great element to use in this kind of book since it shows there will soon be a conflict but not exactly telling you what it is, which makes you want to read into greater depths of the book. 10/10


 * __ What information did you need to know before reading the novel? __**
 * __ What is the setting of the novel? Is the setting important or could the novel be happening anywhere? Why? __**
 * __ What is the initial or first problem faced by the main character? __**


 * __ Jason Poon __**
 * __ The Giver by Lois Lowry __**
 * __ December 10, 2010 __**
 * __ Pages 26-58 __**
 * __ (Chapters 4-8) __**

Before the novel began, I did not know any information before reading the novel. However, from the brief summary from the back of the book and the slightly more detailed summary from the Shelfari website, I learned a small amount of information of the book. From the two summaries, they seemed to intrigue me as it was quite odd and different from previous books I have read. Some information I learned was that everything was in order, and everyone was assigned a role in the community. But once I started the book, it seemed exactly like the back of the book, there just wasn't any type of conflict. As I progressed, I found that mini-crisis's were starting to form.

The setting of the novel is a little mysterious. The narrator has not yet describe the setting of the story as I do not think that it is a crucial element in the book. I think that the setting cannot exactly be "anywhere," but I think that the setting is not very important and it could have been in a couple more of select places. Although I have not been informed of a descriptive setting, the environment of the town he is in very peculiar. There does not seem to be what we would call "modern-day" entertainment; there are no shopping centers, parks, or even convenience stores. What also interests me is this one odd quote that a character named Asher said to the protagonist, Jonas. Asher said, " 'I heard about a guy who was absolutely certain he was going to assigned Engineer,' Asher muttered as they ate, 'and instead they gave him Sanitation Laborer. He went out the next day, jumped into a river, swam across, and joined the next community he came to.' " This small fable that Asher said really confused me and many different questions came to my mind. "What do they mean joined the next community?" This question really stumped me as I thought that the most important thing in the community was order, and if he ran away, wouldn't that cause disorder? Another thing that stumped me was why the guy was not given the job that he rightfully deserved since it seemed like he was working hard all those years for that one assignment.

The initial problem faced by the main character, Jonas, came at the end of the chapter of the section I was stopping at. The conflict seems like quite an important one, the conflict was that everyone in the community was attending the ceremony, which was like an aging process. For Jonas, it was the most important one since it was the age of when he would enter his "adulthood." It was the Ceremony of Twelves, it had finally come and everyone was to line up in their birth order, and Jonas's birth order was number Nineteen. But once number Eighteen was finished, they had skipped him and went straight to number Twenty. The reaction to everyone attending was shock, and to Jonas it was embarrassment. From the past, no one had ever been skipped and this Ceremony was the most crucial of all, to Jonas it seemed to mean that he had failed his family of what he thought was not passing the requirements of turning Twelve. But to me, this was a sense of foreshadowing as the last sentence really seemed to make the reader think about what is next in the story. It said, "Jonas bowed his head and searched through his mind. //What had he done wrong?//" From what I have read, I think that this is a hint of foreshadowing as Jonas has not done anything wrong. I think that later on in the story, Jonas will either face many problems and need to overcome them, or be taken to the past where the reader will see what he has done.

10/10


 * __ What has happened before the novel began? __**
 * __ How does the author get you to read on or hold your interest? __**
 * __ What new things are added to the original problem as the novel progresses? __**
 * __ What plot twists or unexpected events happen as the novel goes on? __**
 * __ Comment on the style of the novel. Is it easy or hard to follow the events? __**
 * __ Is there a message or main theme emerging in the book? How is it shown? __**
 * __ Describe any new characters that are introduced? What is their purpose? __**


 * __ Jason Poon __**
 * __ The Giver by Lois Lowry __**
 * __ December 30, 2010 __**
 * __ Pages 59-120 __**
 * __ (Chapters 8-16) __**

In the novel, I can tell that not many crucial events have happened before the novel began, since it clearly states in the back of the book that, "Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control." Even in the content of the book, it introduces all the characters and almost nothing important occurs. It does not exactly explain what has happened before the novel, my hypothesis is that nothing crucial has happened except for small events such as the Ceremonies celebrating everyone's new upcoming "age."

The author has one main strategy in getting you to read on and hold your interest in the novel. Lois Lowry's (author's) strategy is starting with no problems in the beginning but then starting with a main conflict and then adding on mini-conflicts to the original problems. An example is that the main conflict is that Jonas has been chosen to be the "Receiver of Memory," which is the most important job in the community and he must face many hardships along the way. Some mini-conflicts adding on to them are the rules he has been given to regarding his job. The two most difficult rules that he must abide by are that he must not tell anyone about his work and what he has experienced and that he is not allowed to ask to be released from the community, which he found later was the hardest of the rules since the memories he has been given are the most painful things he has ever experienced.

Some new conflicts that are added on to the original problem as seen above are that he must abide by eight important rules that he must follow. There are two rules that he must follow that add more problems to the main conflict of the story. One is that he cannot discuss his work with anyone, which is extremely difficult as he must bear all the pain on his own. The second is that he cannot leave the community as they discovered that from the previous Receiver of Memories that she had left as she could not take the pain of the memories as Jonas would do unless he had been given that rule to follow. These are problems that add to the main conflict as he must endure more than just being the Receiver of Memory which he knew would be a very difficult thing to overcome but he must abide by eight crucial rules that he cannot break.

Some new plot twists or unexpected event that occur throughout the story are that he has discovered new feelings for a female friend named Fiona, which was then contained by medicine that he must take, which he later on stopped taking as throughout his new job he learned that he wants to have those feelings back. Another plot twist is that throughout his new job, he discovered that everyone, even his best friend Asher, were behaving different towards him. He found out as when he first talked to Asher after the Ceremony, he found that things between them were extremely awkward and he also saw around him that the atmosphere was quite different. Even though there are several plot twists and unexpected events, he must persevere and continue his job as Receiver of Memories.

The style of the novel is quite peculiar and different from other novels I have read. To me, the novel’s events are not that hard to follow as the events are evenly spread out and will be focused on throughout that section, although there are parts where they will look back at previous events such as the harsh memories that Jonas has been given and then will be reminded of them in the events that have later occurred from that memory. Overall, the novel’s events are not very hard to follow but will still have some events that you will have to look back to for the reader to get the new event.

To me, there is one main message and theme that is emerging in the book. It is that no one should be controlled in this kind of way by anyone else as to me it seems very wrong to control the whole community by controlling things such as their feelings by forcing them to take medicine. I also feel it is wrong that they also forced the people to not have the ability to see colors or hear music. The last thing that should not be controlled is the way how almost everyone is alike and that no one is especially different, as everyone in our world is vastly different while they are almost exactly the same as they are kept everyone in order. Although they are being controlled at this moment, Jonas has experienced everything that is being kept from by everyone else except the Giver and himself. By the end of the section I have read, Jonas and the Giver have created a plan for everyone to have all of these thoughts and memories, even though there are some painful memories that they will receive once Jonas has escaped from the community. Once he escapes, I am not sure how it will trigger the whole effect of everyone receiving all the memories from Jonas. Basically, they are showing that the community is being controlled in several ways that should not be kept from everyone, and that Jonas is trying to free them as he has experienced all these kinds of pleasant experiences.

There is one crucial character that is introduced from the section I have read. This one character is the Giver. The Giver is one of the most important characters in the novel as he is the person who is going to aid Jonas through his job; he must support Jonas through all the hard times as he was the previous Receiver of Memory. Since he was the last Receiver of Memory, he must give all of the memories to Jonas as he is becoming too old, and if he is to die unexpectedly, all of the memories will return to all the citizens in the community which will create utter chaos. The whole purpose of the Giver is to aid Jonas in coping with all these harsh memories that he himself must give to Jonas.

10/10 Great Work Jason!


 * __ Is the language in the novel difficult or easy? GIve examples and explain. __**
 * __ To what age group is the novel aimed? Support your answer with evidence. __**
 * __ Is the novel believable? __**
 * __ How are the major and minor conflicts solved? __**


 * __ Jason Poon __**
 * __ The Giver by Lois Lowry __**
 * __ January 7, 2011 __**
 * __ Pages 121-145 __**
 * __ (Chapters 16-19) __**

In the novel, the language is not very difficult but there are some concepts that are a little difficult to grasp. Some examples are that Jonas has "the ability to see beyond," which in our case, is later known as seeing colors. There is also "the ability to hear beyond," which means listening to music. There are a few words that have been wisely chosen by the author which I think is a great asset to this book, but also hard to understand as the first definition of the word was incorrect. Since this book is different from others since everything is in order and there is no conflict, the community has rules so that no one is allowed to joke about people dying or being killed, but they have a different word for death; they call it release. As Jonas finds out at the end of the section I am reading, being released was not exactly a pleasant thing as Jonas thought it would. He thought it was peaceful and a merry ceremony. But once he saw the video of his father releasing a newchild, who was a twin of another and there cannot be two of the same, he was simply injected with what I think was a deadly toxin, Jonas went into a sort of rage. Overall, the language of the novel is not difficult to understand but has some concepts that are hard to grasp like "the ability to see beyond," and a couple of words that are not as easily understood until further into the book like "release," since it is a false explanation when it is first introduced.

The age group of the novel is most likely aimed towards around thirteen years and above, as I do not think that the majority of twelve year olds can easily grasp the concept of the entire plot of Jonas experiencing everything through his dreams, as well as some that are quite graphic and what they would think is very cruel, but it was all told in that way for a reason. The reason is that the community does not want to experience those events ever again so they pick one person from the whole community, which was Jonas, to be the new Receiver of Memory, which basically means he must receive all of the memories, pleasant or horrid, to advise the community what not to do so that those events will never occur.

To me, this novel has been very believable thus far as the explanations and reasons why the events have occurred are very logical, and they make the reader think of what he or she would do in Jonas's situation, and Lois Lowry has made it so that the majority of people would do exactly what Jonas has done. The setting is also very believable as they have made it so that there are no conflicts or chaos so that the community would be safe from any harm. Which to many readers is a very logical decision as no one wants to experience events such as war and loneliness. Overall, the novel has been one of the more believable novels I have read thus far.

Since I have not reached the end of the book, I have not found out how the major conflict is resolved, which is Jonas fighting to bring "life" back to the community, as he has experienced all the things that everyone is missing out on, although he also knows that there are risks to this, but his will has overpowered his fear and is willing to risk it to show the community things like love and the beauty of colors. One of the minor conflicts that have been solved is that Jonas was curious of the Ceremony of Release, so he got to see the video where the twin was chosen to be released as the other twin was heavier than he was, which instantly decided that the heavier one would live and the other would die. In the end of the section, the twin was finally "released" from the community by being injected with a deadly toxin which instantly killed him.


 * __ What is the climax of the novel? __**
 * __ What were the major things that helped to resolve the plot? __**
 * __ What message did you get from the novel? How was this message conveyed? __**
 * __ Why would you (or why wouldn't you) recommend this novel to a friend? __**
 * __ Why did (or didn't) the novel meet your expectations? __**


 * __ Jason Poon __**
 * __ The Giver by Lois Lowry __**
 * __ January 11, 2011 __**
 * __ Page 146-178 __**
 * __ (Chapters 19-End of Novel) __**

__ ﻿ __﻿The climax of the book is very close to the end of the novel. It is when Jonas's journey finally ends by reaching his final destination, which is a place called Elsewhere. Once he climbs the final hill and can see a glimpse of red, blue and yellow lights, he knew that he had reached Elsewhere. From here, my hypothesis is that the new generation of a community will begin now, as Gabriel the start of it. After this event, no new events are introduced and the book is pretty much being wrapped up in the short conclusion after this last event.

The major things that helped to resolve the plot is the plan that Jonas and the Giver had created to change the entire community as they had both been awakened by these memories that had changed them. They thought that it was unfair for only one person that is singled out from the whole community to be the only one to shoulder this burden, but also the wonderful feelings that came with all of the memories. Another major thing that helped to resolve the plot was Jonas escaping with Gabriel as Jonas knew that the new generation would begin with him if they reached Elsewhere. Overall, the two major things that helped resolve the plot is the plan that Jonas and the Giver had created, as well as Jonas actually escaping from the community to start a new generation with Gabriel.

The message I got from the novel is that there is no perfect world as there will always be a conflict, no matter what drastic change you make to the world. An example is that they control everything and create rules that stop things from potentially getting dangerous, such as war. Even if there is no fear or pain, that also means that there is no genuine happiness in the world as no one has a right to anything they do, and are restricted from things that could create happiness throughout the community, such as colours and music. Basically, the message in the novel was that there is no perfect world even if you try to change everything that could potentially damage the community, as there would be no happiness in life. The message was conveyed by starting the novel showing how the community's everyday lives seemed to be perfect, until one character had discovered that everyone's lives were far from it, as he had learned from the memories what true joy and happiness were.

I would recommend this book to a friend as it's message and plot are both quite good, as well as the style of the book, which I think suits a vast majority of people. There are lots of things that you learn in this book, such as how it is nearly impossible to follow every single rule, in the novel and in real life. Another reason I would recommend it is how different the style of the novel is. There are no conflicts for quite a while in the novel, as well as no antagonist or setting. The only thing we know is who the protagonist is, which makes this book seems like a mystery novel, which I think it is. In the end, I would most likely recommend this book to a friend as you find many messages hidden throughout the book, but it also has a good plot and the style is quite different from other books I have read.

This novel met my expectations as it was quite interesting since the plot is pretty good, but not only that, the style of the novel is very peculiar. There are also many messages that teach you about real life situations, such as breaking the rules and change in the world. Another thing I liked about this book is that it is kind of a mystery and science fiction novel. It is very mysterious since you barely know anything about the book until you read halfway through the novel, where crucial information is slowly being revealed. Even though it is a science fiction novel, there are many events that make the novel seem very realistic, such as the character's personalities. An example is the protagonist Jonas. His personality is very much like many people's in reality, he makes many choices that seem very logical and I think that I would also do. Overall, I think that this was an excellent book since the style was peculiar and had a great plot. In the end, the novel "The Giver" by Lois Lowry exceeds meets my expectations.

★★★★ ✰
 * __ My rating of The Giver by Lois Lowry: __**
 * __ 4.5/5 __**


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