EXPERIENCING LOVE

 


Jonas went every day to the Annex building, where he met the Giver. As soon as Jonas entered the room he saw the Giver in pain. Jonas offered help and he was ordered to remove his tunic and lie in the bed as usual. The Giver put his hands on his back and the memory started. He found himself in a destroyed landscape, there was a boy in the floor. The boy begged for water and Jonas gave him some. Shortly after the boy stopped moving and Jonas realized he had perished. Now Jonas finally understood what warfare really meant. Jonas is traumatized by this memory, he always thinks about it. Jonas kept going to the Annex building every day.

Memory of War

 Since he had received the memory of war, the Giver gave happy and joyful memories to Jonas. One day Jonas asked the Giver what of all the memories he enjoyed the most. As usual the Giver ordered him to remove his tunic and lie down. The memory came… Jonas was in a room filled with people. He observed a decorated tree in the corner of the room, something that he had never seen before. He noticed that they were old people living with adults and children. Jonas was really confused about this idea. In his community the old lived

Love and Family

apart from the community, they had a special care house. Jonas felt a strong feeling in the room. He felt many feeling he had never felt before. He identified the feeling of love and joy. Jonas woke up from the memory and thanked the Giver for it. He was delighted by this new concept of love. When Jonas got home he asked his parents if he was loved by them. His parents were furious at Jonas for his lack of his “precision of language.” They said it was a meaningless word. Jonas went to bed and while he was falling asleep he decided to feel love… he decided to stop taking his pill. The next day Jonas woke up only to realize that the day was declared an unscheduled holiday. Jonas was excited to have a day off so he went to find his friends. When Jonas found Asher and Fiona he noticed they were playing some kind of game. They were crouched to their knees. They aimed imaginary weapons to each other and made shooting noises: Psssssheeeewww! Jonas realized that this game resembled war. He pictured the boy that begged for water in the memory of warfare. He wanted his friends to stop the game, they had no idea what they were playing. He told Asher to stop playing this game but he wouldn’t listen. Asher said that he was the Assistant Recreation Director, and that Jonas had nothing to do with it. Jonas walked away thinking that they would never understand. That night as usual Jonas heard each family member talk about their day and their emotions. Jonas’s father announced that he would be going to bed early since he would have to release one of the twins in the nurturing center. The next day Jonas went to meet the Giver as usual. Jonas had wondered something he had been meaning to ask the Giver. He asked the Giver about the last receiver of memory and everyone described it as a “big failure.” The Giver tells Jonas that about ten years ago there was a girl whose name was Rosemary. Rosemary was chosen just like him, in the ceremony of December. Her training with the Giver started just like Jonas’s.

Rosemary asked for release?!

First the memories were happy and joyful. But when Rosemary received the memories of pain, she changed, as if she was traumatized. Rosemary applied for release and when she was gone, the memories went back to the people. It was chaos, the people of the community had the memories for a while until the Giver took back all the memories. Since then the receiver in training may not apply for release.

"Who were the old people? Why were they there?" It had puzzled Jonas, seeing them in the room.”

Jonas is confused because he has never seen old people living amongst the other citizens. In Jonas’s community the old are sent to “The House of the Old,” which is a place where old people live after they have retired. But why does the community does this? Why won’t the Elders allow the existence of family-union? Is it maybe because they are afraid that feelings like love might emerge in the society?

“It was a game he had often played with the other children, a game of good guys and bad guys, a harmless pastime that used up their contained energy and ended only when they all lay posed in freakish postures on the ground. He had never recognized it before as a game of war.”

Why would the kids of the community play his game if they didn’t even know what it is about? IF they don’t know what warfare is, how can they play a game about it? Jonas is the only one that knew the real meaning of this game that is why he asked Asher to stop playing that game.

Jonas has many things yet to discover. Jonas is probably going to do something to change how things are in the community. Jonas is already wondering how wonderful things would be in a world with love, colors and joy. He is determined to change things in the community. He wants people to feel and see things just like he does.