Pain, Love and other Benefits of Living

Time passed, everything was pretty much the same. Jonas was still the receiver of memories and he is still was receiving the memories given. But, Jonas changed, not like the apple or Fiona’s hair changed; he was just not same Jonas as before. He wanted things he couldn’t have. Color. Freedom. Animals. Family. Love. The only way to have these things was through the memories given. This was his get away, his personal world. Jonas liked his “world” so much because all of it pleasurable.  Even though the memories were amazing, there was still a missing piece to the puzzle. PAIN. Soon, in his landscape, there were physical painful flashbacks like: a broken leg, or a three-degree burn. On the other hand, there were memories that hurt seeing like: world hunger and war. Jonas was impressed of these memories, but he knew it was the right thing to receive them. Also, he was doing the Giver a favor, minor the physical and psycological pain he was experincing.

Jonas liked Fiona; there was no doubt about it. He wanted to experience love and the stirrings again. They felt good for him, for anyone, really. He wanted love, but not through the memories, not in the Annex room. In real life, by looking at Fiona perhaps. This is why, “The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take the pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away.” Pg. 129 Jonas broke a rule, a rule very demanding and strict. He did not care, not even a bit. People in his community control every individual’s lives and their likes as well. He wanted freedom, love. I believe Jonas is doing took the right decision. Everyone deserves love, love makes you feel good. Why take this away from people? Why not letting humans fall in love? This makes no sense. There is not really a deffinition of love. But, when I think of love, I think of Jack and Rose, of William and Kate, of Hazel and Agustus, of Bella and Edward, of Tris and Tobias. I think about Jonas and Fiona. 

Jack and Rose

William and Kate

Jonas and Fiona

Jonas’ life is very stressful right now, but he has accesses to information only a few human begins have. He can take advantage of this information and abuse of his wisdom. But, he can also have a huge impact on his community, change everything, and destroy this odd way of government. Find the real meaning of life and the purpose of it.

The Giver Chapters 9-12

dif-fer-ent :

1.       Not the same as another or each other; unlike in nature, form, or quality.

2.       Distinct; separate.

Different. This is how Jonas feels. Jonas thinks he is not normal, or that doesn’t fit on this community.  He has a huge responsibility, being the new Receiver of Memories. This brand new Twelve has all the weight of the world on his shoulders and his first day of training is approaching. Every Twelve gets set of rules to their now job, Jonas is not the exception, but his sets of rules are… short and unclear. On his first day of training Jonas found something new for him, books. Books are not important at all on his community but they certainly are now. His instructor is old, very old, and goes by the name THE GIVER. The giver is transmitting all of his memories to Jonas, just by using his bare hand. So far, Jonas has experienced: snow, sunlight, sunburn and the color red. Colors are new for Jonas; he lives in a community black and white. 

Click Here to watch a video about Black and White vs. Color 

A topic that I never found the importance of is Pain vs. Pleasure. On this book I am learning the true meaning and how grateful we are to have both on our lives. 

“Sir, he said, “The Chief Elder told me—she told everyone—and you told me, too, that it would be painful. (…) But it didn’t hurt at all. I really enjoyed it.” (…) The man sighed. “I started you with memories of pleasure. (…) It will be painful. But it need not to be painful yet.” Pg. (85)

This got me wondering... Do we take pleasure for granted? Or maybe we don’t take it for granted, but we don’t enjoy it well enough? It is obvious, to find pleasure, there needs to be pain. For example, a sunburn. We enjoy taking some sunlight, maybe getting a tan, but we don’t think of the next few days. PAIN. Sunburn. We are all red and it hurts really badly.  Again, to find pleasure there needs to be pain.

 

It is well expressed on this picture. There is a balance between these two. We cannot live without pain or pleasure. They need to be as close as possible to being equal.

The Giver Chapters 5-8

Dreams. We all have them, some more often than others, but we all have them. Jonas rarely dreamed, but this one night he dreamed about his friend, Fionna. He liked her; there was no doubt about it. In fact, it went so war he had stirrings. When he told his mother, she gave him a pill that stopped the stirrings. In his community it was not permitted to like someone.  If the whole stirrings thing wasn´t enough the ceremony of Twelve was approaching. It was time Jonas will be assigned a job. This ceremony was a big one, it lasted two days. When Jonas and his family arrived at the auditorium, Lily was more than excited, Jonas was not so much. His father was with the newborn about to be given to the new families. Gabe wasn’t there. He will be in the Nurture Center for one more year. The ceremony went by, the Ones, the Twos, the Threes and so on. On the ceremony of Eight Lily became one. Time passed and Jonas was about to get his job assigned. When his turn came, the Chief Elder skipped Jonas´s job. Something was happening. After the ceremony ended, the Chief Elder explains that Jonas was selected to be the next Receiver of Memory. 

This book has a lot of secrets hidden. I found one extremely interesting.  “(…) When he had taken his seat again, the Chief Elder looked down at him and said the words that she had had said four times, and would say to each new Twelve. Somehow she gave it special meaning for each of them. “Asher,” she said, “Thank you for your childhood.” (pg. 56) What the author is trying to tell us is that, on this community, the Committee records every single kid`s childhood and its memories. And what it is trying to say implicitly is that, every child should live their childhood to the very best because it’s a wonderful time. Live every moment to your best. In the case of the book, you stop being a kid at age twelve, but, thankfully, we don’t live in the terrible dystopia. On The Giver your childhood is completly ruined because they just not let you enjoy it with all the rules and all the order. I decided to keep enjoying my childhood a little bit more.

The last few chapters of The Giver have been incredible. They are both interesting and nerve breaking. I just want to know what happens next! I have no idea what will Jonas do with this HUGE responsibility he has now. Being the next Receiver of Memory is just a big deal. Now, while reading this book I feel apprehensive.