Destroying What is Killing us

Four weeks. Four weeks since Jonas stopped taking the pill. The stirrings returned, but just for Fionna, of course. There are unscheduled holidays and just before the Ceremony of December there was one. Everyone was happy and relieved to not have to work, or go to school. Jonas decided to spend the day with his friends. He found them on the park playing a war game with little kids. All of it was fun and laughter until Jonas remembered. He has the memory of war and all stunned of a sudden the game was not fun anymore and he decided to stop playing and left. That evening, during the night ritual, Jonas hides his feelings while father talks about a release ceremony he was performing the next morning. Twins, one of them, the thinner one, had to be released. Jonas started to question the idea of “release” and even asked the Giver about it. He was pretty much indifferent about it and instead, started to talk about the previous Receiver of Memories and her story. Rosemary, that was her. Rosemary could not handle the pain and applied for release. She was gone, and all the memories returned to the people. Everything was chaos. That very night Jonas was more curious of the release thing and saw his very own father perform a ceremony of release to one of the twins. In other words, Jonas saw his father kill a baby. That was the turning point in Jonas’ life. He and the Giver decided to make a plan. One way or another, all the memories will return to the people. 

To be honest, Jonas has to do a similar thing. 

Jonas’ father basically killed a new born baby; Jonas was in shock by just seeing a murder scene. And to add to his panic attack, his very own father was the murderer. Of course, his father probably had no idea what he was doing, but still, he killed an innocent life! “He killed it! My father killed it! Jonas said to himself, stunned at what he was realizing. He continued to stare at the screen numbly.” Pg. 150 I think Jonas was not prepared to see his dad take a life away. Yes, he had some memories of crime scenes, but apparently it was not enough. Jonas reacted terribly; he was confused, overwhelmed and even scared. Scared of his own father! Jonas lived in this community for so long, he is not used to violence at all. Seeing this changed him, forever. Murder scenes change people, and it is demonstrated in each and every episode of CSI. 

 

The only thing certain in this community is that everything is uncertain. Everything could be a lie or a joke. A disaster. The only choice left for Jonas and even the Giver is to try to safe these soon-to-be confused people. Save the memories, and for once in forever destroy the Sameness.  

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.