The Giver (The Giver, #1)

by Lois Lowry

But the aircraft a year ago had been different. It was not a squat, fat-bellied cargo plane but a needle-nosed single-pilot jet.

Thia tells the reader in very few words what the community planes were like and how this one was different.

leave your bicycles where they are.

World-building. The reader knows many residents ride bicycles.

had

The word "had" is used excessively when it could be omitted completely. Stylistic or distracting?

to be released from the community was a final decision, a terrible punishment, an overwhelming statement of failure.

Foreshadowing and world-building. What lies outside the community?

“That’s it, Asher! You’re released!”

Nice in-scene example to show the seriousness.

now

Lots of stylistic mixed-tense so far.

chanting of the morning anthem. When the class took their seats at the conclusion of the patriotic hymn,

Showing the reader this community is based in patriotism and compliance.

had

Twice in one sentence.

Release of the elderly, which was a time of celebration for a life well and fully lived; and release of a newchild, which always brought a sense of what-could-we-have-done.

I am still not completely sure what releasing is but starting to feel lik it is a final release.

Most of the people on the night crew had not even been given spouses because they lacked, somehow, the essential capacity to connect to others, which was required for the creation of a family unit.

The Receiver was the most important Elder. Jonas had never even seen him, that he knew of; someone in a position

“I hope I get assigned to be a Birthmother.” “Lily!” Mother spoke very sharply. “Don’t say that. There’s very little honor in that Assignment.”

“Three years,” Mother told her firmly. “Three births, and that’s all. After that they are Laborers for the rest of their adult lives, until the day that they enter the House of the Old.

He liked the feeling of safety here in this warm and quiet room; he liked the expression of trust on the woman’s face as she lay in the water unprotected, exposed, and free.

He just bowed to all of us and then walked, like they all do, through the special door in the Releasing Room.

“It’s just the pills. You’re ready for the pills, that’s all. That’s the treatment for Stirrings.”

Sometimes parents used them in irritation at a child’s misbehavior, indicating that mischief made one unworthy of a name. Jonas always chuckled when he heard a parent, exasperated, call sharply to a whining toddler, “That’s enough, Twenty-three!”

Cute and odd that it is like using a full name in real life.

The punishment used for small children was a regulated system of smacks with the discipline wand: a thin, flexible weapon that stung painfully when it was wielded.

“But the Receiver-in-training cannot be observed, cannot be modified. That is stated quite clearly in the rules. He is to be alone, apart, while he is prepared by the current Receiver for the job which is the most honored in our community.”

JONAS RECEIVER OF MEMORY Go immediately at the end of school hours each day to the Annex entrance behind the House of the Old and present yourself to the attendant. Go immediately to your dwelling at the conclusion of Training Hours each day. From this moment you are exempted from rules governing rudeness. You may ask any question of any citizen and you will receive answers. Do not discuss your training with any other member of the community, including parents and Elders.

From this moment you are prohibited from dream-telling. Except for illness or injury unrelated to your training, do not apply for any medication. You are not permitted to apply for release. You may lie.

The books in his own dwelling were the only books that Jonas had ever seen. He had never known that other books existed.

The classes were the same: language and communications; commerce and industry; science and technology; civil procedures and government.

We relinquished color when we relinquished sunshine and did away with differences.” He thought for a moment. “We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others.”

The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away.

“You know,” he said, finally, “if they lost you, with all the training you’ve had now, they’d have all those memories again themselves.”

Foreshadowing? This is definitely a way to make a change.

“Release is always like that? For people who break the rules three times? For the Old? Do they kill the Old, too?” “Yes, it’s true.”

I suspected but this still hit.

“Jonas, you and I are the only ones who have feelings. We’ve been sharing them now for almost a year.”

“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.”