The Giver
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what is the finishing if ...
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Interesting question. I guess it depends on whether you think the boy actually gets away or not. My initial response is that he does, that he and the baby survive and are taken in by the family inside the house he sees. If that's the case, maybe he goes back to help everyone else deal with the changes he initiated.But after talking to a friend and thinking a little deeper, I don't think he makes it. So the sequel would be about the town and how it deals with the changes. I'd probably start it several years afterward, with some people having made the adjustment well and others wanting to go back to how it was before.
I agree with Sarah. I think in Gathering Blue, it is easy to infere what happens to Jonas. One can assume the characters described are Jonas and Gabe.
As a teacher, I have read this book twice to different 6th grade classes. Each class (and I am sure each student) had a different understanding of the ending. The first class I read it to was sure that Jonas had died, and were mad that we had wasted time reading a book that ended that way. The second class I read it to were a little more open, and it helped that I had read Gathering Blue and the Messenger and had a better idea of the ending myself. They were still mad that the book didn't wrap itself up more in the end, but at 12 I guess not many books end that way.
The ending mirrors the ambiguity of choice. Did he die? Did he live? He was made free, and he made a choice... was it the right one? Did it lead to happiness for him? Did it lead to happiness for the community who will now have his memories? Will they destroy themselves, or will the Giver be able to help them find true purpose and happiness in life? We don't know, because that is the way of all choices, we can't always know the outcomes of our decisions, and therein lies the danger, but the risk is worth the rewards.The sequel may answer some of these questions, but they aren't answered in this book for a reason.
Yes, the sequel definitely answers the question, which is one of the reasons it made me so grumpy. I loved the ambiguity of the ending as a teacher (although as a reader it frustrated me).
Bet they give it a happy ending.
I know, I can't wait to see Howard B. Wigglebotom Learns to Listen on the big screen - it's gonna be f*%#ing awesome!!!
if im the person who should write the ending i will change the story and i'll made another world in parallel of Jonas world that everything is like as our world and i'll show the differences after that i'll draw a good die for jonas from mental or physical disease. its the real that everyone change his world the life should be changed and no chance for who cant make themeselves like they enviroment is reduced
I believe that the boy (Jonas) does not live at the end. I don't believe that there actually was a sled just left there on top of the hill, and a house supposedly at the bottom. I'm not saying this to assume the worst, I'm just giving my opinion. I would like to hear more opinions about the ending, and some opinions on mine.
Lois Lowry has stated repeatedly in interviews that they do live, and did really make it to a safe place. Here's one such interview: http://tinyurl.com/2r73nj
Of course she has answered the question in interviews... she also answered it directly in the sequel... the point is, it is unanswered IN THIS BOOK to create ambiguity which is part of the point of the story and of the nature of choice.
I've read this book to 8th graders and 9th graders and I have never had any student question whether they lived or not. Of course, I teach resource so they really take things at face value. I have to say that I have always thought of them living happily ever after whether it was printed on the pages or not. I have not had a chance to read Gathering Blue or the Messenger, but I definitely want to!*Fixed that Typo!* ;)
I like that your typo caused you to say "i have never had students question whether they LOVED or not" -that's a question our 5th graders would have eaten up throughout the book!
That is her opinion. It does sound like an optimistic ending though.
What's the sequel again?
Not really a sequel, but Gathering Blue and The Messenger and similar novels with allusions to Jonas and the community.
I read Gathering Blue and did not enjoy it as much as The Giver. I don't remember encountering Jonas in GB. Which character in GB is supposed to be Jonas?
We read this book for a grownup bookclub, if you can believe it. I thought the boys died at the end, thereby releasing all of the memories that the giver had guarded over the years into the community ending their time of being sheltered from negativity and intense emotions.
In response to Helen- At the end of Gathering Blue, when Matt is about to leave with Kira's father to go back to Village he mentions how he knows no one wants to marry her because of her handicap, but that if she wanted to get married he had met a handsome boy around her age back in Village. Matt describes the boy as having striking blue eyes (he may have said light eyes, I don't have my book with me to quote from but I just finished rereading it a couple weeks ago). Anyway, this is the only mention of a character who could be Jonas and he isn't really a character as much as a mention of a character that will come into play in Messenger. Also, in Messenger there are other clues given that suggest this boy can be interpretted as Jonas, if you like, and for me, knowing the details of Jonas' character from The Giver, it would be hard to not interpret it as Jonas. But that's just my opinion. (I won't give these clues away in case you haven't read Messenger yet.) That's the only mention I can remember of a character who could be Jonas, if anyone else remembers another instance, please add on!
Thanks, Katy, for your answer. I don't specifically recall the part you mention (it's been several yrs since I read GB), but I will take your word for it (I don't want to re-read GB). But I'm definitely putting Messenger on my list of books to read. And, as I read it, I will keep my eyes peeled for Jonas sightings:)
i had read an interview w/ lois lowry (can't remember where however) that said she left the ending of the giver (regardless of the sequels) open on purpose, so that the reader could develop their own opinion, and reinforce the 'choice' aspect that is a main issue throughout the whole book.
I agree with you Maxwell. I believe that Jonas dies. I did not see enough evidence in the book to indicate anything else- a reversal in time, an alternate universe, etc. There was a bleakness and a fatalistic aspect to the book that implies that we cannot escape the constraints of society- hence Jonas' furious escape attempt only to find himself back where he started. Although The Giver is an extreme example of society, we do have a tendency to expect people to conform to our established norms. People who are different may not be "released," but they sometimes are treated so poorly that they want to escape!
Gathering Blue is the oposite of The giver because instead of a comunity that has progressed it's about a savage comunity. i haven't read The Messenge.
There IS a sequel and a triquel. When you first read Gathering Blue, you don't know how it has anything to do with the Giver. But Messenger connects all three together, and you understand how Gathering Blue has to do with the Giver, and what happened to Jonas and Gabe. Before I read the two following books, however, I didn't think that Jonas had died.. I thought he had gone somewhere that has feelings and pain, seperated from his old world.
i've read all three books, and i know what happened to Jonas, but ppl say something happened to Gabe? what?
in the Messenger, they talk about a strange boy with light blue/gray eyes who is quiet and different. they don't actually say it's Gabe, but from all the evidence it makes sense.
we had to read this book in school a few years ago. and someone in my class had an interesting concept about the ending, that Jonas had made it back home at the end, and everything had changed...I don't know if could be true, since i haven't read the other books in the trilogy, but i thought it was an interesting idea.
Messendger ties all three together. Read them in this order: The Giver,Gathering Blue,then Messendger.
Brigid,That is exactly how I thought of it when I finished The Giver.
Sella,
I just finished Messenger and I don't remember them mentioning anything about "a strange boy with light blue/gray eyes." Of course you learn a lot more about Jonas but I never remember reading anything about Gabe and I was purposely looking for it. They talk of Jonas's blue eyes in the book a lot???
It has been a while since I read the Giver, so I maybe get some facts wrong, but I thought the ending was 'Okay'. I really wanted to know what happened to Jonas, but Lois Lowry never really told you. I couldn't believe that Gathering Blue was the (sort of) 2nd book! I know some book sequels don't have anything to do with the first book, but this one seemed to be in a different world! Jonas lived in a cultivated town. There was a school and houses and everything, but in Gathering Blue, I got the impression that they were all living in huts. Gathering Blue and the Giver didn't seem like they were even in the same century. I thought at first that maybe Gathering Blue was about what happened before the Giver, but then in the Messanger, I got the impression that the man in it who came for Matty when he was in the forest, was Jonas, as an adult. So I don't know... they were very strange books, but I liked them in an odd way. I didn't like many parts because I didn't understand them, but the Giver also made me want to read the other 2 books....
I think it doesn't really matter if they live or die. The point is they have found love, happiness, and everything else they have been searching for. Their journey is successful, and each reader can decide what that means.
i think that The Giver was a great book, but i do wish the author made a sequal(sorry 4 the spelling)
that cleared things up a bit, or they could have elaborated on the ending at least. leaving cliff-hangers makes me comfuzzled.
that cleared things up a bit, or they could have elaborated on the ending at least. leaving cliff-hangers makes me comfuzzled.
Hey guys if you want you can join my book club. It is called YA book club for teens ages 11-16. If you are between the ages 11 and 16 you can join!Thanks!
-Breanna
if i were to rewrite the ending i would make it so that the world that jonah was living in was kind of a parrallal universe to our and when the went down the hill on the sled they landed in our world
Fatema wrote: "if i were to rewrite the ending i would make it so that the world that jonah was living in was kind of a parrallal universe to our and when the went down the hill on the sled they landed in our world"Isn't that what happened?
The ending that I had to write for school is that they are going down the hill and then they hit a rock and then they fly up and they hit a bird and then they grow wings and fly back to their town and then they take his friends and then he flys backs and they have their first christmas together and then their town takes over and then they fly back and it's just so long, but I think that they wouldn't have that ending, it's not all my fault it's so werid.
great book i read it for school
nima wrote: "every one who read this book know the efficiency of this book and know how the story finished but i wanna know whats ur understanding about the finishing and if you wanna write a second book and wr..."
I'd probably start ten years into the future!
I'd probably start ten years into the future!
Sara wrote: "The ending that I had to write for school is that they are going down the hill and then they hit a rock and then they fly up and they hit a bird and then they grow wings and fly back to their town ..."
Its funny not so wierd.
Its funny not so wierd.
There IS a second one it is called Gathering Blue: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...Also there is Messenger: https://www.goodreads.com/series/4360...
And Son which I am currently reading (but will soon finish) :https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
But my ending is:
Jonas picked up Gabe once more. "Almost there." He whispered once again, walking toward the music. A few moments later, Jonas and Gabe entered the town. A little boy saw Jonas and hurried off, looking worried. Jonas and Gabe were soon joined by the whole community, questioning their presence. "I am Jonas and this is Gabe. We came from another community." Jonas told them. The music had long stopped. "Hello. Welcome." One man in the front welcomed. A woman came hobbling forward on a stick to help assist with her crippled leg. "I'm Kira. Welcome." She told Jonas.
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