CHAPTER 21 22

CHAPTER 21 & 22

1)      Jonas’s early departure was prompted by several things, some of which I will explain here:

-Jonas leaved early because of Gabriel. Over the course of the book, Jonas has clearly grown attached to the newchild, and feels that the loss of him would be a heavy toll on himself. The main problem is that he has already transferred so many memories to Gabriel that losing him would be like losing part of himself, because the memories really used to be part of him.  Also, he has developed such a real connection involving real memories with the newchild that he feels more like a real family. “Even I voted for Gabriel's release when we had the meeting this afternoon” when Jonas hears that Gabriel is going to be released the following day, he knows that he has to go that day because if he went the next day, then Gabriel would die, and he wouldn’t feel satisfied for the rest of his life knowing that he could have saved Gabriel. Also, Jonas shows how much he feels towards Gabriel when he chooses to ride the larger bike just because it has a child seat even though he could have just put Gabriel into some sort of bag and carried him on his back.

-Another reason he left might have been because it would be more strategic. Because memories are forever and if Gabriel dies at the community, then he will release the memories that he has earlier than he would if Jonas took him with him on the trip. By taking Gabriel with him, Jonas allows both of their memories to be released at the same time, which allows the community to get all the good memories and all the bad memories all at the same time, because they would fade away at the same time. This could be a good technique because then the community would receive the memories at the same time, and not be shocked because the good memories came first, then the bad memories came.

2.     Jonas has come to realize that his community did not provide the things in his memories. In his memories, he has visions of beautiful things, and can’t seem to understand why he doesn’t have them in the life he is living in at the community.

I think this must feel like being trapped in a box to Jonas. Because he can’t seem to see the things he sees in his memories in the community, he feels that he is missing a part of life that he doesn’t have. Because he has so much memories of it, it’s as if he can recreate the entire village in his mind and superimpose it over the image of the real community. By doing that, Jonas’s mind has found out all the differences between the memory community and the real community. It’s like a spot the difference in the 2 pictures game, and Jonas is just doing this with his memories. By seeing such minute faults, he can piece it together and see how different a technically utopian society is compared to a really utopian society, which are the memories.

Because Jonas can see the perfect community with its faults, but also its advantages, he knows that the community he is in now is nothing compared to the ones in his memories, and he becomes frustrated that he cannot change this fate. He must be very angry that he can make no difference and make his and his friends life’s better, but he knows that they will ‘freak’ when they get memories, and there is almost no way to do it slowly, so he has no choice. By leaving the community, Jonas is taking a huge risk by literally dumping all the memories onto the community and hoping for the best. Of course there is the Giver there to help them, but other than that, there’s not much hope for Jonas.

To Jonas, these things provide a source of happiness, pride, and friendship. Through memories, he can enjoy real feelings and have real happiness, and by sharing memories, he can make friends.