The Giver
by Lois Lowry
Table of Contents
Chapters 12 and 13
Summary: Chapters 12 and 13
Once he receives the memory, Jonas discovers that it is easy for him to follow the rules of his new Assignment. His family does not question him about his dreams, and his friends are too obsessed with their own Assignments to ask him much about his own.
Jonas bikes to the House of the Old with Fiona. She has been assigned to be the Caretaker of the Old. As they ride, Jonas sees Fiona’s hair change the way the apple did. Jonas asks The Giver if these changes mean that he has “seen beyond.” However, The Giver tells him that his experience was different; The Giver tells Jonas that he cannot understand this form of “seeing beyond” yet. The Giver instructs Jonas to remember the sled, and Jonas sees that the sled as having the same quality as the apple and Fiona’s hair. The sled does not change, but Jonas intuits that it has the same quality. The Giver informs Jonas that he is about to see the color red, which Jonas has never seen. The Giver tells him that at one time, everything in the world had color. The Giver explains to Jonas that the community got rid of color so that the community could have more control. Jonas expresses his dislike of this, and The Giver tells Jonas that he is becoming wise.
Jonas begins to learn about colors and is able to see them for brief moments in his everyday life. He concludes that the people in the community should be able to decide whether or not they see color. However, he then realizes the power of choice; he thinks about people making the wrong choices and how that would affect everyone around him. He has his friend Asher stare at a flower bed; Jonas has hope that his friend will see the colors, but he does not. The Giver gives Jonas a memory of an elephant mourning another elephant that poachers killed. Jonas attempts to transmit the memory to Lily. He wants her to understand that her stuffed toy was once a real animal that was powerful. Jonas is sad to see that the attempt has little to no effect on his little sister.
Jonas...
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