Who Is The Receiver Of Memory In The Giver

In The Giver by Lois Lowry, Jonas was not called at the ceremony of 12. Instead he was called last and announced as the new receiver of memory. There are not many receivers of memory because not many people have most of the attributes like Jonas does. The chief elder said that there would be many challenges and there would be pain. In Jonas’s community nobody feels pain, this means that Jonas will take all the bad memories for everybody in the community. Jonas wonders if his selection as receiver of memory an honor or a punishment. People in the community say that Jonas’s selection of receiver of memory is an honor because not many people before Jonas had the opportunity to have this assignment. The last selection of receiver of memory was a girl named Rosemary. Rosemary did not last from all the pain being the receiver of memory causes. This is one of the reasons that receiver of memory could have been a punishment. Jonas as the receiver of memory was very painful and Jonas saw things that nobody should ever see. For example, The Giver gave Jonas the memory of war. Jonas saw blood and gunfire. He also saw somebody in war die right in front of him. This is how Jonas’s assignment could be considered a punishment because nobody else in the community had to see such terrible thoughts and feelings. Jonas’s assignment …show more content…
His assignment has many benefits and drawback. Jonas holds many memories of joy, but on the downside holds many negative memories that contain pain. Jonas has seen things that nobody in the community has seen. He also has been the first receiver of memory in the last 10 years. Jonas’s friends and family in the community notice something strange about Jonas. They then realize how being the receiver of memory has changed him. The chief elder realizes that Jonas is trying to make things right by letting the memories free. The chief elder thinks Jonas is too dangerous and he need to be