Saturday, February 2, 2008

The Giver Chapter 10


Today we talked about chapter 10 and we had a chapters 3-5 quiz.

Homework

-Chapters 8-10 Book Qs
-Chapters 8-10 vocabulary sheet
-Unit #9 story due Friday.
-Study for chapters 6-7 quiz on Wednesday.

Reading to do:
chapter 11 before Wednesday
chapter 12 before Thursday
chapter 13 before Friday

Chapter 10

Jonas meets with the Receiver of Memory for his first day of training. This man tells him that his training is going to involve the transmission of all the memories within him, and that he, Jonas, is now the Receiver. He tells Jonas that all of his remaining energy and strength will go into giving the memories of the whole world to Jonas. Jonas is confused by the idea of the whole world and of history. The man tries to explain to him using a metaphor of snow and sledding, but Jonas does not know about those things. So, the man determines that this is the first memory he will pass to Jonas.



The Giver Chapter 9



Chapter 9

Jonas, reeling from his unexpected selection as the Receiver in training, feels separated from the community for the first time in his life. His parents tell him that it is the most important position in the community and a great honor. He asks about the previous failure, and they tell him that they never saw her again and that they are never to mention her name. Jonas reviews the folder with the instructions about his new position. The instructions surprise him as many of them exempt him from what is normally expected of community members, including giving him permission to lie.

The Giver Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The Chief Elder issues an apology both to the community and to Jonas himself, for the anguish she caused them in skipping over his name. She explains that this is because Jonas has not been given an Assignment. Instead, he has been Selected as the community's next Receiver of Memory. This selection has been years in the making and she refers to a previous failure that Jonas does not know about, but clearly discomforts the adults of the community. She tells Jonas that the Receiver must have intelligence, integrity, courage, and wisdom, skills which they believe he has or will have, in addition to the Capacity to See Beyond. Jonas recognizes that this sight is somehow related to the strange incident with the apple, and experiences the sensation again as he looks to the crowd. The community then honors and accepts him in his new role by chanting his name over and over.