2. The Life of the Author Lois Lowry Lowry was born in the Territory of Hawaii in 1937 Lowry spent most of her childhood in Pennsylvania. Lowry’s father was a dentist in World War II, this caused her family to move all around the world, places include New York, Massachusetts, and Tokyo.
3. The Life of the Author After High School Lowry attended Brown University. In her sophomore year she got married to a Naval officer, dropped out of college, and moved to California.
4. Life of the Author After years of traveling again she ended up in Maine with four children under the age of five. After her children grew up she went back to school and received her BA in English Literature from the University of Southern Maine.
5. The Life of the Author After receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature, Lowry began writing her first book. Her first children’s book was A Summer To Die which was published in 1977. She published Number the Stars in 1990 which received the Newbery Medal. Lois Lowry
6. The Newberry Medal The John Newbery Medal, honors the author of the year's most outstanding contribution to children's literature. Presented every year since 1922, the Medal is named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. The Giver won the Newbery Medal Award in 1994.
7. Other Readings by Lois Lowry Anastasia Krupnik,1979 Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye, 1990 Rabble Starkey, 2001 The Silent Boy, 2003 Autumn Street, 2006 Looking Back, 2007
8. The Giver The Giver was published in 1993 The Giver is the first book within a trilogy of books. The other two books to follow The Giver are Gathering Blue and Messenger. The Giver is looked at as a ‘right of passage’ novel. Lowry says she did not write it for this purpose, she has never looked at it as Science Fiction writing.
9. Introduction of The Giver The Giver is written from the point of view of the main character Jonas. Jonas is an eleven year old boy who is living in a "perfect society". This society that Jonas lives is was created by people long before his time where they have eliminated pain, fear, war, and much more. Jonas' society has also eliminated choice so this means that Jonas has his job in life picked for him. Every child is referred to as a number. In this particular part of the book, Jonas is a Twelve. This means that he gets to take part in the "Ceremony of Twelve". This is where Jonas' job is picked for him by people who have been watching him and observing his actions. Jonas' is given of the job of the giver. This is a very important job and Jonas' in the beginning is not too excited about his life long job.
10. Characters in The Giver Jonas, an eleven year main character that is the protagonist. The Giver, an old man known as the Receiver of Memories.
11. Cont’ of Characters Jonas’ Father, a Nurturer in the community who works with infants. Jonas’ Mother, pleasant women who works in the Department of Justice
12. Cont’ of Characters Lily, Jonas’ seven year old sister, very well informed. Asher, Jonas’ best friend, assigned to Assistant Director of Recreation. Fiona, another one of Jonas’ friends; works as the Caretaker in The House of the Old.
13. Cont’ of Characters Gabriel, an infant who Jonas’ family takes care of at night. Larissa, an older women who lives in the House of the Old. The Chief Elder, the elected leader of Jonas’ community.
14. Parts of the Novel Setting (Time)-An unspecified time in the future. Setting(Place)-A utopian community that is very small but somewhere on Earth Tense-Past Protagonist- Jonas, eleven year old who is assigned to be the new Receiver when he turns twelve years old.
15. Cont’ Parts of the Novel Conflict-Jonas’s awareness of his communities scam makes him want to rebel against their community restrictions. Restrictions include: freedom of choice, individuality, emotion, and experience. Action- Jonas begins to receive memories. These memories make him doubt his own community.
16. Cont’ Parts of the Novel Climax-Jonas finds out that “release” means to kill. His father has killed many community members in his lifetime. Jonas does not accept the ways of the community. He is determined to change his community. Resolution-Jonas flees the community and takes Gabriel with him. He is in search for something more, feelings and color.
17. Symbolism Symbolism is the practice of representing things by means of symbols or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships. There are some ways of symbolism with The Giver. Here are some: The Newchild Gabriel: Gabriel is a symbol of hope and starting over for Jonas. Gabriel represents the memories that Jonas has obtained. He tries to save Gabriel and during this he beings to loose his memories.
18. Cont’ of Symbolism The Sled: This is the first memory that Jonas receives as the Giver. The sled symbolizes the journey that Jonas takes while being the Receiver of Memories.
19. Cont’ of Symbolism The River: This river runs in through the community and out into the other world Elsewhere. The river symbolizes the escape that could take place within the village. The river took Caleb’s life and the community did not see this coming. Something that they could not predict. Jonas takes advantage of this and uses this information to try and change the ways of his community.
20. Themes Themes are the fundamental and universal ideas within a story. It applies to certain human life. There are many important themes within The Giver. Some of them are: The Importance of Memory: This is the most important theme in The Giver, the use of memory in human life. If people cannot remember things then they cannot remember pain and its as they never experienced it in the first place. Jonas is the only one who sees other people’s experiences. He is the only one to truly feel their pain. And with pain like this there is not true happiness.
21. Cont’ Themes The Importance of the Individual: The Ceremony of Twelve is where the children get to finally feel important. The children are looked at as numbers not as individuals. Jonas is a child in the beginning but matures into his own individual because of his job as the Receiver of Memories.
22. The Ceremony of Twelve The Ceremony of Twelve is the presentation and assignments of the children’s lifelong jobs. Their jobs are based on an observation from the Chief Elder and the child’s community work. Jonas was very apprehensive about their selection for him. He wanted a better job than his father. He wanted to do something that he liked. The children have no choice in the selection of their jobs.. This is what the Chief Elder is for. He makes these decisions.
23. Community Differences In our country we are allowed to make our own decisions. What would it be like if we could not? This is what Jonas had to go through. Everyone felt the same and acted the same. That does not sounds like too much fun to me! Couples had to have permission to get married and to have children.
24. Community Differences Everything thing in Jonas’s world was mostly black and white. The children were referred to as numbers. One, Four, Seven, and Twelve. They had to share all of their “feelings” with their families at dinner time. Jonas’s wanted something different with his life.
25. Reading On The second book is Gathering Blue Gathering Blue is about a young vibrant girl names Kira. Kira is an orphan and pushed into this society that does not allow weakness. Kira meets a young boy who is willing to help her.
26. Cont’ Reading On The last and final book within this trilogy is Messenger Messenger is about a young boy Matty who is the Village’s message carrier. This is sometime in the future. Matty lives with Seer, who is an older man who took Matty in when he came to the village.
