102 pages • 3 hours read
Lois LowryA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Jonas tells the Giver that today his father must select a newchild to release. The Giver says he wishes the community would not release twins. However, Jonas likes thinking of his father making a small baby clean and comfortable. He sees his father as a gentle, sensitive soul. Jonas says he wishes he could watch his father prepare the baby for release. The Giver says Jonas can do this if he asks. All private ceremonies are recorded, so the Giver requests a recording of the baby’s release ceremony, which happened earlier in the day. It takes place in a very plain room. He speaks to the smaller twin in the same voice he uses with Gabriel. Jonas watches him fill a syringe with liquid and then puncture the baby’s forehead.
As Jonas watches the child die, he is so overwhelmed that he doesn’t quite realize what he’s witnessing. He puts the pieces together a few minutes later. His father did not clean or comfort the baby. He disposes of the child like a piece of trash. This what happens in all releases, the Giver says. The Giver watched the recording of Rosemary’s release, “numb with horror” (151).
By Lois Lowry
A Summer to Die
Lois Lowry
Gathering Blue
Lois Lowry
Gooney Bird Greene
Lois Lowry
Gossamer
Lois Lowry
Messenger
Lois Lowry
Number the Stars
Lois Lowry
Son
Lois Lowry
The Silent Boy
Lois Lowry
The Willoughbys
Lois Lowry