A Finger for a Car

Roald Dahl´s story "Man From the South" starts in a vacation resort in Jamaica. The story begins with the narrator sitting beside the pool when he sees a man in a white suit approach him and he asks him if he can take a seat. After some conversation with the man, one of the American sailors and one of the girls get out of the pool and take a seat near them. The sailor offers the narrator and the man a light but the man from the south says that the lighter will not work with the wind. The man proposes a bet, the bet was that all of them were going to go back to his hotel room and if the sailor was able to light his lighter ten consecutive times without failing, he would win the man´s car, a Cadillac, but if he failed he would loose the little finger of his left hand. After some hesitation the sailor agreed to the bet, the narrator would be the referee. They went back to the man´s room and readied the materials, after tying the boy's hand to the table, they prepared to begin the bet. After successfully lighting the lighter eight times, a women barged into the room, stopped the bet and told them the man had nothing to bet because she had won it all and that it was her car. The narrator gave her the keys and noticed that she had only one finger and a thumb on her hand.

I really like how Dahl sets the mood of the story while also describing the setting.

 It was a fine garden with lawns and beds of azaleas and tall coconut palms, and the wind was blowing strongly through the tops of the palm trees making the leaves hiss and crackle as though they were on fire. I could see the clusters of big brown nuts handing down underneath the leaves. (1)

I think that by using this technique you get the reader to actually feel like him/her should feel while reading the story and creates a setting that matches the mood  and helps the reader visualize what a character is seeing or even feeling. By actually describing the setting, you can get the reader to feel the mood subconsciously. Setting the mood is an important part of foreshadowing given that the reader has already an image and a feeling attached to it in his/her head. The best way to elaborate this picture the reader is forming is by adding characters and that completes the picture.

"Some small ting you can afford to give away, and if you did happen to lose it you would not feel too bad. Right?"

"Such as what?"

"Such as, perhaps, de little finger of your left hand." (4)

The characters of the story complete the picture the author was trying to create and therefore if it was a "creepy" mood, then at least one character in the story must fall in the same category. Some people might even overlook the quote above, but I believe that this quote is one of the most important characterization quotes in the story. The quote above transform an almost uninteresting character to a character that completely changes the story and adds an excitement component to it. If there was only the setting, the story would not be able to be fully appreciated but a character adds human qualities to the full picture. 

I thought "The Man From the South" was an interesting story that builded up even to the very last sentence of the story. I think that Dahl did an excellent job at choosing the exact time a piece of evidence would be introduced. The evidence was sufficient enough to allow the reader to make a satisfying inference about the ending of the story. Every piece of evidence was placed so that it foreshadowed a part of the story without being too obvious. The imagery and characterization successfully allowed the reader to picture the story in his/her head. The escalating plot of the story made this story an exciting and interesting read.

The Truth About Release

Chapter 17 started in a very unusual way for Jonas he was in his when he and his family heard a voice from the wall speaker saying that said "Today is declared an unscheduled holiday". Everyone in the community was really happened because unscheduled holidays happened rarely. Jonas had not taken his pills for a few weeks now and the stirrings had returned. In the holiday the other children were playing a game the regularly played and normally enjoyed. This time it was different, now Jonas understood many things that he did not really thought about before, Jonas now knows about war and he is now much wiser in a way. Jonas started to wonder about Release he also started to wonder what would if he died and all the memories he had acquired over his training would return to the people. Jonas said to The Giver that he had been able to bear all the memories was because of his help, the idea of him helping the people of the community bear the memories intrigued The Giver. Jonas told The Giver that he would like to watch how his father released a twin that morning. The Giver told him all Releases were recorded so he could watch and he told Jonas he should because it would show him what Release is. Jonas watched as his father weighted the babies, then father's assistant took the other baby while he stayed with the smaller baby, Jonas watched as his father grabbed a syringe and injected the baby with a clear liquid. Jonas watched as the baby started to calm himself and then he went limp. Jonas recognized the limpness of his body it was the same as the boy on the war memory he saw how life left his eyes, Jonas couldn't believe it. The Giver and Jonas started to wonder about a place, a community with love, with real feelings, with wisdom. They started to plan, plan something that would change everything, Jonas was to escape the community, he was supposed to go elsewhere maybe even start a community. He was supposed to slip out unnoticed while everyone was at the ceremony.

On page 162 after The Giver and Jonas were planning his escape the Giver says "Im grateful to you, Jonas, because without you I would never have figured out to bring about the change. But your role now is to escape. And my role is to stay." Earlier in the book The Giver was intrigued by the idea Jonas brought to him which was that he could help the community going through with the memories when Jonas is gone. I think The Giver could help the community with such strong memories like love or war, but it will be hard. The Giver also tells Jonas about Rosemary who was the previous Receiver in training and how she could not bear the memories anymore and applied for Release, when the Giver is talking about Rosemary he said he really loved her. After The Giver tells Jonas he has to stay he also mentions that he wants to see his daughter, Rosemary, I did not expect Rosemary being The Giver's daughter but that got me thinking if Rosemary was his actual daughter or his assigned daughter. If Rosemary is his actual daughter then Jonas can also be his son because of the lighter eyes and as mentioned before the eyes and seeing beyond is not the only way to connect to the past since The Giver started by hearing beyond. The Giver and Jonas could be related and that would be interesting although they could not be related after all. I don't know what Jonas will find out there given that the author has never mentioned anything about how the world ended up as Jonas knows it but I hope he is not alone when he travels to elsewhere.

I am really close to the end of this book and I have really enjoyed reading it. A big question I have right now is what actually happened to Jonas' world and if there are still things of the old world that Jonas practically knows through the memories. I am also wondering if Jonas will take Fiona with him or leave her there in the community. I hope my questions will be answered but there is not much of the book left. I am really looking forward to reading chapters 21-23 and finding out what the world out there really is like.

Reading Analysis #4

Jonas repeated his daily routine for weeks and while the weeks went by, he started to learn the names of colors and now began to see them all. Jonas continued doing what he was supposed to do except he knew his life would never be ordinary again. Jonas believed that not having the possibility of choosing between colors or seeing colors was unfair for other people. The Giver started to share painful memories with Jonas but he decided to start with something familiar so he gave him the memory of sled, except this time he fell from the sled and broke his leg.  One day, Jonas started to realize baby Gabe wasn't letting his parents sleep very well and his father was tired, Jonas offered letting Gabe sleep in his room for a change. Baby Gabe was restless at night so Jonas grabbed him in his arms and he placed his hands in the baby´s back. Jonas was thinking about a memory the Giver had passed to him, which was about a sailboat in the middle of a lake. While he was thinking of the memory, he started to feel it fading away and Gabe starting to calm himself. Jonas decided not to tell the Giver what had happened because of the thought that he had developed the ability to give his memories away so early in his training frightened him. When Jonas went to his next day of training, he realized it was one of the days that the giver was in pain and he would be sent away, but before leaving he asked if there was anything he could do. The Giver told him to take some of the pain, Jonas laid down in the bed and the giver placed his hands in Jonas´ back. The memory that was causing pain to the Giver was one of war. He could see other men suffering terrible injuries and pleading for water. Jonas himself had his arm immobilized with pain. Jonas now understood the concept of warfare. When the memory was over he looked at the Giver and he looked away while saying "Forgive me". Jonas did not want the honor or anything else implicated in his assignment anymore, he wanted his childhood back. For the next days, the Giver showed him memories of pleasure. Jonas´ life would never be ordinary again, he had been selected to bear the burden everyone else in his community had been spared to even imagine. One day, the Giver gave Jonas his favorite memory, it was the memory of Christmas and a strong feeling of love that was all around the room. The Giver explained Jonas how families work in the past. Jonas started to realize how real life should be and the next morning he decided not to take his pill.

In chapter 16 the Giver explains love and how families worked before to Jonas and he says, "The family in the memory seemed a little more-" He faltered, not able to find the word he wanted. "A little more complete," The Giver suggested. That made me feel bad for Jonas because he felt his family was incomplete and there was no real love in it. It also made me think how would it be to live in a society like that and made me think that it would be really lonely not being able to really rely on anyone or really trust anyone. When Jonas asks his family if they love him they said that is a inaccurate and meaningless word and that they are proud of him, but they do not exactly love him. In Jonas' society the word love is not used and probably it is because when you take the pill you do not feel attraction to other people and therefore cannot form a real family.

I would not like to live in a society that was controlled like that and I think Jonas is probably going to try to change it. I think that family and having someone there to love you and be there for you is really important.

The Giver Reading Analysis #3

At the start of chapter nine Jonas feels, for the first time separate from the other kids. It wasn't just a that his training was done alone it was the he couldn't discuss his training and even if he could he just didn't know how to explain it. After thinking about the rules they had given him he started to think if what if every kid at the age twelve gets the same instruction: "you may lie". Jonas wondered if every question he had asked had been answered or if he had been lied to. At the start of chapter 10 Jonas and Fiona were heading to their practice in the house of the old and both of them were nervous about their first day of training and they did not want to be late. When Jonas got to the Annex he realized some of the doors there were locked and he had never seen that before in the community so he felt uncomfortable about it but the Attendant reassured him saying that they were just there to insure The Receiver's privacy. When Jonas' training started the Giver told him he could ask him any question he wanted. At first Jonas did not want to ask questions even though he had so many. It was time for Jonas to receive his first memory, the Giver told Jonas to take of his shirt and lay down onto of the bed. The Giver decided to start with the memory of snow and sleds, he placed his hands on Jonas' back and after a few seconds he had a vision of being onto of a hill and sliding down through it, Jonas liked that feeling and wondered why had they decided to get rid of snow and mountains and go to sameness. The giver also transmitted the memory of sunshine and of sunburn to Jonas. Jonas finished his first training day and that nigh he dreamed of sliding dow the hill again he really enjoyed it even though it was just one memory. Later Jonas started seeing changes things around him like Fiona's hair like he had seen before in the apple, he asked the Giver and he also saw the change on the Giver's books. The giver told him he was starting to see the color red. Jonas had a hard time understanding colors since no one else than the Giver understood them so the Giver decided to transmit to Jonas the memory of a rainbow.

When the Giver gives Jonas the memory of sunburn after giving him the memory of sunshine in page 86 Jonas said "It hurt a lot but I'm glad you gave it to me. It was interesting. And now I understand better, what it meant, that there would be pain." This part was specially interesting for me because it made me think of a theme of this book which is the relationship between pain and pleasure. I think there is a thin line between pain and pleasure for example the things that harm us give us excitement and
the things that give us pleasure can also do us harm. Jonas liked the memory of sunshine but in excess it gave him sunburn that caused him pain. I think that almost anything in excess has bad consequences. A lot of people like extreme activities because it gives them a surge that nothing else can. Even practicing activities that could kill you can give you pleasure and that interests me about this quote because even small things that we sometimes don't even consider like sunshine can cause us pain or pleasure. I think Jonas also understands that the pain he will get from his training will come from memories and mainly mistakes of mankind.

This book is really interesting for me and I can't wait to see what happens next. I think that in the future this book will tell us about the mistakes we have made and what led to a world such as Jonas'. I think this book has more than it explicitly tells us and I believe it should be paid closed attention for hidden messages. I really enjoy reading this book and I think it has really insightful ideas about some of the characteristics of mankind.

Reading Analysis #2

The Giver Summary Chapters 5-8:
At the start of chapter 5 we learn something very interesting about the community. The chapter starts with Jonas in the morning ritual in which every family member tells their dreams, normally Jonas does not contribute much in this ritual but this time his dream had been different it had been clearer. Jonas dreamed about Fiona whom he had seen the past day in the house of the old, he dreamed that Fiona and himself were standing beside a tub and he was urging her to take her clothes off an get in with him but she wasn't taking him seriously. Later on it was time for the ceremonies. Jonas watched the naming ceremony and every other ceremony until it was the ceremony of the 12s. Jonas waited until his number (19) would be called and he would receive his assignment, he watched as his friends were called to the stage. When Jonas' turn was about to come he realized his number was skipped and he started to panic. When the Chief Elder finished assigning all of his group-mates she apologized to Jonas and explained that Jonas was special and that he had been selected to be the next receiver of memories which is one of the most honorable jobs in the whole community.

When the Chief Elder says that the last quality Jonas should have is the Capacity to See Beyond, it instantly made me think of the apple incident, which was when Jonas was playing catch with an apple and it changed and Jonas was not able to explain how. The apple incident itself, the first time I read it rose a lot of questions. One of the ideas I had, was if maybe Jonas' world was a computer simulation in which every artifact was controlled to look exactly the same as others of the same kind. This idea came to me when Jonas said that the apple was a perfect sphere. Even though I would have to read more to find out what does seeing beyond exactly mean, I realized something more likely about the ability to see beyond. After looking at the cover of the book and analyzing the fact that Jonas and the actual Receiver have the same lighter eyes that everyone else in the community does not have and thinking more about the eyes, I came to the conclusion that everything in the community is black and white or colorless and the Capacity to See Beyond is basically the ability to see colors.

I could in fact be wrong about Jonas' colorless world but I will eventually find out either way. I find this book to be very interesting and it always keeps introducing new ideas the I find really intriguing. If the book continues at this level then I believe reading it will be really fun. I can't wait to find out what happens next in this book and I think it is one of the best books I've read. I still have a lot of questions about Jonas and his community but I know they will eventually be answered.

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The Giver Chapters 1-4 Summary:
Jonas was a normal 11 year old living in the community. Jonas was close to his 12th birthday and he felt apprehensive about the idea of turning 12, given that at the age of 12 a big ceremony was held in which 11 year-olds where given their assignments. Assignments where given by the elders which watched every child and decided upon their future job according to their attributes and personality. In this community there are a variety of rules that are heavily controlled. For example each family unit can only have two children one boy and one girl each, children are not actually family with their parents they are taken away from their biological parents and assigned to another family. Given that Jonas had spent all his volunteer hours on a variety of different jobs he did not have much idea of what his assignment would be.
A question you have about the character, theme, phrase, symbol, or anything that makes you wonder

"What happens when they make the actual release?"

What does happen when people get released? I believe that in the community people get released when the are no longer of use for the community. When people get released I think that they are probably killed, not in a painful way but just with a needle or something like that. I think that people are probably killed when they are "released" because what else could they do to them, the people that are released are rule breakers, kids with some type of problem and old people. I think that every person that doesn't have any problem on fulfilling their task gets released at the same age except for a select group of people that form the council of elders.
I would like to keep reading this book to find out about the various questions I have. I think Jonas is a special kid who will probably later on start causing problems to the community. I would also like to know what happened with the world and what is outside of the community. Until now I've found this book very interesting and it has given me a lot of questions that i would like to keep reading to answer.