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.