The Giver Study Guide, Chapters 9-14 Name: ______
Chapter 9
1. Jonas tells himself several times that things can’t change between him and his best friend, Asher. Do you think they can? Do you think they will?
2. Why does Jonas find the final rule in his instructions, “You may lie,” so unsettling?
Chapter 10
3. What do you think it means to live in a place where no doors are ever locked?
4. Jonas says, “I thought there was only us. I thought there was only now.” Do you think that’s a good way to live?
Chapter 11
5. Can you imagine giving up such things as snow and hills because they are impractical? Explain your thoughts.
Chapter 12
6. Imagine a world without color. What color would you miss most? Why?
7. What value, if any, is there to Sameness?
Directions: Read the passage from Chapter 12 closely. Underline any information that is essential to understanding The Giver’s reaction to Jonas’ experience with color. Circle any words which are unfamiliar to you. Look back in the passage and determine what the words mean, based on the context:
“It was so—oh, I wish language were more precise! The red was so beautiful!”
The Giver nodded. “It is.”
“Do you see it all the time?”
“I see all of them. All the colors.”
“Will I?”
“Of course. When you receive the memories. You have the capacity to see beyond. You’ll gain wisdom then, along with colors. And lots more.”
Jonas wasn’t interested, just then, in wisdom. It was the colors that fascinated him. “Why can’t everyone see them? Why did colors disappear?”
The Giver shrugged. “Our people made that choice, the choice to go to Sameness. Before my time, before the previous time, back and back and back. We relinquished color when we relinquished sunshine and did away with differences.” He thought for a moment. “We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others.”
“We shouldn’t have!” Jonas said fiercely.
The Giver looked startled at the certainty of Jonas’s reaction. Then he smiled wryly. “You’ve come very quickly to that conclusion,” he said. “It took me many years. Maybe your wisdom will come much more quickly than mine.” - The Giver (90-91).
8. What does “capacity” mean?
9. What does “relinquished” mean?
10-14. Using evidence from the passage, analyze the Giver’s reaction to Jonas’ experience with color and what this reaction might say about the Giver’s feelings about his community.
CLAIM:______
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EVIDENCE 1:______
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EVIDENCE 2:______
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EVIDENCE 3:______
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INTERPRETATION:______
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Chapter 13
15. Do you agree with Jonas that people have to be protected from wrong choices?
16. As Jonas continues his training, he often finds himself angry with his groupmates and his family. Why?
17. The Giver says that without memories, what is meaningless?
18. What does he mean by the previous statement?
Chapter 14
19. Do you agree that painful memories are made easier when they are shared?
20. Do you think it’s fair that one person in the community—The Receiver—should have to be burdened and pained by memories so that no one else is? Explain.