The Giver: Situational Irony 2 key examples

Jonas's mother and father have just spoken with him at length about the Ceremony of Twelve, when children receive their Assignments that determine the jobs they will have for the rest of their lives. Jonas has been apprehensive about the Ceremony. His parents reassure him that whatever Assignment the Committee gives him will be perfectly tailored to him and his interests. The Council spends 12 years watching each individual child to learn their strengths and weaknesses. Theoretically, each child is assigned to a role that will give them an equal chance to succeed and contribute to society in their own unique way. This conversation suggests that there is no such thing as a bad or dishonorable Assignment. No Assignment Jonas receives could disappoint his parents.

When Lily rejoins the conversation and says that she would like to be a Birthmother, her mother chastises her. This harsh reaction is not at all in keeping with the counsel she has just given Jonas. If every job is good when it is assigned to the right person, Lily should be free to explore the idea of any Assignment. Perhaps Lily will turn out to be suited for this role. Instead of supporting her daughter's curiosity, Lily's mother chastises her for considering a job that would have her giving birth several times and then doing hard labor for the rest of her life. The way the children's mother speaks to both of them about Assignments is ironic. Maybe there is no Assignment Jonas could receive that would disappoint his parents, but that is only because he has grown up into the kind of child they believe will receive an Assignment they are proud of. All Assignments are created equal, except those Assignments that are not.

This ironic scene hints at a greater situational irony in the novel's larger society. The belief that they live in an egalitarian society prevents Community members from noticing that they do, in fact, think of Assignments hierarchically. They see why Assignments like Birthmother are necessary. Still, they want their own children to have more prestigious jobs. On the one hand, it is no wonder that Lily's mother wants a different future for her daughter: there is something highly exploitative about training a 12-year-old child to bear children for other families before a lifetime of hard labor. On the other hand, it is ironic that Lily's mother believes wholeheartedly in the system that would foist this future on someone else's daughter.

Jonas's father is a Nurturer. He was given this Assignment at 12 years old because of his natural talent as a caregiver. The Community has forgotten the feeling of love, but Jonas's father clearly feels something like love or at least devotion toward babies and young children. When Lily asks for her stuffed elephant, her mother tells her she is almost too old for it by Community rules. Her father, however, fetches it for her without a word. His soft spot for young children is what brings Gabriel into Jonas's life. Gabriel is on the path to be Released because he has greater-than-average care needs. Jonas's father applies for special permission to bring him home for a year to prepare him for adoption. This practice stretches the Community's rules. The family stretches the rules even more by naming Gabriel. Jonas's parents impress on him and Lily not to repeat the name outside the family, but Gabriel is more than a case number to all of them. They do not want him to be Released, even if the Community deems this outcome to be for the best.

It is not until Chapter 19 that Jonas realizes what fate truly hangs in the balance for Gabriel, and that the Community has been maintaining its stable population by way of eugenics and state-sanctioned murder. Jonas would be disturbed to see anyone killing a baby. However, his Nurturer father is perhaps the person he would least expect to harm a child. The situation is ironic as well as tragic: the citizen whose affection for babies has earned them the title of Nurturer should be protecting babies, not executing them for the simple crime of being the smaller of two twins. The trash chute evokes a metaphorical comparison between the baby and a piece of garbage. Jonas's father can go immediately from treating a child like the most precious thing in the world to killing it and tossing it in the trash. This metaphor reinforces the situational irony and helps Jonas see just how deeply the Community has damaged its citizens' sense of their own morality.