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Situational Irony
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis:
The style of The Giver is descriptive and precise, with special reliance on imagery to convey sensations. Flashbacks and memories are integrated into the plot not only because Jonas is a Receiver of memories, but also because they help him to make sense of what he is feeling in the present. For example, Chapter 1 opens with a description of fear as Jonas feels it in his body:
It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened. No. Wrong word, Jonas thought. Frightened meant that deep, sickening feeling of something terrible about to happen. Frightened was the way he had felt a year ago when an unidentified aircraft had overflown the community twice.
As December approaches, and with it the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas is feeling something like fear. It can't be fear, though, he reasons, because he does not feel sick to his stomach deep down. He knows that feeling from when a plane flew overhead and made him think disaster was about to strike. This feeling is something else. He settles on apprehension, a milder kind of fear mingled with anticipation.
Even though there are many sensory images Jonas never experiences until he begins working with the Giver, from the beginning of the novel Lowry uses images and precise descriptions to emphasize how real Jonas's physical and emotional sensations are. Jonas seems to be attuned to how he experiences different emotions in part because of innate talent and in part because the Community is so strict about properly describing feelings. Children who describe their emotions with strong words are often punished for inaccuracy. For example, Jonas remembers a teacher telling Asher that he must have been "distracted" by salmon at the hatchery rather than "distraught" because "distraught" is too strong a response to salmon. Jonas is careful not to confuse apprehension for true fear because he does not want to be wrong about how he is feeling. He tunes into the real sensations he is feeling until he comes up with a precise word.
Whenever Jonas receives a memory, Lowry uses imagery to focus not only on what is happening in the memory, but on the feelings the memory brings up. The memories of sledding teach Jonas that snow is a thing that looks beautiful, feels cold on his face, and provides the opportunity for fun, exertion, and pain all alike. The memories do not teach him about where snow comes from; that is less important in the novel than the way his body experiences the snow. By consistently going into detail about what different experiences and memories feel like to Jonas, Lowry develops him into a character who knows how to trust his own feelings. Whereas the teacher could tell Asher to dull down the language he used to describe his feelings about the salmon, Jonas turns into someone who can't be told what he does and does not feel. This means that when he hears that Gabriel is going to be released, he knows instantly how he feels and that he must do all he can to rescue his foster brother.
Related Themes:
