The Giver 15

Study Guide Questions for Ch. 15-16

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Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)

Love, Despair, Shame, Being Chosen, Family, Joy, Happiness, Family

Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)

1. What kind of memory did Jonas receive from the Giver in order to help relieve some of his pain?

2. After receiving the painful memory, what did Jonas want and not want?

3. What did the memory of a birthday party help Jonas to understand?

4. What was the Giver’s favorite memory about?

5. What had “puzzled Jonas” about what he saw in the Giver’s favorite memory?

6. What did Jonas realize would be the case concerning his parents after he and Lily were both working adults?

7. What was the new word and concept that Jonas learned in this reading?

8. What did Jonas tell the Giver he wished could be the case?

9. What did Jonas ask his Mother and Father and what was their response?

10. What was the first lie Jonas ever told his parents?

11. What did Jonas continue to do for Gabriel?

12. What did Jonas stop doing at the end of this reading?

Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)

1. Why did the Giver ask Jonas for forgiveness after sharing the painful memory with him?

2. Why did the Giver follow up the painful memory with many different kinds of good memories?

3. Why was the Giver willing to give Jonas his favorite memory before he had to?

4. Why did the Community not have any grandparents? What was the purpose in deciding to do “family” in the way they did?

5. What are the implications of the fact that “love” was a new word and concept for Jonas?

6. Why did Jonas’ parents prefer to say that they enjoyed Jonas or took pride in his accomplishments rather than to say they loved him? Why did they say the word “love” was “generalized” and almost “obsolete?” 

7. Why did Jonas stop taking the pills?

Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)

1. In this reading Jonas learned about both the “pain of loss and loneliness” as well as “solitude and its joy.” Why is being alone sometimes a misery and sometimes highly desirable? What accounts for the differing ways people sometimes feel about being alone?

2. Jonas thought that the Giver’s favorite memory portrayed a more “dangerous way to live” but he also seemed to prefer it to the way things were in his own day. To what extent ought we to balance safety with the pursuit of happiness? To what extent does happiness require risk? To what extent does happiness require safety? How can we determine which is more important at any given moment?

3. Offer a definition for the concept of “love.” Do you think Jonas has experienced or shown love in the book before this present chapter (even if he didn’t know the term)? If so, where and how? If not, why not?

Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)

1. Read 1 Corinthians 13. How does the teaching here about love connect with our present reading in The Giver?

2. Consider the idea of “family” and the way that idea appears in Scripture. Give one example from the Bible where family is a blessing and give one where family ends up being a curse. What seems to make the primary difference between family being a positive or a negative thing in your examples?