The Giver 16

Study Guide Questions for Ch. 17

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

Happiness, Despair

Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)

1. What surprise announcement was made at the beginning of the chapter?

2. What were the primary things taught in school “for Twelves?”

3. What new things was Jonas experiencing in his life during recent weeks?

4. What did Jonas reflect upon concerning Lily’s feelings?

5. What game did Jonas stumble upon his friends playing?

6. What was Jonas’ reaction to the game his friends were playing?

7. What did Jonas know “with certainty?”

8. How much time had now passed since Jonas became a Twelve?

9. What did Father announce he would have to do at work the next day?

10. What idea did Lily have about the twin who would be sent to “Elsewhere?”

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

1. Why would the Community declare an “unscheduled Holiday?”

2. Why was Jonas now able to experience “a deeper happiness than ever before?”

3. Why did Jonas think Lily’s anger was not real anger?

4. Why did the children playing the game have no idea about what they were really emulating?

5. Why was Asher not willing to listen to Jonas explain why they shouldn’t play this game anymore?

6. Why would the community decide which twin to keep based upon their weight?

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

1. Given the ideas that Jonas has been wrestling with in this story concerning the horrors of war, should we play games where we emulate war? Why or why not?

2. If you could never have feelings of despair or fear ever again, would you be willing to sacrifice ever feeling truly happy to gain that? Why or why not?

Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)

1. Relate Matthew 11:1-19 to our present reading in The Giver. How were the expectations of Jonas’ friends like that of the “generation” whom Jesus spoke to? In what way did Jesus and Jonas not meet those expectations?