The Giver 18

Study Guide Questions for Ch. 20

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

Ignorance, Despair, Deception, Happiness

Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)

1. Describe Jonas’ response to what he saw his Father do with the smaller of the twins.

2. What did the Giver tell Jonas in response to his rant about the readiness of people in the Community to kill “Old people” and “small newborn people?”

3. What did the Giver tell Jonas when he inquired about Fiona’s role as a caretaker of the Old?

4. What did the Giver describe as “the worst part of holding the memories” for the Community?

5. What plan did the Giver and Jonas come up with to give the memories back to the Community?

6. For what reason did the Giver say it would be necessary for him to stay with the Community?

7. What was different about the way in which the Giver had originally perceived his unique ability to be a Receiver of Memory?

8. What kind of memories did the Giver impart to Jonas to help prepare him for their plan?

9. When did Jonas and the Giver intend to execute their plan?

10. How did the Giver intend to help Jonas get as far from the Community as possible?

11. What did the Giver say he planned to do once his work helping the Community adjust to the memories was finished?

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

1. Why was Jonas not able to discern the nature of “release” sooner? What factors kept him from understanding what that really meant?

2. What did the Giver mean when he said that the people in the Community “know nothing?”

3. Why did the Giver think it would be possible to change the way things are when they had remained the same way for so long, “back and back and back…?”

4. What are your thoughts about what it means to “get to elsewhere” and how and why that will make the Community “bear the burden” of the memories for themselves?

5. Why did Jonas say, “you and I don’t need to care about the rest of them?”

6. Why did Jonas refuse “emphatically” to take the memories of music from the Giver? 

7. Why would Jonas’ parents be concerned about how his “rudeness…would reflect on their parenting?” What should we infer from this statement?

8. Why would a disruption of “The Ceremony…be unthinkable?”

9. The Giver said, “I have another place to go. When my work here is finished, I want to be with my daughter.” What did he mean by this? 

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

1. Jonas asked the Giver “Do you lie to me, too?” Given that everyone is capable of lying, how can we know whether or not someone is telling us the truth? Is it really possible to know whether or not we are being lied to? If so, how? If not, why not?

2. Jonas’ coming to know what “release” really is about caused him great emotional suffering. It has been said, “ignorance is bliss.” Would you rather always be able to know what is true, even if that brings you real pain and suffering, or would you rather not always know what is true if that would make your life more pleasant? Explain your preference and your reasons for it.

3. The Giver imparted memories of Courage to Jonas in preparation for executing their plan. What is the relationship between seeing examples of virtue and coming to practice a particular virtue? Is it possible to take up a virtue (such as that of courage) without first seeing examples of that virtue? If so, how? If not, why not? 

Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)

1. Consider the world that God made and the place of mankind in that world while reading Genesis 1-3. It would seem that God could have made a world wherein people would not have known pain and suffering if he had simply eliminated their ability to choose. In light of this, why do you think God gave man the power of choice? How does this relate to the story of The Giver?