These memories help Gabriel sleep soundly and begin to improve. When the baby fusses at night, Jonas secretly shares comforting memories that The Giver has passed on to him. Gabriel continues to sleep poorly, so Jonas offers to keep him in his room.
If Gabriel doesn’t improve, he will be released. He hopes the extra attention will help the infant. Jonas’ father, a Nurturer who works with newborns, brings home a failure-to-thrive baby named Gabriel. The Elders don’t consult The Giver as often as he feels they should, but when they do, he’s able to recall tragedies of the past and steer the leaders in the right direction. When Jonas asks why they must retain these painful memories, The Giver explains that memories are the key to wisdom. He begins to understand why The Giver is so tired, weighed down with difficult concepts he’s forbidden to share. The more Jonas understands about objects and ideas others can’t see, the more isolated he feels from his community. He convinces himself that, given too many choices, people would make the wrong ones and disaster would follow. He discovers color and begins to question why his neighbors aren’t given the choice to see color.
Jonas also begins to “see beyond” what his community has been genetically engineered not to see. The Giver allows him to feel snow as he speeds downhill on a sled and the warmth of sunlight on his face. Jonas is thrilled to discover feelings and objects he’s never known. The Giver transfers his memories to Jonas by touching the boy’s bare back. Jonas will take all of the older man’s memories - some of which were given to him by a predecessor - and preserve these truths and experiences about which the rest of the community is oblivious. Jonas meets with his new mentor, a man he calls The Giver. He’s unnerved to learn the position will involve pain and isolation, and troubled to hear that the last person selected for the position 10 years earlier “failed” at her task and mysteriously disappeared. He will be trained for a rare, honored and secretive position called the Receiver of Memory. The Elders have saved his assignment for last because of its significance. When the officiating Elder fails to call Jonas’ name at his ceremony, he fears he’s done something wrong. At an annual ceremony, 12-year-olds are assigned their careers. The community Elders spend years observing the children to ensure each receives a vocation matching his or her aptitude.
When the old tire of life, infants fail to thrive or someone doesn’t fit in, they’re simply “released” to a place known as Elsewhere. They share their feelings together each morning and each night. Every family has two children, one boy and one girl.
Twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a nearly perfect community.
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