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The Giver

+Themes: In novels, author communicate “big

ideas” about certain topics. What is Lowry trying to tell us about:

Memories & the Past

Rules, Order & Tradition

Choices

Language

Isolation

Suffering

Old Age

Emotions

+7 Basic Plots in Fiction (short stories and novels) Overcoming the monster: The hero must

destroy the “monster” to restore balance to the world.

Rags to Riches: A good guy who is down on his luck achieves a happy ending when his/her natural talents are revealed

The Quest: The hero travels in search of a treasure and must defeat evil and overcome powerful odds.

Voyage and Return: Otherwise normal protagonists find themselves in an alien world & must make their way back

+Comedy: (As in Shakespeare) Some kind of confusion must be resolved before the hero and heroine can get back together

Tragedy: (As in Shakespeare) A story about a noble character who falls from grace: everybody dies or is ruined

Rebirth: A threat seems nearly victorious, but events lead to redemption, rebirth, and happiness.

+Character AnalysisProtagonist/AntagonistDevelopment:

flat (one-sided character, one quality)round (both the good & the bad, many

qualities)Change:

static (does not change)dynamic (changes – internal)Jonas (round/dynamic)

Jonas’ mother

Jonas’ father

Lily

Asher (flat/static)

The Giver

Gabriel

+Setting: Time and PlaceThe Giver: in the future/our worldUtopia

No suffering (emotional/physical)

No fighting/war

Perfect families

Restricted emotions

contentment

Dystopia

Does not feel joy

No genuine relationships

No love/sexual attraction

No choices

Isolation

Tyranny (oppressive gov’t) (ruled by oligarchy = rule

by a group)

+Genre: categories of text

The Giver Utopian Science fiction

Other genres Essay Nonfiction Biography Oral literature Fantasy Realistic fiction Historical fiction

+Style: they way it is written

The Giver: straightforward narrative

(story) Simple language; shorter

sentences; not childish Euphemistic

Other terms to describe style: Flowery Conversational Formal Poetic Vague (not clear) Wordy

+The Title: always ask how the title links to a theme

In The Giver, the title reflects the central theme: Humans are mean to share experiences

A “giver” and “receiver” tells us that memories are meant to be shared in order for people to love & grow & thrive.

+Point of View: Who is the narrator? Can he/she read minds? Can we trust him/her? 1st person (pronouns: I, my,

we, our, us) Personal, intense,

subjective, emotional

2nd person (pronouns: you, your) Reader is the center of

attention (e.g. instructions)

3rd person (pronouns: they, him, her, it) Objective when used for

research or reports Subjective when used for

an “as told to” story

Limited? Then the reader only knows the thoughts of one of the characters

Or

Omniscient? Then the reader knows the thoughts of all characters

Reminder: the narrator /persona is NOT the same as the author

+Symbols/Allegory/Imagery: What stands for something else? Look for two meanings Symbols: a thing that represents something deeper and

more meaningful

Allegory: a story where the characters and events are symbols for ideas about human life The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Imagery: language that causes the reader to imagine pictures in their minds (comparisons, appeals to the senses)

Examples of symbols in The Giver: The color red = fire, intensity, love Gabriel = a better future The sled = memories, escape

+Plot Parts: inciting incident, rising action & complication, climax, falling action conclusion The Giver inciting incident: “Ceremony of Twelve”

Rising Action: Jonas in named as the Received & finds out how difficult it is, and he becomes alienated from his society

Climax: Jonas watches his father kill the baby

Falling action: Escape to Elsewhere

Conclusion: Uncertain

+Types of Conflict

Man vs man/society

Man vs nature

Man vs self

+Analyze the Ending

Jonas abandons security and a life of ease

Jonas clearly is seeking freedom and choice (even a choice to live)

Two choices: do Gabe and Jonas live or die? Both outcomes turn the society upside down Live: trailblazers Die: memories are released for the community to deal with

+Perspective

How did the idea of “release” as it had been discussed earlier in the book differ from the visual imagery of the newchild’s actual release?

Why does it affect us this way?

What is more important: how they released or why they released?

Ideas Lowry wants us to note: secrecy, euphemisms, order/systematic procedures