Jonas is a dynamic character because he changes throughout the book. Jonas develops as a character how to be selfless. In the beginning of the story, Jonas thinks about himself. Jonas realizes that the Ceremony of Twelves in December is coming up and it says,” He had waited a long time for his special December. Now that it was almost upon him,... Apprehensive, Jonas decided. That’s what I am.” (4). This quote shows that Jonas is not selfless because he himself feels nervous and doesn’t put anyone’s feelings above his. Jonas is worried about what career he will participate in, in the future. The Chief Elder decides the future for all upcoming Twelves in the community. It is extremely difficult to cope with the pressure of revealing what the career of your future is, especially with Jonas. Whereas to the ending of the book, Jonas learns how to become selfless. While Jonas receives memories from The Giver, these memories affect Jonas to see his community in a different perspective from how the people in the community see it. He sees colors, feels love, a sunburnt, snow, riding a sled, and painful things like war. When he feels love, he says,” But anyway, I was thinking, I mean feeling, actually, that it was kind of nice, then. ...I liked the feeling of love,” he confessed.” (126) This quote shows that Jonas feels love when he sees the family enjoying their Christmas holiday. This feeling of love leads Jonas to develop selflessness because he feels love for Gabriel, his safety becomes important to Jonas and he puts Gabriel’s feelings above his own. Jonas wants to escape his community because he finds out that Gabriel will be released first thing in the morning. He starts riding the bicycle with Gabriel and experiences starvation and cold, when he starts crying, it says,” He wept because he was afraid now that he could not save Gabe.” (174). This quote explains that the character, Jonas, has now become selfless because now he does not think about himself , he puts Gabe before himself. Gabe’s safety looks more important to Jonas than his own safety. In conclusion, Jonas becomes selfless throughout the book.
Many themes are stated throughout The Giver, one theme I found was looking back into the past of your memories, creates wisdom. In Chapter 14, Jonas is given the memory of riding on his sled in the snow, however, Jonas steers the sled a wrong way and the sled tips over . Jonas is in a lot of pain, he experiences a broken leg along with vomiting blood. Jonas realizes that he has to go through painful memories that the community doesn't, it says, " Why?" ... It gives us wisdom," The Giver replied. " Without wisdom I could not fulfill my function of advising the Committee of Elders when they call upon me." (111). This quote shows that looking back into the past creates wisdom because these memories get to teach Jonas to learn from his mistakes, without The Giver giving him these memories of pain, he will not learn how to make better decisions in the future. We also learn that from this quote, The Giver receives these memories to gain wisdom in order to help advise the Committee of Elders because they can't decide anything, there is no choices in this type of community. The Giver prevents them from making the wrong decisions because that burden was given to the Receiver of Memory. Another theme I found in The Giver is the importance of the individual. Jonas has a distinct physical attribute that contrasts from the people in his community, he has pale and lighter eyes than everybody else. When he realizes that Gabriel has pale and lighter eyes like him, he says," No one mentioned such things; it was not a rule, but was considered rude to call attention to things that were unsettling or different about individuals." (20). This quote describes the theme of the importance of individuality because everyone in the community is adapted to Sameness, where everyone is alike. The people in the community do not feel emotions, do not see color, and cannot make decisions. The theme of individuality shows the reader that Jonas stands out in his community for being different and unique from others. Therefore, the importance of the individual is a theme in The Giver for showing the difference and distinctive traits of characters, such as Jonas.
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