Dont stop others from getting their Happiness

As in most of Ray Bradbury's short stories, he writes about technology, how bad it is for humans and the damages they cause to our daily life and to our future. "All Summer in a Day" is different, a little girl named Margot went to live with her parents on Venus after leaving everything behind on Ohio and most important of all, the chance of seeing the sun everyday. In Venus it only rained, and every seven years, the sun came out for an hour. This was the day that Margot would finally get to see the sun after leaving Earth. As the hours passed by, the children in Margot's class started loosing hope, the sun will not come out, but Margot didn't want to loose that hope. Margot started talking about the sun's beauty and how she remembered it back in Ohio. Her classmates decided to play a joke on her by locking her in the closet. The rain stopped and the sun came out, the kids forgot about Margot, went outside to play in the sun and when it started to rain again, they went back in. They unlocked Margot and she did not see the sun.
 

Margot, the story's protagonist, wasn't and ordinary girl, and through the story we can realize that she wasn't as joyful as the other kids were

 

" She was a very frail girls who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for years and the rain washed out the blue from her eyes and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair" (2).

 

Even though Margot was from another planet and clearly see that she hasn't made any friends, this quote reveals that Margot feels alone, she is sad and she needs happiness in her life. That happiness is being able to watch the sun, something she never got to, but the other kids did...

"It was the color of flaming bronze and it was very large. And the sky around it was a blazing blue tile color" (3).

 

This is how Ray Bradbury's strong use of imagery describes the sun, the words that he uses like flaming bronze makes us imagine a large flaming sun that

if you touch it you will burn and that's what the kids felt as they saw the sun coming out and as we read it we can really feel its heat.

 

This is an amazing story, and one of my favorites, because it has more to it than just about a little girl who lost her chance of seeing the sun. The message is so pure and simple, to achieve happiness not only through material things, just a little smile from somebody might do it, or even getting to see the sun like Margot wanted to. The strong use of imagery and characterization that Ray Bradbury uses, makes us realize that little things can bring us big happiness and that if something stops us from doing that, it will leave a black hole on our hearts. The use of imagery and characterization on these short story not only helps to view the story in another way, it makes it appealing to the senses that we use on our daily life.

 

if you take someone's happiness, they can take yours too

 

 

A life Worth of Living For

Throughout the book Jonas tells us about the fear his community has about RELEASE, but they really don't know what release means. The Giver, being one of the most honorable person in his community, has also asked himself what would become of him by the time he has to be released. This doesn't worry him, he already knows what will happen.  During one of Jonas' sessions with the Giver, Jonas told him about the release of the twins his father made that morning and that the one who weighed less is being released. The only way for Jonas to understand release was by watching it, so the Giver made him watch the releasing ceremony of the twin. After watching it Jonas was SHOKED, he did not only see his father killing the baby with a needle, he saw his father emotionless towards killing somebody and this made him cry so much that he couldn't go back home. To calm down Jonas, the Giver told him that they will make a plan and eventually it turned out to be a great plan. The only way for the community to have feelings and

memories from past generations, is by Jonas going away and leaving all behind and leaving his memories for the community just like Rosemary did. Rosemary was this beautiful girl that turned out to be the  Givers daughter. She wasn't just an ordinary girl, she was the girl who was selected to be the new receiver of memories long ago and failed her task. In his community an unscheduled holiday is very rare but Jonas was very happy to have one, he went to play with Asher and his friends and found them playing a war like game. This really made Jonas freak out because he started seeing the boys face in middle of a WAR and this was very hard for him to see because he was the only one who truly understood the concept of war, he was alone.

When Jonas found out what releasing meant his world was torn apart, everything changed for him, he is realizing that his community is not how it seemed one year ago. He is realizing that not everybody is either a good or bad person, they just can't feel anything. This made Jonas feel overwhelmed......

"Jonas felt a ripping sensation inside himself, the feeling of terrible pain clawing its way to emerge in a cry" (151).

 

This quote made me understand the importance of memories, if everybody in Jonas community had real feelings the whole community would be different, but they can't feel or love anybody, they are like ROBOTS, they don't feel anything. Jonas and the Giver are the only people in their community who had felt real pain, pleasure, sadness and love. This realization made me see how important memories are in Jonas community, having all of those memories not only gives him wisdom, they give him much more than that and that is the ability not only to see what happened long ago but to know things that people in his community will never understand. I think that's one of the main reasons of why he is so determined to leave the community. Jonas knows that his community will struggle having all of his memories but he knows that things can change because even "robots" can have feelings.
 

Jonas will never feel again what it is to be a boy because even though he is stil twelve, all of the painfull memories have taken something out of him, and part of it is his childhood. He now sees the world differently and knows that he can do something to make it right, to make it worthy of living. Although the Giver and Jonas plan is a very good one, I still think that maybe it will fail beacause in Rosemary's case, she died and this caused her memories to be transmitted to the community. Jonas is not going to kill himself, he is just going elsewhere.  If you want to find out? Soon you will know!

love can last a life time... isn't that worth living for?

 

Fear, even from the most honorable...

Jonas in front of all of his society was selected as the receiver of memories. For many people this job is an HONOR, but for Jonas it is more than that. Being the receiver of memories does not only mean receiving memories form back generations, but gaining wisdom out of them. He is realizing that his society is not really how he thought it was, everything is always the same, people do the same things every day. They have the same routine for every single day, it is like their lives are written down.  Jonas has been receiving memories from The Giver throughout his training and as time goes on, the Giver is giving him more painful memories like the memory of poaching were there’s this beautiful elephant and they kill it. Another really painful memory that the Giver gave Jonas was the memory of war, the Giver was suffering so much with this memory that he asked Jonas to take it away from him, now the Giver does not have this memory any more. Jonas now has it, and he will suffer as much as the Giver did, that’s why the giver was so sorry for him. Like always, after the painful memories come the pleasurable ones. The Giver decided that after that awful memory he had given to Jonas he would only give him pleasurable ones for some time.  He gave him his best and happiest memory, FAMILY. With the memory of family Jonas felt LOVE, love is one of the words he and the citizens of his community are not allowed to say or feel. With baby Gabe things have been different, since he is sleeping with Jonas he is getting better every day, but what they don't know is that he is sleeping better because of the memories Jonas gives him every night. With time, Jonas is getting better at his ability of seeing beyond and we can see that he doesn't only want to be the receiver of memories, he wants to change the world. Jonas no longer sees his world like he used to, he wants to live in a world where there are COLORS, grandparents, where everybody have memories of their past and most important of all, a world where there is love. 

 Just imagine....

 

Throughout reading The Giver I have read a lot of things that include fear on them. In Jonas society even though we can’t see it, under all of those happy and perfect society, people live in fear. They live under the fear of being released. When the Giver is training Jonas he told him this quote………..

“When you become the official Receiver, when we´re finished here, you´ll be given a whole new set of rules. Those are the rules that I obey. And it won’t surprise you that I am forbidden to talk about my work to anyone except the new Receiver. That’s you, of course” (103).

This quote made me realize that as time passes by and we start seeing that people are scared of being released. That’s one of the main reasons why the community is so organized and perfect, because everyone is afraid to stand up for themselves and say what they think is right. The only ones permitted to do this are the elders and by that we can also infer that they are selfish because they lead a simple community because if they let everyone suffer with memories it will be harder to control them.  The Giver is the most honorable person in his community and even by having such honor, this quote tells us that he is scared of talking about his work. By seeing that even the most honorable person in their community is afraid to talk, I came up that the world they live in is not as perfect as it stems and we can see that there is DISTOPIA. While reading it I thought that the community in which they live in is so strict with every citizen that they are afraid to have freedom of speech.  

Jonas for the first time did not take his pills, something about the memories told him to throw the pills away. I think that he not only threw the pill away because his memories told him, I think he threw them away because he wants to feel something, he wants to feel how it is living in a world with love. I also think that Jonas is a very brave boy and although he knows all the risks form doing bad things, he is going to rebel. He will not only start to make things for himself, like not talking the pills, he will make a CHANGE in his society. But is he ready to take this risk? Sure, because everybody is capable to do good things and make the world a better place!

THE WORLD FORM A DIFFERENT PRECPECTIVE

Jonas lives in a world where DISTOPIA takes over his society. A world where everyone is the same and you don’t have the choice of individuality. Every one is the same and at each ceremony, until kids are twelve, each year they have new gifts like bikes at age of nine. Although we can’t see this, we all know that there are certain classes were some jobs are better than others like the committee of elders who have their principal leader, the Chief Elder.  But in Jonas case, at his ceremony of twelve, he was selected a very important and honorable job, THE RECIEVER OF MEMORIES. The first memory that The Giver gave Jonas was snow, he made Jonas feel like he was sliding a sled in a mountain full of snow and this memory made Jonas feel pleasure. After giving him the memory of SNOW he gave him the one of SUNSHINE, but The Giver added some pain to it, he made Jonas feel the pain of SUNBURN.  When Jonas felt the sunburn it hurt a lot and this made him realize what the chief Elder had told him, you will also feel physical pain. The Giver told him that this is just a little sunburn pain but in time he will feel real pain and by this Jonas will understand the relationship between pain and pleasure.  What will happen to Jonas? Will he have enough courage to feel that kind of pain?

While reading the giver, Jonas “ability to see beyond” start happening more frequently. When he got to the Annex, the first thing he did was tell The Giver about his experience with Fiona’s hair and how it changed. The Giver told him he was starting to see the color red and that eventually he will start seeing all of the colors, just like he does now and he tells him……

“I’ll tell you another day. Now we must work. And I’ve thought of a way to help you with the concept of color. “Close your eyes be still, now. I’m going to give you a memory of a rainbow.”

At first his quote made me wonder many things but the most important and confusing part was, why he would give him the memory of a rainbow? Does this dystopian society see all black and white? After analyzing it I came up with the conclusion that Jonas ability of seeing beyond is to have the ability to see colors rather than black and white.  The Giver will help Jonas by giving him the memories of all the colors and by doing this, Jonas will start seeing all of this amazing colors that surround him and the world will change for him just as the apple, the crowd and Fiona’s hair did.

Every time I pick this book to read it, there is always new things to discover, new things that keep me flipping pages faster and faster. But after reading the part when Jonas will receive the memory of a rainbow, made me predict something, when Jonas receives those memories the world will not be the same as it used to be. Everything will be strange and new, he would see the world from another perceptive, he will see the real color of all things and for me colors are the ones who put happiness and life to the world. Jonas will not only see the world from a different point of view, he will feel what is like living in a world full of happiness and life!

            LET'S SEE THE WORLD IN A DIFFERENT WAY!

The Receiver of Memories

As you all know from my previous blogs, I am reading The Giver. From now on I’m going to blog all my thoughts and new discoveries from the book. In the chapters that I have recently read, a lot of things had happened. As it commonly happens with all kids in the community, Jonas had his first stirrings for Fiona, to prevent them, his mother started giving him pills to eliminate his feelings. The days of the ceremony had started and Jonas was very nervous about his ceremony, like other years, the first day was form the ceremony of the ones until the ceremony of the eights, luckily Gabe didn’t have enough weight to be given to a family unit, so he is going to stay one more year in the nurturing center with Jonas father. The next day the ceremony of the nines, tens, elevens and twelve’s took place. The Chief Elder gave the twelve’s their assignment but when it was Jonas turn she skipped him, at the end of the ceremony she called Jonas to the stage and apologize to him and everybody for her actions.  She told everybody that Jonas wasn't assigned, he was selected to be the receiver of memories because he had all 5 things a receiver must have and most of all, he had the capacity to see beyond. The Chief Elder also told him that his training will include a lot of physical pain, Jonas was not sure he was the right person to be the next receiver.

 

"I think it's true," he told the Chief Elder and the community. "I don't understand it yet. I don't know what it is. But sometimes I see something. And maybe it's beyond."

(Lowris 64)
Before reading this quote the Chief Elder had told Jonas that he was selected as the receiver of memories because he had the capacity to see beyond, Jonas didn't understand this, he thought he didn't have this capacity. But when he looked to the crowd to see their faces and reactions they changed, just like the apple did. When Jonas said this quote I think Jonas finally knew what it meant to see beyond. He might still don’t know how to use it but he knows that in some way he is different than the other citizens in his community and that maybe he was given this capacity because he would be the next receiver of memories.

The last chapters I have read form The Giver, where the most important because I could see that the committee of Elders and the receiver of memories saw Jonas as a special boy and because of that, they selected him to be the new receiver of memories. After reading this chapters I came up with a prediction, if the receiver of memory is one of the most important in the committee of Elders, then Jonas will soon know all the true secrets about his community, and by saying this he would not only know each of the secrets of the citizens of his community, he would also know all of community’s dark secrets.
 

You will never know someone until you know their feelings

From what I have recently read in chapter 1 through chapter 4 in the previous week, The Giver has made me question about many things in Jonas society and in the way he lives. In this few chapters Jonas lives in a society where every year there is a ceremony in which, as every kid grows a year older, they have more freedom to do more things. At the ceremony of the twelve, the community of elders choose your assignment. Jonas family is made of his father, mother, younger sister and him, because in his society the families can only have one girl and one boy. Jonas is feeling apprehensive because this year it's his turn to be assigned for a job and this means his volunteering hours are ending and he wants to spend the last hours volunteering with his best friend Asher, so they do it in the House of the Old helping the elder bathe. Also in these chapters the author talks a lot about releasing people, this is basically throwing people out of the community for a certain reason. Jonas father is a Nurturer and he takes care of the babies until they are one year old and are received in a family. But there is this baby that Jonas father nurtures, his name is Gabriel, he might not pass the ceremony of the ones because he is not growing fast enough and maybe he will be released.

When I was reading these chapters I read a quote that said “The Elders know Asher,” his mother said. “They’ll find exactly the right assignment for him” (Lowry 17). This quote made me think more about the relationship between Jonas society and the Truman Show that we watched, because in both societies there is someone that knows you very well and knows what’s best for you. In this case the Elders have so much control of society, that they know exactly what assignment goes to every twelve year old. In the Truman Show Christof has known Truman since he was a baby and he knew what was the perfect job for him just like the Elders did with Asher. Even though this made me connect to the Truman Show, I also think that maybe this statement is wrong because you can’t know someone just by watching them all day. In my opinion Cristof and the Elders really don’t know the feelings of the characters to know what’s right or wrong to them.

Click here to watch Christof talking with Truman!

Finally, from what I have read so far from The Giver, it has been a very interesting book to read because it has made me question a lot about Jonas society and the way they live. Also because I could feel Jonas feelings while I read and The Giver is one of the first books that has caught my attention, I can see that there is a lot of dystopia in Jonas society because they have all these types of rules and they are always being controlled by the Elders. If you want to see what happens in the next chapters keep reading this blog!

PRE-READING THE GIVER

 

Lowry on the dedication page said "For all the children to whom we entrust the future." I think by saying this statement Lowry is trying to tell to the youngest generations that the future depends on us. Also in our actions, because we are the ones who are going to live the future and we are the ones that have to make things right from the beginning to have a good life. By saying this Lowry is also trying to tell us that the adults are putting all of their lives on children so they can make a better world.

From what I have seen on The Giver cover page and on its back summery I think that this book will be about I boy who lives a perfect life and he is going to see and feel what's real pain and fear. I think this book would be about that because on the back summery it says that when Jonas turns 12 he would go and talk to the giver that he is the one that knows the truth about pain and pleasure. To me the Giver is the only man in this perfect world that they live in, that has experience pain and happiness, and when boys turn 12 they go to him and he makes them feel pain and the pleasure of life so when they know how it feels. The Giver is the man who makes them realize there is more than the world they live in. I would describe this book as a book that has dystopia because I think that at the beginning the world would seen perfect but at the end it would make us realize its not really perfect for Jonas.

My prediction of the book is that when Jonas turns twelve he would go to see the Giver and the Giver would make him feel real pain and real life pleasure, that this would make Jonas think in a different way about his perfect world and he would want to search for answers. I also think it would make him question everything in his life and that could be a problem.

Chandara. "Quote Posters Of The Month – April 2014." NotedQuote. 20 May 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.