The Giver Symbols

Works Cited

• Ben, and Justin. "The LitCharts Study Guide to The Giver." LitCharts. SparkNotes LLC, 2016. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.
• "Symbolism - Examples and Definition of Symbolism." Literary Devices. Ed. LiteraryDevices Editors. N.p., 02 July 2013. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.
• "Love." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, 2002. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.
• "The LitCharts Study Guide to The Giver." LitCharts. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.
• "The Giver Full Text Version - Classalberti." <i>The Giver Full Text Version - Classalberti</i>. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2016.

Love

• a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person
• to be enamored of a person, place, or thing
• Love in The Giver symbolizes that Jonas is maturing and surpassing the boundaries and restrictions of his community.
• chapter 16-

'Jonas hesitated. "I certainly liked the memory, though. I can see why it's your favorite. I couldn't quite get the word for the whole feeling of it, the feeling that was so strong in the room."

"Love," The Giver told him.

Jonas repeated it. "Love." It was a word and concept new to him.'

• chapter 17-

'But he knew that they could not understand why, without the memories. He felt such love for Asher and for Fiona. But they could not feel it back, without the memories. And he could not give them those.'

The Snow-Covered Hill

• The snow-covered hill is a symbol for somewhere else.
• Almost like an escape place
• This place makes him feel safe.
• Feels real pain
• First place he sees snow
• The snow covered hill is not monolithic.
• Unlike the community that is in uniform, the snow covered hill is not like anything Jonas has seen before.

Blue Eyes

Quotes

• blue eyes in the monolithic community represent originality
• also represents the ability to See Beyond
• Jonas, Gabriel, and the former Receiver of Memory all have pale blue eyes

The Giver Symbols

Jonas has had a dream about the hill

"Again and again, as he slept, he had slid down that snow-covered hill. Always, in the dream, it seemed as if there were a destination: a something-- he could not grasp what--that lay beyond the place where the thickness of snow brought the sled to a stop.

He was left, upon awakening, with the feeling that he wanted, even somehow needed, to reach the something that waited in the distance. The feeling that it was good. That it was welcoming. That it was significant" (91).

After Jonas escapes from the society

'Jonas felt more and more certain that the destination lay ahead of him, very near now in the night that was approaching. None of his senses confirmed it. He saw nothing ahead except the endless ribbon of road unfolding in twisting narrow curves. He heard no sound ahead.

Yet he felt it: felt that Elsewhere was not far away' (216).

Quotes

Jonas realizes only certain people in the community don't have the uniform dark brown eyes.

"The Committee of Elders was sitting together in a group; however, there was one who sat in the midst but seemed oddly separate. It was a man Jonas had never noticed before, a bearded man with pale eyes. He was watching Jonas intently"(63).

Jonas begins to see the color red.

"But suddenly Jonas had noticed, following the path of the apple through the air with his eyes, that the piece of fruit had--well, this was the part that he couldn't adequately understand--the apple had changed. Just for an instant. It had changed in mid-air, he remembered".(29)

Symbolism

by Olivia Swann,

Mary Miles Peterson,

and Eli Mackinnon

• the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense
• generally is an object representing another to give it an entirely different meaning that is much deeper and more significant
• ex: blue eyes, the snow-covered hill, and love