Response on the conclusion of The Giver
In language art we have read and analyzed a book called, The Giver, by Lois Lowry. A brief summary of the book through my perception is that this there is a boy call Jonas that lives in a supposedly utopian society ran by the government. No-one has memories of the past, no real emotions and has his or her own perfect job or if not, would be or had been killed or in the story, released. Jona's job was a receiver or memory, which meant he had to keep and use all the memories from the people so the people don't go back to living in the past. Through learning and looking at these memories and learning, he realizes the the importance of memories and how the supposedly perfect society he was used to wasn't so perfect. Realizing this he sets out to change society and find this "elsewhere" that was suppose to be somewhere outside the community. Now, the ending is undetermined and not unresolved because the author left out a space for the reader to determine the fate of the character within boundaries. At the very end of the book it says that jona's was on top of a hill with a sled and below he could hear music. It was Christmas and there was a family waiting at the bottom of the hill. The 2 most widely accepted explanations for this conclusion was that one, he died, or 2 he found elsewhere. I personally don't agree with neither of them therefore I created my own conclusion. My interpretation of ending is that, yes he has died and yes he has found elsewhere. But I do not believed he has just died and left, I believe is elsewhere is within his death, but he has not just left, elsewhere is that new form of life he and Gabriel have taken what happens there is a question. Whenever they mention elsewhere in the book they mean that they have been killed. But They also mention that memories never leave. I believe that this is related to the thinking that there is a sort of life after death. That in death you enter a new realm of life, where you experience the memories and emotions that have always been there, but the they have never been conscious of it. In the story the first and best memory the Giver gave him were ones that you cant forget. Memories never leave. I perceive this also to the metaphor on how the better memories can cancel out all the hate and war he has experienced. I also relate this to love, a topic brought up multiple times in the story. I think he has found love, through memories, love never just goes away even if he is die, love is still there and was always there through the centuries that the people have lived without it in the community, it was still there and memory. So elsewhere might have not been just a place, but a accomplishment that he sees and experiences at death. The last sentence was that behind hin, he thought he heard the people singing too. I think this means he has helped the people in the community to accomplish this too to find love. the end