The Giver: The Selection (chapter 5-8)

     In this last week I had read the chapters five through eight, and all of them gives us a better insight of the community, its rules, inhabitants and Jonas. When Jonas have his first Stirring, he is given a pill to negate it from happening again, even if he enjoyed it was a rule to take them. Then when the ceremonies began at the Auditorium, they started giving the first day the newchildren that became Ones, Gabe has a second year for nurturing, and the Eights had new jackets and started volunteer hours. In the second day of the ceremonies they began by giving the Nines their bicycles, and so on with the Ten and Eleven. When the Ceremony of the Twelve began, they started giving the Assignments to the new Twelves, such as Asher being Assistant Recreation Director or Fiona being a Caretaker of the Old, but they skipped Jonas. However after the Ceremony the Chief Elder said that Jonas have been chosen as the new Receiver of memories and he would be taken as apprentice by the old one, all the community chanted Jonas name giving him a new, a different life as the new Receiver of memories.

     I had been asking myself, what does this quotes means "He saw the others in his group glance at him, embarrassed, and then avert their eyes quickly. He saw a worried look on the face of his group leader." Does it means that they thought that Jonas was in trouble, or would be released in public? Did they thought that he had been taken over for being a disgrace for the group and community? Or did they thought that he would be punished for something he had made to the Chief Elder or to anyone of the community? Finally, did they thought that maybe Jonas was going to be given a serious chastisement that would change him forever?

     After reading this four chapters I had started to think, is that the Receiver is praised by people but at the same time people fear his job and look reluctantly to be with him. Even the Elders are reluctant to be around him because he had experiences that no one comprehend, and no one comprehend him. People also see in awe to the Receiver as he always have the answer to everything, and is just with everyone. However his apprentice, meaning Jonas, is seen with the respect the Chief Elder is given and at the same time people start to become scared of him as they think that he is already different from the community, in general. Finally, the Receiver accepts this from an early age, and with time he or she starts to accept that they are not a hundred percent a part of the community any more.