Giver study guide

The Giver

Study Guide Questions

Label a separate sheet of paper with the chapter indicated at the top and answer the following questions there.  Complete sentences are not required, nor do you need to re-copy the question.

Chapters 1-5

1.  What do you think might happen to someone who is released from the community?
2.  Name one thing you learned about the community during the ritual telling of feelings.
3.  What is different about the way children are born and infants are cared for in the community?
4.  Why is it so difficult to get rules changed in the community?
5.  Why are Gabe’s eyes of such interest to Jonas?
6.  How does Lily react to the new word “hippo”? Why does she react this way?
7.  Why does Jonas risk the humiliation of public chastisement (being disciplined in front of people) by taking an apple from the recreation area?
8.  What effect do the pills have on Jonas and the other people who take them?
9.  Why do you think all adults are required to take them?
10. Why do you think Birthmothers, or biological mothers, hold such a low status in the community?
11. What two things does the committee consider when giving children their life assignments?

Cliffhanger – an often abrupt ending that leaves the reader’s questions unanswered which causes suspense.

12.  What is the cliffhanger in Chapter Two?

Allusion – An allusion is when an author refers to a well-known piece of literature, art, or history in order to provide more information through the connection. 

13.  The name Jonas is a variation of the name Jonah. In the Bible, the prophet Jonah was commissioned by the Lord to proclaim judgment upon a sinful city. Why might Lois Lowry have chosen Jonas as the name of her main character?

14. In the Bible the angel Gabriel is a divine messenger. What does the choice of this name for the new child suggest about Gabe’s importance in the novel?

Chapters 6-10

15.  What does the family have to do in order for Gabriel to be allowed a second year of Nurturing?
16.  What do you think is the difference between release and loss based on the way the community used these words?
17.  Nines are given bicycles. What does this signify for them?
18.  Why had Asher been punished for confusing the words “snack” and “smack”?
19.  What sets the Ceremony of Twelve apart from all other age ceremonies?
20.  What is unusual about the appearance of the bearded Elder? What is significant about this characteristic?
21.  Name four qualifications that Jonas has for being the next Receiver of Memory.
22.  What does Asher’s hesitation in congratulating Jonas indicate?
23.  Which item in the list of duties and responsibilities frightens Jonas? Why?
24.  Why is the concept of pain beyond Jonas’s comprehension?
25.  What is unique about the Annex?

Science fiction - a form of fantasy in which the action takes place on another planet, in the future, or in another dimension.

26.  What is the setting for The Giver? Provide evidence from the novel to support your opinion.

27.  What is the cliffhanger at the end of Chapter Eight?

Utopia - is a perfect world or society

Dystopia -  is a world that is supposed to be perfect but turns horribly wrong.

28. Describe or draw your perfect utopia.

29. Describe or draw your most horrible dystopia.

30.  Is Jonas’ community a utopia or dystopia?  Why?

Chapters 11-15

31.  Why is the transmittal of the memory of snow so exhausting to the old man? What does this reveal about the community?
32.  What two lessons does Jonas learn about the sun?
33.  Why does the Giver appear a little sad at the end of the first day of training?
34.  How does Jonas’s relationship with his parents and friends change after receiving his Life Assignment?
35.  How does The Giver explain the visual phenomena that Jonas witnesses? What does this reveal about the community?
36.  Why is it important for the community to have a person who can “see beyond”?
37.  Why is The Giver bitter about the Council of Elders?
38.  According to The Giver, why does Jonas have to receive and store memories of pain?

Simile – A simile is a comparison of two seemingly different things using the word “like” or the word “as.”   Read the passage below and answer the questions about the simile.

“He fell with his leg twisted under him, and could hear the crack of bone... It was as if a hatchet lay lodged in his leg, slicing through each nerve with a hot blade.”

39.                  What two things are being compared? 

40.                  What is the effect of this comparison?

Chapters 16-20

41.  Why does The Giver apologize to Jonas after sharing the memory of war?
42.  Why are Jonas and his father worried about Gabriel’s fretfulness at night?
43.  How does Jonas try to solve this problem?
44.  How does Jonas react to the children’s war game?
45.   Why does Jonas feel powerless and alone when Fiona and Asher ride off on their bicycles?
46.  Why does the community refer to the former Receiver-in-training as a failure? How does this failure affect the rules that apply to Jonas?
47.  What shocked Jonas when he viewed his father “releasing” one of the newborn twins?

Dramatic Irony - a device in which the audience's knowledge of events or individuals is greater than that of the characters.  Read the passage below and then answer the question.

" Jonas . . . had wondered what lay Elsewhere. Was there someone there, waiting, who would receive the tiny released twin? Would it grow up Elsewhere, not knowing, ever, that in this community lived a being who looked exactly the same? For a moment he felt a tiny, fluttering hope that he knew was quite foolish. He hoped that it would be Larissa, waiting.... Fiona had told him recently that Larissa had been released at a wonderful ceremony.”

48.  What does the reader understand about this statement that Jonas does not?

Euphemism – is when you substitute a mild or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive

49.  What was the euphemism for death in Jonas’s community?
50.   Name two euphemisms for death in our society.

Chapters 20-23

51.  Why is The Giver now ready to make a plan for change?
52.  Why would Jonas’s departure from the community lead to possible change?
53.  Why does The Giver decide to stay behind to help the community?
54.  Why do Jonas and The Giver choose the December Ceremony as the time to implement their plan?
55.  What would happen to Jonas and Gabe if the searchers found them?
56.  In what way is Jonas handicapped by his early departure?
57.  How is Jonas able to use memories to avoid the search planes?
58.  What might be the source of the music that Jonas thinks he hears behind him?
59.  Why do you think the author ends the story as Jonas is traveling toward his destination?
60. List two questions that the author leaves unanswered at the end of the book. 

Etymology – The history of a word from its origin to its present use is called its etymology. Speakers of English borrow words from other languages.  The bold word in this paragraph from the novel has an interesting etymology:

“He tried to use the flagging power of his memory to recreate meals, and managed brief, tantalizing fragments: banquets with huge roasted meats; birthday parties with thick-frosted cakes...”

In Greek mythology, Tantalus was a wicked king who, as punishment for his crimes, was forced to stand in deep water with grapes growing overhead. The water receded when he was thirsty, and the grapes receded when he was hungry.

61.  Look up tantalize in a dictionary. Write its definition below.
62.  How does knowing the history of the word enrich the meaning of this paragraph?