the+giver,+taylor

**chap. 1**
Quote Animals. . .Neither child knew what the word meant, exactly, but it was often used to describe someone uneducated or clumsy, someone who didn't fit in. (p. 7) i wonder why their teachers or anyone didn't teach them what an animal was and why they didn't "exactly" know what it was. I also wondered about why they haven't seen an animal? How could the community keep animals from getting in? In addition, I was surprised that Jonas would say that. In the beginning of the book, he said that he was careful with what he said. Yet, he didn't "exactly" know what animal meant, but he used it. I think that Jonas is doing a little lying to himself.

Vocabulary

spouse pg. 9 "most poeple on the night crew had not been given spouses..." spouse- someone's husband or wife

**chap. 2**
Quote

"But to be honest, Jonas," his father said, "for me there was not the element of suspense that there is with your Ceremony. Because I was already fairly certain of what my Assignment was to be." (pg. 15)

Assignment? What assignment? At first I didn't know what that meant. But as I kept on reading, I realized that it was the jobs that people receive. But I wonder how he knew what it was. And since he did know what it was, wouldn't there be suspense for him anyway? I mean, just because you know what your job is going to be, doesn't mean it cuts the suspense. You could worry if you would be good at it, or anything. When I read this sentence, I was very surprised.

Vocabulary

aptitude pg. 16 "... had been obvious to them too-what my aptitude was." aptitude- the ability or talent to do something good

chap. 3
Quote

The apple had changed. Just for an instant. It had changed in mid-air, he remembered. Then it was in his hand, and he looked at it carefully, but it was the same apple. Unchanged. The same size and shape: a perfect sphere. The same nondescript shade. (p. 24)

Well I think that Jonas is seeing things. Maybe his eyes were triking him, or he's just plain old crazy. I mean, Jonas sounds kind of creepy and crazy in the book so far. Even for this wacky community. Well I don't know. But I don't think the apple really changed. Maybe it just looked different because of the lighting or something, but I don't think it changed. Maybe it did, I don' know.

Vocabulary

chastisement (p. 20) "He waited for his father to chastise Lily." chastisement- to discipline; to punish

chap. 4
Quote

What happens when they make the actual release? Where exactly did Roberto go? (p. 32)

Well I was just wondering the same exact thing. I mean, what does it actually mean, release? I don't think that can just go to another community, I think that they kill them. Like the old people. I think they were getting too old, so they were "released" I don't know, but something there's soomething creepy about that sentence. I n a good way.

Vocabulary

bypass (p. 26) "... and would probably be permitted to bypass most of the training." bypass- to pass by

chap. 5
Quote

You're ready for the pills, that's all. That's the treatment for stirrings.

Okay, so I have a pretty good idea to what stirrings means. And I think it's pretty creepy to give pills for that kind of stuff. I mean, that's personal. So in this place you can't hide a lot of things, and you can't even control yourself how you feel?? I don't think I would want to live here. I mean, where's the personal space? So my reaction to that sentence was um.. pretty surprised

Vocabulary

dwelling (pg. 37) "Then, in the same way that his own dwelling.." dwelling- a place to live in

chap. 6
Quote

Those who were released were sent Elsewhere and never returned to the community. (p. 41)

I didn't really get how they release people. When an Old person is old enough to be released, do they have to go? Plus, why don't you get to come back? Is it because they don't want to, or because They're not aloud to? And were they really sent Elsewhere, or did they just send them out into the world? But if they release people as a punishment, or because that person is inadequate, why would they send Old people out and have a celebration? And, if someone isn't aloud to return to the community, how does the community block them out?

Vocabulary

relinquish (p. 41) "....they would relinquish him without protest..." relinquish-to release

chap. 7
Quote

Then the Chief Elder moved ahead in **her** speech

Before I read that part, I thought that the Chief Elder would be a man. It's so typical to have a man ruling places, so I just kind of assumed, but I was surprised that it was a woman. I think that they made the Chief Elder a woman because they wouldn't want women to say that the community is sexist. This was a Utopia, so everything had to be perfect, and to solve the problem of that, they did this. I think that was very clever.

Vocabulary

precision(pg. 53) "And the precision of language was one of the most important tasks of small children." precision- being exact

chap. 8
Quote

The fourth essential attribute is wisdom. . .Jonas has not yet acquired that.

I was kind of confused. I mean, if he didn't have wisdom, why did they pick him? And if he was going to get wisdom, i think that it would take a long time to acquire wisdom. They Have enough time to let him do so? And even if they have enough time for him to get wisdom, what could they possibly do to make him acquire wisdom? Isn't wisdom what you learn from your own mistakes?

Vocabulary

integrity (p. 59) integrity-principle; being on a democracy level;honesty //"Integrity//" she said next."

chap. 9
Quote

"What happened to her?"he asked nervously. But his parents looked blank. "We don't know."

Well, I thought that was kind of.. creepy. I mean, when someone applies for release, how do they really know that they've actually really been released? If they don't know what happened to her, they could have killed her! I mean, from this community, I would expect it. They wouldn't want anyone to copy their perfect society, right? So if she leaves, they'll kill her and make it look like she leaves.

Vocabulary

exempted(pg. 65) Exempted - to set apart "From this moment, you are exempted from rules governing rudeness."

chap. 10
Quote

He couldn't imagine what the thousands of pages contained. (p. 71)

I didn't believe it. I wouldn't know what was in all those books either, but I would know that there are other books besides rules and books describing the community. I mean there's fiction,nonfiction,short stories, and more! How could he live his whole life without an interesting book to read right before he went to sleep or something?

Vocabulary

conspicuous (p. 71) conspicuous-easily seen or noticed "But the most conspicuous difference was the books."

chap. 11
Quote

"Why don't we have snow, and sleds, and hills?"

That is exactly what I thought. I mean, sure sometimes it effects some living situations, but it's fun to have snow! But then again, this community never has fun anyway. Gee. I never knew that having a perfect society would be so.. unfun. I guess, it's better with an unperfect society. I meann, hevaing everything safe and having everything in order and and everyone so perfect.. like robots can be a little, not life like. '

Vocabulary

perceive(pg. 81) perceive- to understand " You should be able to perceive the name without being told."

chap. 12
Quote

"We shouldn't have!" Jonas said fiercely (p. 91)

I was really surprised. After all this time of training and chastisement and teaching of not being rude, he has an outburst like this. I think that he would have more self control than this. Well, I guess I was kind of expecting it since all this time of keeping these words in, I guess it would be normal to have an outburst. But still, I wouldn't expect that from him.

Vocabulary

capacity(pg. 88) capacity-the ability to receive or contain. " When I was observing you, before the selection, I perceived that you probably had the capacity, and what you describe confirms that."

chap. 13
Quote

"We really have to protect people from wrong choices."

I thought that was really stupid. I mean, people have to learn from their own mistakes. If someone applies for release, and goes out into other communties other than the neighboring communities, they're basically setting people up for failure. This is a perfect society, no one gets hurt. So why would they set people up for this? I can't believe the citizens don't realize what is happening to them.

Vocabulary

access(pg. 97) access- the right or permission to do something. "You and I are the only ones with access to the books."

chap. 14
Quote

"They selected me and you to lift that burden from themselves." (p. 107)

I think that is very selfish of them. I agree with Jonas that they should just split up the memories so that everyone can keep them. That's not fair that just one person has to suffer all the time and can't talk about his work while everyone else is enjoying life, no pain, no disturbing memories, nothing. I just really don't like that idea. Especially since the elders rarely ever call him in for advice.

Vocabulary

excruciating (p. 105) excruciating-extremely painful "...the hunger had caused excruciating spasms in his empty, distended stomach."

chap. 15
Quote

The Giver looked away, as if he could not bear to see what he had done to Jonas. "Forgive me, " he said.

I felt something that I can't explain when I read that line. For the first time, I don't know how i got this from this line, but I think that for the first time The Giver had shown emotion, beside when he was being hurt by memories. And that he said that, I knew that he was starting to care for Jonas? Maybe. I don't know what I'm talking about. But I know he was feeling shame. But I really like that sentence.

Vocabulary

anguish(pg. 112) anguish-suffering or pain "...he directed, aware that in such anguish the Giver might need reminding."

chap. 16
Quote

"And they won't be part of my life anymore. . . And they'll be well cared for and respected."

I don't get why they have to be taken away to The House Of The Old. I mean, what's the point of spending your whole life with them for them to nurture you, and then just have them taken away? I know kids need special parent care, but, if they're just taken away, wouldn't the kid miss them and bve sad anyway? Do they also give a pill for missing people??

Vocabulary

Obsolete  (pg. 120) Obsolete - no longer in use or no longer useful " Your father means that you used a very generalized word, so meaningless that it's become almost obsolete," his mother explained carefully."

chap. 17
Quote

"Then I wave bye-bye," he said, in the special sweet voice he used when he spoke to the newchild.

When I imagine him saying this, I imagine that he says it so cold heartedly. I mean, like in the tone, as if he doesn't even care that he will never see the baby again. He was to be nurturer, he was assigned to care for these babies. But it just seems like nothing matters to these people. They just have everything told to them and their whole lives they learned nothing but to obey the rules. It just seems like this perfect world is only perfect because these people don't know anything.

Vocabulary

Overwhelmed(pg. 128) Overwhelmed - to overpower in thought or feeling "Jonas trudged to the bench beside the Storehouse and sat down, overwhelmed with feelings of loss."

chap 18 - 19
I love chapter 9. I don't know why because it's so sad, but I love that chapter. It was so disturbing, I'm not sure how to explain this. But they just put the baby in a in a box and threw it in the trash like it was nothing. Like it wasn't even a human being. It is so disturbing that they would kill the baby and throw it in the trash. But I wonder how they do it with old people, because a lot of people attend the ceremony and I don't think that they would it in the trash.

chap. 20
"I want you to keep that, to have with you, when I'm gone."

Awww. That's so sweet. It was so cool that Jonas did that. He;s so nice to the Giver to give up music so that the Giver could have it. Even after he heard the Giver describe it, he still let the giver have it. I think that they love each other so quickly because they've lived their whole lives until they became the reciever without love, and then experiencing it, they like love. And so that's why I think Jonas let Giver keep music.

Vocabulary

emphatically(pg. 148) emphatically- being strongly expressive in speech or action "Jonas shook his head emphatically."

chap. 21
"First thing tomorrow morning."

Well, this quote really doesn't say a lot. But this is the part where he goes away right? Well, I was kind of surprised that they didn't do this sooner. Like the night that they planned the escape, or even the morning after they planned it. But instead, they waited like two weeks. Or, atleast that's what I remember reading because th Giver had to give him more bravery memories. Wait,is that in the last chapter? I don't know. Oh wait, that's when they were releasing Gabriel!! Oh, ok. When you, teacher told us that was going to go wrong,i knew already. But, when I first read that, I was like, why so soon are they going to kill him? Oh, the auther wrote that because she needed the plan to go wrong. ohhhhh

Vocabulary

meticulously(pg. 153) meticulously-extremely careful and precise. "All of it-all the things they had thought through meticulously-fell apart."

chap. 22-23
I hated how the book ended. She doesn't really give a real ending. She makes it seem like they made it to Elswhere, but she also made it seem like they died, so I'm not sure what happened. Agh!! She makes it seem like he is dead because what he sees is what he received in his memory the Giver gave him. But I also think that maybe it's real because he has traveled so long, he has a FEELING that he has found Elswhere, and the setting of it just seems real. Well I have no proof of what it says in the book, but I just hope that they made it. But I did find proof that maybe he dies. "Jonas felt himself losing consciousness an with his whole being willed himself to stay upright atop the sled, clutching Gabriel, keeping him safe." Also, there's proof that maybe Gabe died. "Gabriel's curly hair was matted and filthy, and there were tearstains outlined in dirt on his pale cheeks. His eyes were closed." Man. I want to know what happened!!