movie:

picture of Fiona:

Post reading: Poem

My way

I became the giver,

I learned to lie

I won't be a skiver

I don´t know why.

I saw the sun,

I got memories of pain;

I had a lot of fun,

but it's hard to train.

I changed my mind,

began to look behind.

I saw the real

I get a feel(ing).

I can release,

but is it the peace?

My father kills

I took my brother,

I left town and mother,

and drive up to the hills.

I was on the brink,

but I don't shrink.

I reach my assignment.

Post-Reading Activity: The end of the book

The end of “The Giver”

Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thaught he heard music too. But perhaps it was only an echo.

The speed and cold filled his eyes with tears. Jonas could see nothing. It included Gabriel and clung to the sled. Suddenly he heard soft music again. The music was sad ...
Jonas saw the Giver. He stood on the podium; he had tears in his pale eyes. Behind him were garlands of flowers were in all colors. They were beautiful.
Jonas looked around. The crowd was, as in any other Ceremony, to their usual places. The children sat in their groups and the adults were sitting together, but there were the Olds too. The labor, the newborn, the Birthmothers, the Nurturer ... everyone from the community was there.
Jonas found his parents in the crowd. The resentment against his father rose up in him again: How could he have done such a deed...? But there was something that surprised Jonas. His father had tears in his eyes. Jonas looked to his mother, who was next to his father. She cried too. Now he looked into several of faces of the people. They were all still crying. Tears rolled down their cheeks. It was only to hear the gentle music, besides all was still.

Jonas noted that the Giver looked up and coughed.

Than he began to speak: “Today a year ago a young boy, named Jonas, had done a great deed.  He made our live worthy to live. He brought us colours and feeling. He brought us love and luck, but he brought also pain and sadness. He brought the memories back and had changed this community. He was the real Receiver of Memory! Jonas was only thirteen but he had the courage like nobody else. We thank him everything. We thank him our live. Before him we were not real. Now we are.

Jonas liked the colours like nobody else. If he is here, he would love these flowers. But rather, he would laugh with you all and have fun. He loved the feeling of love like all of us. Because of Jonas and because of all of us, we should try to give love everyone. Jonas had done this. He loved his family and of course a female person too. We should give love everyone too.

And we should keep in the heart of his message: He has sacrificed himself for us all so that we can live and love. We get to know the good things in life and should put away the suffering of the world. Let us do it! The world is too wonderful to destroy it!

Thank you Jonas for everything!”

Jonas cried with everyone in the Community. He closed his eyes. It was too much. He can’t understand it. Was it really one year ago as he had left the Community?

The music changed. Now there was a hopeful music, a music which shows the future…

But Jonas didn’t hear it. He opened his eyes. And closed them slowly… Big snowflakes were blown in it like thorns. He noticed that he wasn’t on the Ceremony anymore and he wasn’t on the sled Pain came over him. A lot of pain. He was cold, could not move his limbs. The last time he opened his eyes, fighting against the snow and the pain. After a while he saw Gabriel, lying in his arms, as if he were asleep. But Jonas knew that Gabriel was not asleep.  
He looked around ... The sled next lied broken in front of rock. The snow around him was red. It was quiet. Church bells rang softly to him. A smile flitted over Jonas's face. It was Christmas! He felt no pain, no sorrow; he only heard the Christmas song of the children and the laugh. Jonas knew at once he had made it. He felt the love in him. “Hopefully, there Elsewhere is also Christmas for Gabriel and me!” Jonas thought…

The Christmas song Jonas had heard:

Verse 1:

Long

period of darkness,
Snow covers the land.
People light candles
and shake hands.
Fire in the fireplace,
I feel safe
and heat deep in the heart
in this cold period.

Refrain:

The light of hope shows us the way
not only when it's Christmas.
The light of hope gives confidence
and heat when you freeze.
A spark of hope, but enough already
and helps us through the solitude of the night.
And if it becomes a fire,
It has rekindled in us the chance.

Verse 2:
When winter arrives,
Peace is in the air.
House and yard are colorfully decorated,
Beyond Christmas scent.
The night is long at this time,
people light candles.
And then I just now realized
which can give hope.

Refrain:
The light of hope shows us the way
not only when it's Christmas.
The light of hope gives confidence
and heat when it freezes.
A spark of hope, but enough already
and helps us through the solitude of the night.
And if it becomes a fire,
It has rekindled in us the chance.

( „Das Licht der Hoffnung“ by Irena)

Chapter: twenty-one to twenty-three

A quiz to the last chapters of the story. Please klick here !!!

Links to the pictures:

http://www.kunstnet.de/werk/30345-apfel

 http://www.denk-mit.info/images/hunger_450.jpg

Chapter eightteen: Rosemary´s story

Rosemary’s story

Rosemary stand on the stage the crowd in front of her. She saw her parents sitting in the crowd laughing. It seemed that they were proud. Suddenly the people began to whisper, then louder and louder: “Rosemary, Rosemary...!”Her heart pulsated in her breast. She was so exciting! She didn´t know what she should do.. it was a good feeling... a feeling like she was something special?!

On the evening Rosemary red the rules of a Receiver of memory. There were eight rules. She thought about this rules the whole night. The first rule was: Go immediately at the end of school hours each day to the Annex entrance behind the House of Old and present yourself to the attendant.

This shows easy, everyone had to do it. The next rule was: Go immediately to your dwelling at the conclusion of Training House each day. This was easy to do, too. The next rule was a surprise: From this moment you are exempted from rules governing rudeness. You may ask questions of any citizen and you will receive answers. Rosemary didn´t thought that anybody can get special rules...

Rule number four: Do not discuss your training with any other member of the community, including parents and Elders. She thought this was logical because nobody knew something about the pain without the old Receiver. The next rules were curious. She could lie and she was prohibited from dream-telling. Thinking of her parents she lyed in her bed. In the morning her father talked about a dream from his work, was it only lies? Lied he all the time? Was it only rules for the receiver of memory? Was he the only one who can lie? And now she can lie, too? The feeling to be not normal came back to her. But before she could think about it, she slept.

The next morning began as usual, she talked with her family about dreams and feelings in the last night. But for the first time she had no dream. Her parents accepted it and she drived to the house of the Receiver. She felt very exciting as she knocked on the door. A voice said: “Come in, Rosemary!” She smiled a little bit, now the time had come! A young woman in the front room showed her where she had to go. Rosemary opened the door and went inside. The room looked like normal: a table, a chair, a bed, a couch and many books. So many books she had never seen before. If she was honest, she had never thought that so many books existed.

After a time she noticed the old man. He smiled to her and said: “Welcome Receiver of memory!” Rosemary smiled back and thanked for it. He asked her to it down on the chair and Rosemary looked eager to the old man. But she was scared and exciting too. The Receiver explained that Rosemary is the new Receiver of memory now, he would be the Giver. Rosemary listened carefully.

The next months it went away like this. Rosemary listened carefully. She laughed about driving in a carousel, about playing with cats and about having a picnic. She was enthusiastic and delighted to experience new things. She had much fun. But she wanted to see more. She wanted to see the pain and the Giver gave her the memory of loneliness and loss.

The memory was about a child which loss the parents. She was shocked.

After a time Rosemary began to change, she didn´t laugh so much like the first time. She was sad. The memories robbed her the will to live. But also she said that it is her duty to get this pain and she don´t want to get spare. The Giver noticed it but he couldn´t do something against the pain. He loved her so it broke his heart to hurt her. But he had to do the job too, he couldn´t transfer only the good memories.

With ten or eleven years she had often introduced with her friends what would be happen if you were released. Now she dreamed nearly every night of a better world without pain. In this community she had no friends. The time before she get to the Receiver she had many friends. Often playing with them near the river. But now it had changed. She had changed. She didn´t feel happy, only sad and very very old. She had no fun any more to play with her old friends and so she got more and more loneliness. She saw that she couldn´t be the Receiver... the pain hurts to much. She wanted to go into this better world.

Long time ago she had heard by one of her friends that the Old were happy to receive because they got into this world without pain.

Because of this she planed to get released too.

Chapter fifteen Diary Entry:

Dear diary!

Today I got a memory of love. LOVE is a feeling … I can´t really describe it. It is something special and I have not felt it any time before.

But from beginning. The last day after the memory of the war the Giver gave me many good memories full of happiness and fun. I had never thought before that there are so many good memories.

This morning I asked the Giver for his favourite memory. Of course I didn´t want it but I was pry. He should describe it because I wanted to know how special the feelings could be.

But the Giver wanted to give me his memory, he answered he has many memoires like this. I was unsure but I lied down to get this memory. I was really surprised when I came to a room. Many people were in it, a whole “family”. The atmosphere was special too. It was warm, full of happiness and a little bit suspense and excitement too. A little boy presented his presents to the family members. I had the feeling that my family isn´t real. This family in this room in this atmosphere was something special. There were old people too. A man and a woman sitting on the couch. The old woman rocked the little boy and rubbed her cheek against his. This was a gesticulate … I have never seen it with this feelings. The Giver explained me that this old people were the “grandparents” of this boy. Grandparents were the parents of the parents of the little boy. The real parents and they didn´t live in a House of Old like in our community.

As I woke up the Giver asked about my feelings... at first I couldn´t describe. It was overwhelming. The Giver explained this feeling is “love”!!! After this it was a feeling of foolish which came to me. I don´t know why but I thought it was foolish to say love. But the Giver affirmed me that there was nothing foolish, I should only trust the memories and how they made me feel. From this time I wish we all have love. This feeling is so great and I think it is good to everybody to have this! But I understand too that it is dangerous to live like them. The fire and the candles all this a risks. This things are outlawed although they made such a warm light!

In the evening I asked my parents whether they love me. To my surprise they answered I should use more precise language. They were of the opinion love is not a real feeling. I had not understand them to this time and I had to lie because I felt love and it is a real, real feeling. Now I knew what is wrong with my thoughts: my parents hadn´t feel love any time. They couldn´t think that love is a real feeling because love is only a word to them. They didn´t know anything about this feeling and they can´t figure it. Before I went to bed I told Gabe about my plans. I was sure that the things can change. Gabe was the only one who know my memories, I had give him this if he can´t sleep. I let him to the lake and let him feel the sunshine. I thought it is right too show him this and now he could sleep! Because of this it couldn´t be wrong too. I think tomorrow I won´t take this pill. I think this love has something to do with the pill and so I try it without this pill. I am really interested what happens!

Good night...