The Giver is a novel written by Lois Lowry and published on April 16, 1993. It is set in a future society which is at first presented as a utopian society and gradually appears more and more dystopian; therefore, it could be considered anti-utopian. The novel follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth year of his life. The society has eliminated pain and strife by converting to Sameness, a plan which has also eradicated emotional depth from their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of Receiver of Memory, the person who stores all the memories of the time before Sameness, in case they are ever needed to aid in decisions that others lack the experience to make. As Jonas receives the memories from his predecessor－the Giver－he discovers how shallow his community's life has become.
Despite controversy and criticism that the book's subject material is inappropriate for young children, The Giver won the 1994 Newbery Medal and has sold more than 5.3 million copies. In Australia, the United States and Canada it is a part of many middle school reading lists, but it is also on many banned book lists. The novel forms a loose trilogy with Gathering Blue (2000) and Messenger (2004), two other books set in the same future era.
Plot Summary
Where Jonas lives, life is safe, orderly, and predictable. Rules are strictly adhered to; every aspect of a person's life is carefully planned. People rarely make choices on their own; everything is decided for them by the community. There is no snow or sunshine, no colors or music, no animals or nature.
People in the community take special care to avoid doing or saying anything different. In the community, one must not say anything that causes discomfort to others, and one must use language precisely. Husbands and wives are matched as couples by a Committee of Elders who reviews each individual to see if a person's characteristics will be compatible with those of his mate. Exactly two children-one male and one female-are assigned to each family unit. The elderly live at the House of the Old. Those whose children have grown to have families of their own live with other Childless Adults. Newborn infats are nurtured at the Nurturing Center until they become Ones and are assigned to family units.
When Jonas and other Elevens become Twelves in December, they receive their Assignments that assign them to their particular fields of profession. As someone with intelligence, integrity, courage, and a certain special capacity, Jonas is selected for the most honored and respected Assignment in the community. He is assigned to become a Receiver of Memories who will succeed the current Receiver. A Receiver of Memories is the one person in the community who has access to all the memories of the past. He must keep these memories within himself until he can train a new Receiver to whom he can pass them. Thus, the Receiver has knowledge of things that no one in the community has access to, but the Receiver also has the responsibility to shoulder the burden of sorrow and pain that the memories bring.
Jonas begins his training with the Receiver whom he calls The Giver. At first, The Giver gives Jonas happy memories of the past-memories of things Jonas has never known. Jonas is eager and excited to be able to experience new things. But The Giver must also give Jonas memories of loneliness, fear, grief, rage, and pain-all of which he has never felt in the community. Gradually, through the memories he receives from The Giver, Jonas comes to realize the various truths about the community. He realizes that it is unfair to deprive people of ever being able to make choices for themselves about their own lives. He understands that the people of the community have no genuine feelings. Feelings have never been a part of their lives. He also learns that there are different ways to live. Through the memories, he sees people in the past living differently, and feels that the community must change.
Together with The Giver, Jonas comes up with a plan to change the entire community. He decides to flee the community for the Elsewhere, a place he has only heard about that lies far beyond. If Jonas leaves, the memories he has received from The Giver will be let loose. They will find their way back to the community and to the people. The people will have ready access to the memories that will, in turn, give them knowledge about things that have been missing in their lives. They will come to the same kind of awakening that Jonas did when he was given memories of the past from The Giver.
Jonas departs for the long and difficult journey during which he faces cold and starvation as well as the danger of being found. Seeing lights in the far distance after having come a long way, Jonas is confident that he has reached his destination.
《The Giver》中文译为《记忆受领员》或《记忆传授人》.《记忆传授人》由台湾东方出版社于2002 年 12 月 25 日出版,译者为郑荣珍.可在博客或网路书店找到.
the giver 译为赐予者或授者,洛伊丝·洛利的作品.是她最著名的也是最受争议的作品.《The Giver》描述了一个作者Lois Lowry自己想像出来的理想乌托邦世界。在这个社区里，人们的生活都被安排得好好的，人们不用决定工作，不用决定配偶，这些社区都帮你做好了决定。而这个世界也没有记忆、感情，颜色，及音乐，他们只拥有最基本的生活需求。但是这个社区里面，却有一个人例外，他一个人承担了整个社区该有的记忆，他必须独自承受痛苦、恐惧、和孤单，而他也同时知道什么是温暖、幸福和爱。他被称为the receiver of memory(也就是The Giver)。当12岁的男主角Jonas成为这个the receiver of memory的接班人后，他得到了他以前所不曾有过的经验，而当他知道愈多时，他愈发现这个世界的不合理，于是最后他选择逃离……
整本小说有个让我最被震撼甚至于全身起鸡皮疙瘩的布局，而作者安排的极为巧妙。书中Jonas拥有一个能力，他可以sees beyond，一开始我们完全不了解sees beyond是什么，包括Jonas。这能力的第一次出现在苹果身上，Jonas和他朋友Asher玩丢苹果时，Jonas隐约发现苹果出现了变化，而我们不知道那变化是什么，也无法想像；再来这变化当Jonas站在台上望着底下一大群人时又出现了，但我们仍不知道这变化是什么，直到Jonas去找The Giver。当The Giver让Jonas进入了回忆的世界中，Jonas发现他在雪地上踩的雪橇也发生了变化，但这变化却不是一闪而逝，而是持续存在时，The Giver知道这变化是什么了。
原来Jonas看到的东西，这一开始总是一闪而逝的变化是“红色”，原来Jonas生活的世界没有颜色。我想光是这个安排，就值得看这本小说，也让我深感佩服Lois Lowry的创意。而另一个更神奇的地方则是，The Giver当年的能力不是看见死后的生活，而是听见死后的生活，他可以听得到“音乐”。一个没有爱没有恨没有痛苦没有快乐没有颜色没有音乐的世界，而这全部都要由The Giver承担时，难怪Jonas会想要逃离了，虽然逃亡的地点未知，是生是死也无法掌握……