The book I chose to do for this summer reading project is The Giver by Lois Lowry. The protagonist of the story is an eleven year old boy named Jonas, who lives in a rigidly controlled society with no war or suffering in the future. The antagonist of the story is the community because in this society there are a lot of rules and limitations which Jonas is forced to fight against. The story was told from a third-person point of view. The major conflict of the novel The Giver occurs when Jonas’ new assignment in the Community as the Receiver of Memories causes him to question the restrictions imposed on the society by the Elders who control everything. The themes of the book is the importance of memory; the relationship between pain and pleasure; and the importance of the individuals. The reason why I drew the things I drew were to represent many of the important aspects of the book.
In the drawing the color red represents difference, and therefore emotion. The apple is the first red Jonas sees, and he does not recognize at first that he is seeing a color. This makes him unique, because no one else in the community feels things like he does. The books symbolises memories of the past where it was filled with suffering, hunger, war, and love. The sled in the hill is a symbol of freedom because in the world where the first memory comes from, sledding is fun and snow is enjoyable. The mountains in the background represents the obstacles that Jonas had to get through to get to where he is, like the communities rules. Last but not least, the gray and black colors represents the present because the utopian society that Jonas lives in was engineered by the community and converted into a condition of “sameness” to eliminate pain, suffering, hunger and strife.
