OH THE TIMES, THEY ARE A-CHANGING.
Chapter Three has got to be one of our favorite chapters in The Giver. Why? Because things are becoming out of the ordinary for Jonas and his family. Changes are on the horizon.
Jonas’ father brings Gabe home to spend the night. Gabe, the “problem” newchild. Lily’s comment about Gabe having pale eyes—just like Jonas does—signals a bond between Jonas and Gabe. Two pale-eyed people in a community of dark-eyed people? Something’s up with that. Jonas even thinks to himself that light eyes aren’t only a rarity in the community but that they have a “depth” to them, an ability to understand and recognize things that other people can’t.
Jonas begins to see things differently than what’s proscribed within the community’s rules. While throwing an apple back and forth with his best friend, Asher, Jonas sees the apple “change.” Lowry doesn’t write what this change is, but it’s definitely a foreshadowing of events to come. Remember while reading the novel that there’s no color in Jonas’ community. Everything is gray…but typically we think of an apple as being red. Where’s the color in Jonas’ world? No colors, no emotions, no freedom of expressions. Sounds like a dystopia to us.
“Release” is a big topic of conversation in Chapter Four when Jonas helps an elderly woman named Larissa to take a bath. An older man had just been “released,” so Jonas and Larissa talk about that – but neither Jonas nor Larissa knows what releasing a person really means. We think that’s pretty odd. Who runs this community anyway?