ELED221 001 FL-Dr. DeAnna M. Laverick (LAVERICK)

Now that you know the role of The Giver and The Receiver, can you imagine how it would feel to not know the memories that are being transmitted? Is it good or bad to withhold painful memories? Why? Why are the memories kept by only one person at a time? How do you think Jonas will respond to the responsibility of being the Receiver of Memory?

That is a hard thing to imagine not knowing the memories being transmitted. Weather the memory is painful or full of happiness its still a memory and I feel it would be very hard not to know. I think it is a bad thing to withhold painful memories, it is natural in a humans life to have and experience pain and everyone needs to go through that no matter how bad it may hurt the individual to grow emotional.  I believe that memories are kept to one person at a time because they are too awful for more then one person to bare. Also they are trying to hide the pain and sorrow from the rest of the communities members. I think Jonas at first will become very overwhelmed and extremely stressed with his responsibility has the Receiver of Memory. But I think that he will quickly adapt and live up to his Assignment. 

Now that you know the role of The Giver and The Receiver, can you imagine how it would feel to not know the memories that are being transmitted? Is it good or bad to withhold painful memories? Why? Why are the memories kept by only one person at a time? How do you think Jonas will respond to the responsibility of being the Receiver of Memory?

I think it would really be hard to understand the memories that are being transmitted, especially not knowing anything about them. For instance, this community is so sheltered that they don't have any hills, sunshine, or probably any kind of weather for that matter. I would be upset that so many wonderful things are being withheld from the community.
I feel that it's bad to withhold painful memories. The painful memories help the Receiver realize just exactly what people have gone through in the past. Without these painful memories, maybe things wouldn't have needed to be changed into the society that is now there.
I think memories are kept by one person at a time because they are so secretive, the elders don't want them to escape. If they leaked out, it could be detrimental to the community that the elders took so long to set up.
I think being the Receiver of Memory will be hard on Jonas at first. He has to go through the physical and emotional pain of all those bad memories. But I also think he will do a good job and discover the truths about the elders who are controlling the community.

Discussion Question 2. Why do you think that the Assignments are determined by the elders? How does this ceremony benefit the individual person? How does it benefit the community as a whole?

I think the Assignments are determined by the elders because they simply have been around the longest.  They have the most experience, knowledge, and comprehension of how to run the community.  The individual person benefits for the ceremony by having their own strengths and abilities pointed out and being able to live up to there potential. This benifits that community as a whole because they are now aware of what each individual is capable of and can use that to make the community stronger, and more organized for everyone.

Why do you think that the Assignments are determined by the elders? How does this ceremony benefit the individual person? How does it benefit the community as a whole?

I think the Assignments are determined by the elders because they're the ones running the show. They want all the power, they have all the power. The make all the rules and make all the decisions in the community. The 12th year ceremony benefits the individual person because it actually allows people to grow up. Up until a certain age they aren't allowed to do many things. At age 12, the children are most of the time happy because the elders choose Assignments that the children will actually like and be good at. Hopefully then, the individual will be happy. The Assignments benefit the community as a whole because each person plays a vital role in the society. Every single person does something to better the community, whether its a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, or a sanitary worker, each person has a job that helps the community.

How do you feel about the rules that are followed in this community? Are they good or bad for society? Why?

Just as most the other comments state the rules that are followed by this community are very strict and leave little room for people to be and individual.  I realize that the reason for this is to keep all the members of the community safe, well structured and organized, and  I find it do be a good thing from the point of view. But it doesn't give anyone a chance to be there own person and express themselves and that can be bad for a society when its lacking diversity.

How do you feel about the rules that are followed in this community? Are they good or bad for society? Why?

Some of the rules are a bit ridiculous. Like the one where all the girls under year 9 must wear braids. Then they can finally get to ride a bike. This society is so controlling. Personally, I don't like any of the rules. Why can't children learn to ride a bike before they are 9? Why must all children before they are 7 wear coats with buttons in the back. They say that it created interdependence, but it's just nonsense. The elders seem to be so controlling that no one can really be themselves. And then there's the whole thing with the pills. Plus, families can't even have their own children. They have to have women birth the babies and then they send the women off to do hard labor after three years of laziness. It's just kind of silly. The elders are making a utopia of some sort, but no one knows anything other than the rules. People can't even speak a wrong word and they get smacked on the hands, like Asher.

Why do you think that the Assignments are determined by the elders? How does this ceremony benefit the individual person? How does it benefit the community as a whole?

I think the assignments are determined by the elders because they have the experience to know what each child will excel at.  By using their experience, they can place the child in the best field for not only them, but the community as a whole.  This ceremondy benefits the individual because it tells them their purpose in the community.  When given their Assignment, they know what their purpose is and they can being to prepare for their assignments.  It benefits the community because the community is now aware of the new assignments and who will be doing what.  They can support one another and prepare the new "workers" for their assignments. 

Now that you know the role of The Giver and The Receiver, can you imagine how it would feel to not know the memories that are being transmitted? Is it good or bad to withhold painful memories? Why? Why are the memories kept by only one person at a time? How do you think Jonas will respond to the responsibility of being the Receiver of Memory?

I don't know how I would react to not knowing the memories.  By withholding the painful memories, I think the good memories wouldn't seem as good.  Without knowing pain, how can you know pleasure?  I think the memories are only kept by one person so that they can keep the rules in tact.  If every person had the memories, they might want to leave the community and question rules.  I have read this book so many times that I know how Jonas reacts, but if I had never read the book before, I would say he would be scared to have all that responsibility.

Why do you think that the Assignments are determined by the elders? How does this ceremony benefit the individual person? How does it benefit the community as a whole?

I think that the Assigments are determined by the elders because they have the most experience with the Assignments and would know who would be the best suited for each role. I think that the ceremony benefits the individual person because it gives them a sense of purpose in their community. I feel that the roles benefit the community as a whole since only roles that are needed are filled, and therefore no one is left without a job or without some way to contribute to the community. I find it interesting though that some of the Assigments, such a Jonas', allow the people in the community to lie which would be otherwise forbidden. I am excited to know how lying to people will impact the story, and how it could possibly benefit the community as a whole.

Now that you know the role of The Giver and The Receiver, can you imagine how it would feel to not know the memories that are being transmitted?  Is it good or bad to withhold painful memories?  Why?  Why are the memories kept by only one person at a time?  How do you think Jonas will respond to the responsibility of being the Receiver of Memory?

I cannot imagine how it would feel to not know the memories being transmitted. I guess, since you do not know it wouldn't effect your life. It would still be the same old dull life. I think it is bad to withhold painful memories. If you don't expererience pain, then you will never expereince pure joy. Feeling conteract, and without one, how can you expereience the other? I think the memories are kept by only one person because they do not want the society to know. Therefore, having one person keeping the memories at a time is intented to make sure that the past never happens again. That way their past or the bad feelings/ events/ etc. does not repeat itself. I think Jonas will respond in a positive way. Jonas already sees things differently then others. Therefore, I believe Jonas will try to change society somehow, someway to enlighten life with these memories.