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》中文譯為《記憶受領員》或《記憶傳授人》.《記憶傳授人》由台灣東方出版社於2002 年 12 月 25 日出版,譯者為鄭榮珍.可在博客或網路書店找到.
the giver 譯為賜予者或授者,洛伊絲·洛利的作品.是她最著名的也是最受爭議的作品.《The Giver》描述了一個作者Lois Lowry自己想像出來的理想烏托邦世界。在這個社區裏，人們的生活都被安排得好好的，人們不用決定工作，不用決定配偶，這些社區都幫你做好了決定。而這個世界也沒有記憶、感情，顏色，及音樂，他們隻擁有最基本的生活需求。但是這個社區裏麵，卻有一個人例外，他一個人承擔了整個社區該有的記憶，他必須獨自承受痛苦、恐懼、和孤單，而他也同時知道什麼是溫暖、幸福和愛。他被稱為the receiver of memory(也就是The Giver)。當12歲的男主角Jonas成為這個the receiver of memory的接班人後，他得到了他以前所不曾有過的經驗，而當他知道愈多時，他愈發現這個世界的不合理，於是最後他選擇逃離……
整本小說有個讓我最被震撼甚至於全身起雞皮疙瘩的布局，而作者安排的極為巧妙。書中Jonas擁有一個能力，他可以sees beyond，一開始我們完全不了解sees beyond是什麼，包括Jonas。這能力的第一次出現在蘋果身上，Jonas和他朋友Asher玩丟蘋果時，Jonas隱約發現蘋果出現了變化，而我們不知道那變化是什麼，也無法想像；再來這變化當Jonas站在台上望著底下一大群人時又出現了，但我們仍不知道這變化是什麼，直到Jonas去找The Giver。當The Giver讓Jonas進入了回憶的世界中，Jonas發現他在雪地上踩的雪橇也發生了變化，但這變化卻不是一閃而逝，而是持續存在時，The Giver知道這變化是什麼了。
原來Jonas看到的東西，這一開始總是一閃而逝的變化是“紅色”，原來Jonas生活的世界沒有顏色。我想光是這個安排，就值得看這本小說，也讓我深感佩服Lois Lowry的創意。而另一個更神奇的地方則是，The Giver當年的能力不是看見死後的生活，而是聽見死後的生活，他可以聽得到“音樂”。一個沒有愛沒有恨沒有痛苦沒有快樂沒有顏色沒有音樂的世界，而這全部都要由The Giver承擔時，難怪Jonas會想要逃離了，雖然逃亡的地點未知，是生是死也無法掌握……