Characterization of The Giver (chapter 11/12)

The Giver is the former Receiver of Memories. He kept all the memories of the Community and now it is his job to transmit the Memories to Jonas. Because of the heaviness of the Memories and the pain that some of the Memories gave to him he looks older than he is.

The Giver has pail eyes, like Jonas. So you can see that both of them have to do this job and you know that they are the only persons in this community (and Gabriel) that have pale eyes.

The Giver is the most important person in this community because he has all the memories and he has to tolerate all this pain, although he didn’t choose this Assignment for himself, he was chosen for this Assignment.

In my opinion the Giver has a lot of wisdom/ is wise because Jonas says that the Giver has a lot of power. But the Giver corrects him and tells him that he hasn’t got a lot of power, he has got a lot of honor. I think that this is wise because he knows that with these Memories he can’t do anything. He is not allowed to do anything without the permission of the community and he is not allowed to use them. So he only keeps the Memories and this is the reason why he thinks that he is powerless. But he thinks that he has got a lot of honor instead of power because he knows that all people know that he is the most important human in this community. He is something special and he is different from the others and he has the qualities a Receiver/Giver should have. This is the reason why the Giver thinks that he has got a lot of honor. In my opinion the people in this community don’t know why they should respect an old man. I think they do it because it is a rule in this community and it would be rude to ask for the reason and they could even be released from the community.

The Giver is a very experienced/the most experienced man in this community because he is the only one who has got the Memories and he can see all things from different views in contrast with the people in the community. This is also the reason why he is a knowledged man.