Jonas
The good son and conformist citizen
Jonas is the main character in Lois Lowry’s novel The Giver. He lives with his Father, Mother, and sister Lily in a row house in the community (Chapter 1, 45%). At the beginning of the story, he belongs to the group of "Elevens" (Chapter 1, 91%). He wears a badge with the number 19, so he is the nineteenth of his year, which includes fifty other children
This means that Jonas is almost twelve years old at the Ceremony of Twelve in December. He is then trained by the Receiver of Memory for about a year and is almost thirteen years old at the end of the novel: "During his twelve years in the community, he had never felt such simple moments of exquisite happiness." (Chapter 22, 50%)
Jonas has light eyes, which is very unusual (Chapter 3, 0-14%). However, he is not interested in his appearance and rarely looks at himself in the mirror (Chapter 3, 15%). He is a hardworking student (Chapter 2, 50%), but does not like physical work (Chapter 2, 60%). He is introduced as a conscientious boy who thinks very carefully about the use of language and reflects on which term or form of expression would be the right one for a feeling or situation: "Jonas was careful about language" (Chapter 1, 27%).
Jonas is a good son and a valued member of the community. He has internalized its rules and follows them to the letter. He shows remorse for his rare infractions. For example, he could not imagine lying and tells his family exactly what he thinks and dreams, even though he does not normally remember his dreams, and therefore does not contribute much to the morning dream telling.
Jonas likes the community and its lifestyle, where everything is regulated and perfectly organized from morning to evening, from birth to release, and even the professions are assigned by someone else instead of being chosen by the people.
Volunteer hours and the Ceremony of Twelve
Jonas is a conscientious boy. In his volunteer hours, he does not spend much time with his friend Asher, who fools around too much and does not take his work seriously (Chapter 4, 0%). Jonas is also open-minded and curious, with many interests and an inquisitive personality. That is why he does his volunteer hours in ...
