Fair Warning
Today we are explaining the ending of The Giver, by Lois Lowry, and what happens to Jonas and the baby Gabriel.
Fair warning: this one is full of spoilers. If you haven’t finished the book, stop here and come back later.
The Setup
Let’s start with where Jonas begins. He is twelve, and at the Ceremony of Twelve he is chosen as the Receiver of Memory. That is the one job in the community that holds all of the past, so that nobody else has to.
Each day he visits the Giver, an old man who passes him memories one at a time. Snow, sunshine, color, music, and, slowly, pain. Jonas begins to see that the community’s peace has a price, because everyone gave up feeling to get it.
The Video
The turning point is a video. The Giver shows Jonas a recording of a release, the word the community uses for sending a person out of it.
Jonas watches his own father, who works as a Nurturer, weigh two identical newborn twins. One is a little smaller than the other. His father gives the smaller one an injection in the top of the head, and the baby goes limp. Jonas realizes that release means death, and that his father has done it before.
That scene is the heart of the book. Everything the community calls kind has been hiding this.
The Plan
Jonas wants to do something about it. The Giver tells him the story of Rosemary, the Receiver in training who came before him. After only five weeks of painful memories, she asked to be released. When she was gone, her memories came back to the people, and the community was overwhelmed.
That gives them a plan. If Jonas leaves the community, the memories he carries will return to everyone, and people will finally have to feel what they have been avoiding. The Giver will stay behind to help them cope.
The Escape
The plan goes wrong when Jonas learns that Gabriel, the baby his family has been caring for, is going to be released the next morning. Gabriel is not growing as expected, and the community has decided he is a problem.
Jonas cannot let that happen. He takes Gabriel and rides away in the night, earlier than planned. They travel for days, hungry and cold, and Jonas tries to hide from the search planes. Along the way, he shares his strength and a few warm memories with Gabriel, to keep him alive.
The Final Scene
Near the end, the snow starts to fall and Jonas is barely conscious. He climbs a hill, and at the top he finds a sled, the same sled he first knew from the Giver’s memory.
He settles Gabriel in front of him and they slide down. Jonas sees lights and hears music, something he has only heard from the Giver. Behind him, he thinks he hears the same music from the community he left. Then the book ends, without saying if they arrive.
What Was Set Up Earlier
Many things pay off in these last pages. The sled is the first memory the Giver gives Jonas, the one with snow and a long hill. The music he cannot name when he hears it in the community is the same music he hears at the end.
Rosemary is the biggest setup of all. Her short time as Receiver shows both how heavy the memories are and what happens to a community when they come back. Jonas’s escape is meant to repeat her story on purpose.
What It Means
There are two ways to read the ending. In the first, Jonas and Gabriel die in the snow, and the lights and music are only the last dream of two freezing people. In the second, they reach a real place where people remember and celebrate, and the book is hopeful.
I think Lowry wants both readings to be possible. The most important thing is the choice. Jonas does not know what is at the bottom of the hill, and neither do we, but he picked love and memory over safety.
My Verdict on the Ending
I think it is a strong ending, and a brave one. It gives you the satisfaction of watching Jonas act, and it leaves you with the cold, uncertain feeling that comes from a real decision.
Some readers hate that it is open. I understand. But for a book about memory, a neat answer would have felt too easy.
If you want to talk about it, leave a comment: did Jonas make it to Elsewhere? Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time.
